Unrequited affection by JoenSo on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Ginny didn't really know why she went to Old Man Squirrel of all people. Even though the two of them had developed a strange kind of friendship over the past six months, he wasn't really the type to offer much comfort or understanding. He was grumpy. He didn't like to talk about feelings (at least not his own). And usually, he preferred to just be left alone. But much to her surprise, when he saw that she was crying he immediately gestured at her to sit down next to him.
"Tell me," he simply said.
So Ginny told him.

"...and I just don't understand," she finished a few minutes later, her voice shaking. "Why can she love him so much, but she can't love me? What did I do wrong? Why am I not good enough for her to love me? Why can I never be good enough to be loved, even though I try, try and try?"
"It's not about right or bad or good or wrong," Old Man Squirrel replied without looking at her. He was busy poking the moss with a stick, as he liked to do for some reason. "It just is."
"Just is? What does that mean?"
"It means that some things just... are, no matter what you do. It means that you can't control if she loves you or not, and neither can she."
"B-but..." Ginny tried to dry her tears and come up with something to say at the same time. "But I..."
"You can never be good enough because it's not about being good enough," the squirrel continued and finally looked up at her. "You can do absolutely everything for a person and they might still not love you, or even like you. You can do nothing at all to them and they can still hate you. Because emotions are stupid and not logical. They make no sense at all. None at all!"
The squirrel let out a frustrated snort and shook his head.
"I don't... I'm not sure I understand..." Ginny said slowly. "If it's not about being good enough... if it's not about doing right or wrong... then what is it? What's left to love in me if I don't do and say the right things? If I don't try to be good enough for others?"

Old Man Squirrel looked at her in silence for several seconds. He opened his mouth as if to say something more, but then closed it again. He scratched his chin and looked up at the autumn sky with a frown, as if in deep thought. Then the stick fell out of his little paws and he stood up on the log.
"Do you want a hug?" he said.
Ginny smiled at the old squirrel through her tears and nodded.
"Yes, I'd like that."

___________

(Ginny is supposed to be the same rabbit as in these two drawings I've done previously, which also mention Old Man Squirrel: )