A Man Proposed to Me and I Said Yes Just to Avoid Hurting Him

He is a good man. Kind, patient, consistent. He genuinely loves me and I know it because I have seen what love that is not genuine looks like.

But I do not feel it back. Not the way he deserves. I care for him deeply. I enjoy his company. But when he proposed, my first thought was not joy — it was panic.

I said yes because he was on his knee in front of my family and I could not break him like that in that moment.

That was eight months ago.

I am still wearing the ring.

Every week I tell myself I will have the conversation. Every week I do not. Because he is so happy. Because our families are already planning. Because I do not know how to say "I love you but not like that" without destroying a man who has done nothing wrong.

I know what I have to do. I just needed to say it somewhere first.

Please do not tell me he deserves to know — I already know. The guilt is why I am here.