“I want you to be my girlfriend.”

“I want to marry you.”

“I want us to stay together forever.”

They’re all just words, right?

But can we really believe every word someone says?

I find myself thinking about that all the time.

Not everyone has the ability to see what someone truly feels deep down.

Because when you love someone, it’s only natural.

The moment a girl falls for someone, I think a part of her will always want to hear the words she longs for most.

“I love you.”

“I’ll always be here.”

“I want to be with you forever.”

We want to hear those words.

But men don’t always express their feelings that way.

And somewhere in that space between what we want to hear and what they actually say, we start wondering,

“Does he really love me?”

I think there are a lot of girls who feel that way.

But you know what?

Sometimes I wonder if men are simply like that.

Maybe their love isn’t always expressed through words.

Maybe it shows up more in the way they actually protect and take care of the person they love.

Perhaps there is something we could call “fatherhood” in that.

Not as the opposite of motherhood, but as a different kind of instinct—the desire to protect the person you love.

When I think about it that way, maybe the fact that he doesn’t always say what I want to hear doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t care.

Maybe, in some cases, it’s actually because he cares deeply and shows it in a different way.

Of course, I don’t believe we should automatically assume that silence means love.

But I do believe there are forms of love that words alone can never fully explain.

And maybe realizing that can give us just a little bit of peace.

What does this person truly feel?

Sometimes, you have to look beyond the words and pay attention to what their actions are really saying.

And that’s part of what I do.

So let me take a closer look at what’s really there for you.

This isn’t really a column today.

But I’ve seen these same words come up again and again in so many of your questions lately.

So I wanted to put those thoughts into words.

The Ambiguity of Words and What We Really Mean

“I want you to be my girlfriend.”

“I want to marry you.”

“I want us to stay together forever.”

They’re all just words, right?

But can we really believe every word someone says?

I find myself thinking about that all the time.

Not everyone has the ability to see what someone truly feels deep down.

Because when you love someone, it’s only natural.

The moment a girl falls for someone, I think a part of her will always want to hear the words she longs for most.

“I love you.”

“I’ll always be here.”

“I want to be with you forever.”

We want to hear those words.

But men don’t always express their feelings that way.

And somewhere in that space between what we want to hear and what they actually say, we start wondering,

“Does he really love me?”

I think there are a lot of girls who feel that way.

But you know what?

Sometimes I wonder if men are simply like that.

Maybe their love isn’t always expressed through words.

Maybe it shows up more in the way they actually protect and take care of the person they love.

Perhaps there is something we could call “fatherhood” in that.

Not as the opposite of motherhood, but as a different kind of instinct—the desire to protect the person you love.

When I think about it that way, maybe the fact that he doesn’t always say what I want to hear doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t care.

Maybe, in some cases, it’s actually because he cares deeply and shows it in a different way.

Of course, I don’t believe we should automatically assume that silence means love.

But I do believe there are forms of love that words alone can never fully explain.

And maybe realizing that can give us just a little bit of peace.

What does this person truly feel?

Sometimes, you have to look beyond the words and pay attention to what their actions are really saying.

And that’s part of what I do.

So let me take a closer look at what’s really there for you.

This isn’t really a column today.

But I’ve seen these same words come up again and again in so many of your questions lately.

So I wanted to put those thoughts into words.

心晴れるまで

土屋梨沙