Pāhonoa te oro

I didn’t find out all at once. It wasn’t some dramatic confession. No lipstick on a collar. No late-night phone call I overheard. It was quieter than that. It started with silence. The kind of silence that fills a room even when someone is sitting right next to you. She stopped looking at me the same way. Conversations got shorter. Laughs felt forced. Her phone started facing down. I told myself I was imagining it. Because when you love someone… your brain protects you from the truth. The first