From the book THE SANDMAN: THE KINDLY ONES by NEIL GAIMAN

Have u ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes u so vulnerable. It opens ur chest and it opens ur heart and it means someone can get inside u and mess u up. U built up all these defenses. U built up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt u, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into ur stupid life. U give them a piece of u, they don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss u, or smile at u, and then ur life isn't ur own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside u. It eats u and leaves u crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" or "how very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way into ur heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-u-and-rips-apart again. I hate love.