Chapter 11

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"What is love?

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"What is love?

Love is a strong feeling of compassion, a long-lasting affection. It's a form of interest that can apply to families, friends, and significant others. It's often described as an illness, especially for those who are lovesick. 

Although it's not scientifically proven that it can make you physically sick directly, it can affect your hormones, such as cortisol, which suppresses immune function.

Like healing, love has phases that most people go through, starting with the phase when you meet someone or experience a moment when a certain individual attracts you. The neurotransmitter dopamine is triggered and stimulates the pleasure center of the brain.

Does it end there? No, it could be coupled with a drop in levels of serotonin, entering the phase of infatuation. This is when you feel an urgency to know something, do something, or find everything that will make him or her look at you and ONLY you. This phase of unhealthy obsession is one of the hardest parts to pass through.

Can it be developed? Of course! You can improve that little bad obsession, territorial, animalistic behavior of yours over time. Give it a year, and those immature and foolish thoughts will gradually decrease as your serotonin levels return to normal. That is... If you are very patient and... you know?

Normal.

That way, you'll be able to produce a little oxytocin to cement that mature love you've worked so hard for. It also helps protect your mental health and other issues you may encounter in the future. All you need to do is maintain it.

Sounds easy, right?

But people, especially those who know better, know it's not. The first phase is easy but scary because you have no control over it once it starts. You are drawn to something uncertain, bound in a rabbit hole you failed to avoid. A betting time where your only options are to gamble all of your cards or give everything up.

The horror, unfortunately, doesn't end there. Infatuation will come in an hour or two. Fear will turn from nothing to something that you will later want to fill with everything. The clock is ticking, as well as your brain pounding. The excitement will make your heart beat to the rhythm as your blood pumps through your veins.

Making the moment adventurous...

Thrilling...

Challenging...

Not boring...

Instincts will then kick in. You will get territorial, jealous, and irritated. Your hunger for attention will intensify, and some methods will become questionable. This is because trust is being built. A little white lie could destroy everything. A little misinformation could slip and destroy it all.

That's fine, they say. Because it all depends on how you will rebuild it anyway.

That is... If you are, again, very patient and... you know?

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