I understand your confusion. It isn't that you don't understand the word "miss." I think it is just that in English, the simple past tense can be used at any time.
So, you can say, "I missed you" in the same place that you would say, "I had missed you," and you can use it in the same place that you would say, "I have missed you."
(But you can't use "I had missed you" and "I have missed you" interchangeably.)
Hope that helps. It's kind of confusing!
The simple past tense is more versatile than some other languages.