Baggage. It’s the one thing all of us have that no one will fess up to having. That time you were cheated on, the certain someone who broke your heart, the crazy ex who won’t leave you alone—it’s everywhere, but everyone tries to hide it.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a Contemporary Fiction class in which the discussion focused on a morbid book that featured some pretty messed-up relationships—relationships between the dead and the living, the old and the young, the in-love and the not-in-love. As my classmates respectively made judgmental comments about the characters, my teacher paused the discussion with an incredulous look.

There are three little words we’ve all heard before—in books, movies or songs. The words, of course, are “I love you.” Sweet, right? Well in these cases, saying “I love you,” means that the good guys have won, victory for the poets and artists, and a rainbow arches over two embracing individuals right before the [...]