When I was growing up, I was very shy - still am. I used to hate boys. Several friends of mine had boyfriends or were attracted to someone without ever saying anything to the lad.
All I was interested in was books.
Not study books.
Romance books.
Looking back, I got to admit that those books somehow tainted my expectations of what men are really like. And that heroes, as depicted in those works of fiction, are, well...fiction! They used to make me dream. And hope that one day I'd have a hero of my own.
Fed by the tales of Mills&Boon and Harlequins, my imagination was running wild. And just like that, a distant cousin of mine, hot and dashing, for obvious reasons, was no longer a cousin.
At least in my mind.
He became my hero.
Though for many years, I denied the attraction.
To everybody. To myself.
Until one day, I just told myself, "You have a crush on him, deal with it."
But the courage always deserted me whenever I had a chance to talk to him. I became tongue-tied. It's not as if I was planning to confess my 'love' to him! Never in a million years will that ever happen!
Imagine all the tongues I'd set wagging just by professing my which-I-thought-was-love-then!
With time I tried to forget him. And moved on...on to pastures new. However, the unrequited crush always lingers somewhere in the back of my memory. From time to time, I'd even compare the 'newcomers' to him.
From my early 20s to mid, I've met people who, at one time, crushed on a cousin; first, second, third, fourth, or twice removed...
Of course, I was kind of relieved that I was not the only one who got attracted to a sexy relative. I know some who even went further and farther than I dared to.
Thankfully, hubby, in his own weird but loving ways, overrode all the 'stale' feelings I had for him...
What's your story?!
