I am a 24-year-old woman from a South Indian Hindu conservative family whose parents always believed in God and responsibilities more than love. They celebrate my success and help me get more depressed in my loss. It all started with a friend request. I was 17 when he sent me the request on Facebook. He was from my school, we studied in the same section from class 6th to 10th grade but never looked or talked to each. We were acquaintances, I'd say. Our friendship grew soon enough. We started sharing our personal stories and sorrows, and gradually started sending each other 'good morning' texts every day. Slowly and steadily, he became my best friend.

We were best friends for five years. The kind of BFFs who gossip on everything and hang out at the movies together. Just two years back, I went to Hyderabad, where he used to work and stayed at his place. He took good care of me, cooked food for me, dried my hair that he loves very much. We roamed the whole Hyderabad. I was there for three days, but when it was time to go back home, it felt like I was going away from home. I used to cry like I was leaving my parents after my marriage or something. I visited Hyderabad again and again, and we used to enjoy each other's company, holding hands all the time.

We didn't get to know when we fell in love with each other; it just happened.

The best part is we didn't even propose to each other, we just knew it. Slowly, he became my everything. The issue in our love? He is a Muslim, and I am a Hindu, and my family doesn't even know the meaning of love. It is painful to even think about how to tell our parents. I cannot go with him leaving my family, and I cannot convince my family for him. I cannot live without him. I cannot die or live with somebody else. Death seems better right now than marrying some stranger to wake up in the same bed. I don't know whether we can be together in the future but he is my soulmate who can cry with me when I cry. He gave me the love I didn't get in my childhood, he showed me the meaning of love. He came to temples with me.

He's my superhero, my father, my mother, my everything. We love each so much that even a lifetime seems very small to express our love.

I hope we were born in a different country, or at least our families believed in the same God. I hope I can marry him someday just to shout out to the world - "That's my husband, and he loves me."

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