Gideon, this is an exceptionally brave story to share, which bodes well for your end of the relationship. My recent journeys which have included meeting 'unmet yet" friends (including you, of course), have proven to me beyond a doubt that most of the people I met have matched up with the representations of themselves online. That's because I choose wisely online (as much as possible) as I do in person. The virtual community we create for ourselves is a real space and real stuff happens. As @blueperegrina says, love and other emotions happen in our mind. Our mind is what makes any reality "real". It is a scientific fact that the same nerve endings and synapses fire when we do mental practice of actual movements. An injured athlete usually spends hours on envisioning the technique of his or her event in his mind. SOmetimes the rest plus the mental exercise can bring better results than having not been injured and away at all. The point is, if intention and honesty are there, the emotions are real and in this day and age we all might as well get used to the fact that our virtual spaces aren't fake spaces. We do need to be very mindful about what we do in them, how we interact and how we treat each other, same as anywhere else. It will be interesting to find out how relationships such as these hold up under the impact of physical presence. In both worlds, we communicate a set of very different kinds of information about ourselves. SOmetimes the combo is perfect and sometimes it can be jarring. So, one day you might be able to test that. Good luck for now though. ANd as far as Im concerned, any moment enriched with love is a better moment to be alive :)