India, Sept. 5 -- There are movies made about this: Two people fall in love, but still walk away, knowing they may never find a person so suited to them again. Casablanca (1942), The Remains of the Day (1993), La La Land (2016).

It's heart-breaking on screen, and even more so when this happens in real life.

There was no real reason for them to call it off, people say. In my experience, the reasons are real enough; they just needn't have served as a breaking point. Those are the saddest stories of all.

One woman living out such a tale is a 38-year-old client of mine, a lawyer; let's call her Rinny. She fell in love with a classmate in their final year of college. Let's call him Kris.

Thiers was a slow-burn kind of love. They interned a...