When I walked back into the room where they’d all just left moments before, to find them all sitting there again without me … nobody said they were sorry. Nobody acknowledged the pain that was written on my face. Nobody came after me as I left. Nobody felt the slightest bit of guilt for lying and deceiving someone who was just trying to connect.

The hurt was indescribable, and I didn’t know what to say. Or do, once I’d returned to my room. I wanted to scream and yell, or curl up in a ball and sta...