I also experienced something similar to most ppl here but maybe I ended up differently (or it was my decision to cure my heart). It has been a while since we first met. That was a summer night when everything in my life was on their trajectory, I decided to meet him who I admired long ago. We are about the same age. The first date was not that impressive to me or I could say he was not my cup of tea as I thought. However, after we talked, I knew more about him, I knew his stories and understood what he has been through. I felt for him. Someone may say I was too emotional or overthought everything. I must confess that yes I am but I am also practical and materialistic. I know what I am doing and I rarely let my heart decide my mind. I felt for him because I was somehow in his situations and somebody gave me a hand. At that moment, I just purely wanted to give him a hand. However, I did not foresee everything would become like this now. If you asked me whether I would regret or not, it would be no. If I had to choose again, I would still do the same. The thing here is the more times we met, the more I couldn't help my heart from falling for him. He was kind to me, and I knew sometime I was unreasonable and clingy. We had a fight but I made up. After that, we understood each other more. I used to ask him about our relationship, I knew I would not get the answer I wanted but some parts of me still had hope for it. He said he also liked me and I knew he meant it but maybe that was not enough for us to be together. I understood because that was also not my initial intention. I used to promise myself that after his life gets better, I will leave and I believe it is time for me to put myself first. It is just sad that we were together in the darkest time but could not after that. After all, I won't regret what I have done, all the times with him will be my most beautiful memory. He was the first person I have dated and maybe the last. We also did a lot of first things in my life, just unfortunately we could not end up together.