Until we found our time.

MY FAVORITE STRANGER.

Until we found our time.

Episode two.

MY FAVORITE STRANGER.

Luckily for me.. he wasn't a snub.

Barely a few minutes after sending the message, my phone vibrated.

My heart skipped (You know that moment when you just sent a risky text and you can’t predict what their response will be).

I unlocked my phone almost immediately.

This stranger had replied.

I don't remember the exact words anymore. Time has stolen that part of the conversation from my memory, but I'll never forget how relieved I felt. I had spent the last few minutes convincing myself that I'd embarrassed myself by entering a complete stranger's inbox just because I thought he looked handsome.

But thankfully, I hadn't, he complimented me too, I just knew his mother raised a perfect gentleman, because i vividly remember the pictures i uploaded on my page, i know how none of them looked anything close to stunning. Even though i thought i had the most beautiful pictures then, I had just recently stumbled upon those pictures and all i can say is “Omohhh”

I couldn't help but laugh.

Back then, f*******: had its own culture, Whenever someone adds you as a friend, the next thing you want to do is visit the person's profile. It was almost like conducting a little background check.

“How many friends do they have?”

"Who is this person?"

"Do I know them?"

"Should I accept the request or let them remain in my followers forever?" (That was where the celebrity lifestyle started).

I'm almost certain he did exactly that.

He must have visited my profile, looked through my pictures for a few seconds and silently graded me.

In my head, I like to imagine him nodding with approval before saying, “She’s not bad for her age” or, what if he actually found me attractive too? Whether that actually happened or not, I’ll never know because i never really had the chance to ask him.

What I do know is that our conversation didn’t end there. It was supposed to be a simple compliment, maybe just keep ourselves as friends, just there existing in our little world in our not so little space—the blue app.

A quick “thank you.” Maybe another polite exchange. Instead, we kept talking and talking and talking. One question became another, then another, then another.

Before I knew it, we were chatting for hours, we were always checking on each other every little chance we had—that was it for me, I can’t say for him but I’m almost certain that it was also the same for him. I just discovered there was something strangely easy about talking to him. It didn’t feel like I was speaking to someone I had only just met on a random blue app, there were no random awkward pauses.

No moments where either of us struggled to think of what to say next except when we’re doing the most random things like “You start” “No, You start”, i still don’t think those were pauses because i found it interesting too and our conversations were flowing smoothly.

We talked about bunch of things—we talked about school, we talked about our favorite foods, we talked about our favorite things to do during leisure, we talked about songs we love to listen to, we talked about random childhood memories (I’m certain most of us lived almost the same lifestyle while growing up), and about random things that were none of our businesses.

And somehow, even conversations about nothing never felt boring, he had a way of making ordinary topics interesting. Sometimes I’d laugh so hard while staring at my phone that my mom would ask me; “What’s funny?” And I’ll just shake my head, “Nothing” I knew I had to excuse myself from the living room, Fortunately for me, I had my own room because how was I supposed to explain that someone I have never met in person was already becoming my favorite part of the day?

Days passed.

Then weeks.

Before I realized it, chatting with him had quietly become part of my routine.

I’d wake up and not even check if I’m still breathing and check my phone, somewhere in my mind, I’d secretly hope to see his name. Whenever my notification tone went off, I’d find myself smiling before I even unlocked my phone.

“Please let it be him.”

Most times… it was, i had to change his notification sound to a different one from every body else.

Eventually, f*******: Messenger no longer felt enough, one evening, one of us suggested exchanging w******p numbers, I honestly can’t remember who brought it up first but if you insist, I’d say he did. But then, all I remember is feeling strangely excited over something so simple.

It wasn’t a big deal, after all, people exchanged numbers every day. But it felt like we had unlocked another level of friendship, it felt like we took our friendship to its next phase. f*******: eventually became a place where we reacted to each other’s posts.

WhatsApp became where our real conversations lived. Our chats became longer and even much longer.

Good morning messages became almost automatic.

