substack: Your Self-Respect Has to Be Greater Than Your Desire to Be Loved (by Feifei)

I am, and have always been, _________ [idiom]. I love the feeling of investing in someone and building a world with them. (tận sâu trong thâm tâm là một người lãng mạn)

a romantic at heart

We are practically programmed to _________ [v], and honestly, there is no shame in admitting that we want to be loved deeply. (khao khát sự kết nối)

yearn for connection

But right then, _________ [phr], my relationship started to decline while I was in the middle of my final papers. (vào thời điểm không thể tồi tệ hơn)

in the worst possible timing

We didn’t even _________ [v] a sit-down conversation; it was just a sudden breakup via a phone call. (có sự tử tế tối thiểu để làm gì)

have the decency of

To this day, my brain has honestly _________ [v] of what that other girl was doing. (tự động xóa nhòa/ngăn chặn những chi tiết chính xác)

blocked out the exact details

The lover girl in me wanted to sit on a shelf, _________ [v], waiting for him to flip a coin and decide if I was worth choosing. (bị bỏ xó, bám đầy bụi)

gathering dust

The media teaches us that a woman's value is proven by how much chaos she can survive before the man finally _________ [v]. (bừng tỉnh nhận ra, ngộ ra)

has his epiphany

When we _________ [v] the desire to be loved, we become chameleons and alter our colors to make them stay. (bị mê muội, say đắm bởi điều gì)

get intoxicated by

We _________ [v]—fleeting texts, half-hearted plans, lukewarm commitment—and we convince ourselves it's a feast. (chấp nhận những mảnh vụn tình cảm)

accept scraps of affection

We trade our self-respect for _________ [n] because we are afraid that if we speak up, they will leave. (ảo tưởng về sự an toàn)

the illusion of safety