Can We Build the Perfect Man Like a Puzzle?

How to find your happiness from bits and pieces.

Eva Grape
5 min readSep 7, 2024

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AI image generated by the author.

“But was he always like that?” — some people ask me. The lack of affection, the absence of intimacy, the emotional distance — were these things always a part of my relationship, or had they grown slowly, creeping in like a fog over the years?

I often found myself pondering these questions as our relationship reached the twenty-year mark. Two decades is a long time to share a life, and despite all that time together, I felt more alone than ever.

When I met him, I was empty.

I was young, searching for something to fill the void inside me. I thought a relationship would complete me and bring me the happiness I had been chasing. He seemed like the answer to all my questions—a stable, reliable man who would be my partner, my companion, my everything.

I fell into the comfort of our relationship, hoping it would bring me the fulfilment I so desperately craved.

But as the years went by, something began to shift. I found myself struggling to make him see me, to notice the person I was becoming—and oh man, how much I had grown…

I wanted him to engage with me, connect on a deeper level, and show interest in what I loved. But it was as if he had…

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Eva Grape

Side-hustler mom writes about marriage, relationships at large and psychology.