If he woke up before me, I’d wake up to his text.

If I happened to wake up first, I’d beat him to it.

Neither of us ever discussed it.

It simply became our thing, our cute little thing.

Then one evening, we had our first phone call.

I remember staring at my screen for a few seconds before answering. It suddenly occurred to me that I was about to hear the voice of someone I had only known through messages, even though we’ve shared a few voice messages, it still didn’t change the fact that he was going to speak to me and await my response almost immediately, more like a physical conversation over the phone.

I wondered if it would be awkward but It wasn’t.

Well…maybe for the first few seconds.

There was the nervous laughter.

The occasional “Can you hear me?”

A few moments of silence.

Then somehow… everything settled.

It felt exactly like our chats, just that there was now a voice attached to the words. He laughed exactly the way I’d imagined he would.

Warm, Free, Cute, Sweet.

The kind of laugh that made you laugh too, even if you didn’t fully understand what was funny.

That first phone call somehow opened another door.

One call became several.

Several became almost every day.

Then came the video calls.

Seeing him on my screen somehow made him feel even more real.

He was no longer just profile pictures and text messages.

He blinked, He smiled, He laughed, He teased me.

Sometimes he’d make a funny face just to see me laugh.

There were evenings we’d start talking while the sun was still up. Before we knew it, darkness had come knocking

Then midnight would come.

One o’clock.

Sometimes even two.

One of us would finally sigh.

“We should probably sleep.”

“Hmm.”

Neither of us moved, we’d continue talking as if we hadn’t just agreed to end the call.

Around that same period, I started working at a private school—the school i just graduated from.

It wasn’t my dream job.

I had just graduated from secondary school the previous year, and my dad simply wanted me to do something productive while waiting for admission. His bursar at the time was stealing his money, his only daughter had just graduated from his school, he trained her and watched her grow, it wouldn’t be a bad idea if he made her his school bursar. She had no knowledge about the job but he was determined to train her.

The funny thing was.. I wasn’t earning a salary.

Every day, I was only given a certain amount of money for feeding. Enough to buy lunch, enough to satisfy my hunger till we close for the day.

Most people would’ve spent it immediately but i didn’t. Every afternoon, I’ll keep the money in my bag untouched.

Whenever my tummy reminded me that I haven’t eaten, I’d simply tell myself, “You’ll eat when you get home.”

Then I’d use the money to get an airtime to buy mobile data. If anyone had asked me why, I probably would’ve laughed it off because what was the reason for real?

But deep down…

I already knew the answer.

Data meant conversations and Conversations meant him.

Sometimes I’d be on my way home from work, smiling to myself because I knew that once I got home, I’d recharge my phone, buy data, and somewhere before the night ended… I’d hear his voice.

Looking back now, it sounds completely ridiculous.

Who chooses data over food?

Apparently… Me! A girl who was slowly, quietly, and hopelessly falling for someone she’d never even met.

The funny thing is…he never knew.

Not once did I tell him.

As far as he was concerned, we were simply talking and he had no idea that some of our longest conversations were paid for with meals I had willingly sacrificed, love no be your mate!!!

Guess what!? I started getting more feeding money and i was now having data during the day, and he soon began to spend the day with me. He’d video call me each time i was done receiving students’ payments.

To him, it was just another phone call.

To me…those phone calls had quietly become my favorite place to be.

Without realizing it, he slowly became tangled into my everyday life, whenever something exciting happened, he was the first person I wanted to tell.

Whenever something upset me, I couldn’t wait to hear his opinion. He became the first person I thought about when something made me laugh. He became my Demi-god I’d say, I always want to report everything to him.

This stranger became the last person I wanted to say goodnight to before sleeping, It happened so gradually that I never noticed the exact moment everything changed.

One day he was simply the handsome stranger whose picture f*******: refused to stop showing me.

The next…he had somehow become my favorite stranger.

I started enjoying his company probably more than i should. Little did I know… my heart had already started writing a story that neither of us was ready to read.