Not reasonably.
I loved him the way only young people love when they still don’t know the price of a choice.
He wanted to marry me.
He said he would find work closer to Tarnovo. That we would build our life together.
But my father was against him.
He said Todor wasn’t reliable. That he had no property. That he didn’t have a permanent job. That he wouldn’t make me happy.
And I was afraid.
Not of Todor.
Of disappointing everyone.
Georgi proposed.
He had a ring.
He had an apartment.
He had a job.
He had my family’s approval.
And I said yes.
Not because I didn’t love Todor.
But because I was too afraid to choose love over security.
Todor left.
He didn’t make a scene.
He didn’t beg me.
He simply said:
“If you ever decide you want a life instead of comfort, you’ll know where to find me.”
Then he left for the Rhodopes.
Three months later, I married Georgi.
My children always knew that part of the story.
