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Credit: ABC, Howard Wise/JPI

If you’re bummed, you’re not alone.

A weird thing happens when our favorite stars fall in love: We do, too, in a way. When we find out who they’re seeing, we size up their partner and, almost like that busybody aunt everyone has, decide whether or not it’s at all our place to do so if we think they’re a match. If we approve, we then go all in, living vicariously through the romance that plays out on social media and in interviews. And should they tie the knot, it’s like a dream come true, the most resonant of all possible soap storylines come to fruition — and for real!

But along with those incredible highs can come terrible lows. If the couple in question decides not to remain a couple, we can right along with them go from flying high to feeling like we’re crashing and burning. And that, sadly, is what many of us are dealing with in the wake of reports that Chad Duell and Courtney Hope have broken up after two months of marriage and five years together.

Courtney Hope, Chad Duell Courtney Hope & Chad Duell Romantic Vacation in ParisParis, France 06/23/17© Denis Guignrbourg/jpistudios.com310-657-9661

Our relationships with them started via their work as Michael on General Hospital and Sally on The Young and the Restless (and, of course, The Bold and the Beautiful before that). But those relationships deepened as we followed them on social media and became enamored of the idea of them as real-life sweethearts. We were invested in them and what happened to them and their happy household full of four-legged family.

So it’s not just a shock to read that Duell and Hope have split, it’s a blow. We wanted their marriage to work, to be better than our run-of-the-mill lives, to be as awesome as their spectacular goth wedding photos. We wanted to believe that, somewhere out there, a pair of actors we admire were savoring the kind of happily ever after that we only ever see on soaps (at least until someone dies and comes back from the dead with amnesia and a new face).

More: General Hospital star reveals her real-life crush 

Coutney Hope, Chad Duell, Kelly Kruger57th Monte-Carlo Television Festival PhotoMonte-Carlo, Monaco, 18/06/2017© Nick Sined/jpistudios.com310-657-9661

Obviously, whatever sadness we might feel over this turn of events can be nothing compared to what Duell and Hope themselves must be going through. No matter the circumstances, endings are just plain hard. And we understand that it’s not even remotely about us.

That said, though, if you are bummed, if you have the sense that the sun is shining a little bit less brightly today, it’s OK. You’re not crazy, and you’re not alone. You cared, and something that you liked imagining out there — a relationship that’s as picture-perfect as a well-lit red-carpet photo — isn’t out there anymore. That sucks.

As you work through your reaction to the news, feel free to remember better days via the below photo gallery of Duell and Hope’s unforgettable romance.