We're taking advantage of the season, and this month is the most romantic of the year because around February 14th, there are days that are adored by lovers. However, there's something for everyone because the streak, which begins on the 13th, starts with a day shared between singles and those who are unfaithful. Yes, because that day before Valentine's Day is celebrated equally by those who don't have a partner and those who are having affairs.

Then, to add a bit of drama, the 16th is dedicated to impossible loves, that is, platonic, forbidden, unrequited love, or love that, due to various circumstances, cannot be fulfilled.

As we can see, February is short, but packed with events. In a short time, it encapsulates a broad and universal narrative of love: idealized, clandestine, as well as romantic and official love between partners. All are part of life.

Let's rethink love, because it's February, when else? It's not all about celebration, red hearts, fireworks, extravagant gifts, and toasts. Beyond the nature of each relationship, because each one is valid, love is happiness, but it also has its dark side and can hurt. Some people spoke to me about this, about the power of love as the most capable force in every sense, and how, while it can bring about rebirth, it can also destroy because it’s so volatile, susceptible to the slightest thing.

As my friend MI reflects, “Real love is trusting, missing, enjoying, respecting, feeling butterflies in your stomach. If it's not real, it doesn't exist. At the same time, it's difficult to find your complement, it's complicated to find love.”

For her part, based on her experience, NT believes that “love exists, although sometimes we have a relationship for many years thinking it’s real and it’s not, also there are people who stay together for various reasons, such as habit, fear of loneliness, or a guilty conscience after going through certain situations.

Meanwhile, DP refers to how difficult it is to explain this emotion: “It’s inevitable to always do so from one’s own experiences. I think there’s no such thing as unreal love; you can’t invent a feeling like that, you can’t fake it because being in love changes everything, even your perspective on life.”

For YS, “it exists, and in the beginning it’s perfect because it makes you happy and you feel so good, but if something goes wrong and one of the parts is still in love, then it becomes the worst thing, and it’s horrible to have to be strong enough not to call, not to talk, not to think.”

“Nowadays, many people are less emotionally involved,” MI continues, “and even repress what they say and do to show disinterest. It’s an unintelligible attitude that they justify as protecting themselves, but then they don’t experience true love.” There are also those who get together for material gain, to enjoy the "good life" their partner offers. People walk around the world feeling very empty, but it's not absolute; there are always those who love.

"I, for example, closed myself off to love for a long time," confesses YS, "and unconsciously I looked for flaws in everyone and had forgotten how good it feels to be loved, but also how awful it is to miss someone so much."

"Love hurts," asserts DP. "Sometimes many people fake feelings for some reason, and that's when the other person suffers. But beyond the pain of unrequited love, despite the harm that immaturity or a lack of values can cause, there is no greater force than love." When we love, we are capable of anything.

"The only thing that pains me about dying is that it won't be from love," was the testament of Florentino Ariza's absent father in 'Love in the Time of Cholera' (1985, Gabriel García Márquez, Colombia, 1927-2014). I agree. Blessed—and cursed—is the love that kills and never dies! And regardless of age, even at 90, if love knocks on the door, it sparks a revolution. Let's remember another character of Gabo's, the nameless sage protagonist of the novel 'Memories of My Melancholy Whores'.

No matter what we have experienced in the past, love has the potential to make us feel alive, to make everything meaningful and acquire a divine, powerful dimension. So many experts have said it in so many ways: "The only truth in this life, and the only force, is love." “In Him lies salvation” (José Martí, Cuba, 1853-1895) and “Only love transforms clay into a miracle” (Silvio Rodríguez, Cuba, 1946).

We end with music, but not rose-colored, and that's okay; besides being art, it's also part of life because pain and love often go hand in hand. Here we leave you with this very moving video clip, sometimes dark, but sentimental, that expresses the torment of loss and endless love.