You ever catch yourself smiling at your phone for no reason? That’s how it started for me. I’d replay their texts in my head like favorite song lyrics, and suddenly, their laugh became this involuntary earworm—I’d hear it in crowded rooms. Mundane details about them (how they stir coffee counterclockwise, their habit of humming off-key) felt weirdly precious. My playlist reshuffled itself—songs I used to love now sounded hollow unless I imagined them singing along.
Then came the physical tells: stomach-drops when their name popped up, accidental daydreams that made me miss subway stops. I tested it by imagining them dating someone else, and wow, that mental image burned like a lemon wedge in a paper cut. Real attraction isn’t just butterflies—it’s the whole ecosystem waking up at once.