Until we found our time.

Until We Found Our Time

Episode One

THE BOY IN NATIVE ATTIRE.

People say love finds you when you least expect it.

I used to think that was just one of those things people said to make heartbreak sound poetic.

I had no idea that, one ordinary afternoon in 2022, love would quietly slip into my life wearing native attire and smiling from behind a f*******: post.

The year before had been a significant one for me. I had just graduated from secondary school, and as a reward for all the years of patiently waiting, my parents finally bought me the Android phone I had dreamed about for so long. I’m sure we were all familiar with itel P36? Yes, that was my dream phone then for some strange reason.

To anyone else, it was just a phone.

To me, it was freedom.

It was my first real taste of social media beyond borrowing someone else's device for a few minutes and staying up late in the night just so i could quietly sneak into my mum’s bedroom to use her phone without her consent. I could finally download the apps I'd always wanted, one of them was the famous app that makes you over and changes your appearance—the all and mighty “Beauty plus”, create my own accounts, chat with friends whenever I wanted, and spend hours exploring a world that had always felt just out of reach.

Facebook quickly became my favorite place to wander.

Every day felt like an adventure with my free mode(No videos) to the rescue. I joined groups I found interesting, laughed at countless memes, watched funny videos on days i was able to afford mobile data until my stomach hurt, and scrolled endlessly through pictures of people I had never met. Sometimes I'd spend so much time online that my mother would call from another room just to remind me that the real world still existed.

On one of those ordinary afternoons, I unlocked my phone, opened f*******: as usual, and began my daily ritual of scrolling (with free mode of course)

Nothing seemed different.

The same familiar faces.

The same jokes.

The same endless stream of updates.

Until my thumb froze halfway across the screen.

A young man in a well-tailored native outfit smiled back at me. He struck a really cute pose and was holding a swagger stick with his right hand and on his cap was placed his left hand gently but you could tell bro was aura farming because that was a really perfect picture.

There wasn't anything overly extravagant about the picture. No luxury car in the background. No expensive accessories trying to demand attention. Just a simple photograph of someone who looked effortlessly handsome.

I blinked and murmured at myself,

"Ah... this boy is fine."

A small smile escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Without giving it much thought, I tapped the Like button and continued scrolling because why not?

That should have been the end of it.

Except f*******: seemed to have other plans.

Later that day, I opened the app again.

And there he was.

The exact same picture.

I frowned at my screen before laughing to myself.

"f*******:, hope nothing? Didn't I already see this?"

I shook my head and kept scrolling.

The following day...

There he was again.

At that point, I couldn't even blame myself anymore.

It felt like f*******: had personally appointed itself as a matchmaker.

"Fine," I muttered, smiling to myself. "I have seen him."

This time, instead of scrolling away immediately, I tapped on the picture.

Then I visited his profile.

I don't know exactly what I expected to find.

Maybe I was simply curious.

Maybe I just wanted another excuse to admire the handsome stranger whose face f*******: seemed determined to keep placing in front of me.

As I looked through his profile, one thought kept echoing in my mind.

"He's actually really cute."

I hesitated for a moment.

Should I just leave?

Should I send a friend request?

Or...

Should I do something completely unlike me?

I stared at my phone for a few seconds before making up my mind.

With my heart beating just a little faster than normal...

I tapped on the “Add as friends” button and he added me back.

I didn’t hesitate to go to his dm to compliment him.

But i didn’t go straight to the point. Back then, it was like a culture for one person to go thank the other person for adding back as friends and from there, the conversation might just keep going nonstop.

That was my excuse, I quickly typed “Your picture looked really cute, and you killed the outfit” Luckily for me, he wasn’t a snub. He complimented me too (back then, when someone adds you first as friends, the first thing to do is check the person’s profile to see if you want to add them back or leave them to become one of your followers) i guess he did just that and gave me a "pass mark".....