Walking into You

Between Send and Seen

The feeling stayed with me.

I went about my day like normal, but my mind kept going back to that moment.

The way he said my name. Twice.

I found myself hesitating before answering questions, my thoughts wandering.

And maybe that was the strangest part—

Not just that he noticed me, but that I had been noticing him for so much longer.

I didn’t want to miss this chance.

I didn’t want to remain just a stranger in his world. I wanted to know him—not as a distant presence, but for who he truly was.

And the only way forward was to take the risk.

That risk—sending the first message.

"Hi Senior, it was pleasant meeting you. Sorry I was unable to have a proper talk. We will catch up later."

My fingers hovered over the screen, my heartbeat uneven, my mind running through a hundred possibilities. Would he reply? Would the conversation flow? Would a single message shift everything between us, or if I had built too much in my head to begin with—but none of it mattered once the words left my screen, because taking the risk felt more important than staying unseen?

The space between _sent_ and _seen_ stretched longer than it should have, each passing second pulling at my thoughts—wondering if I had made the right move, wondering if this would change anything at all. That day felt longer than it should have—each glance at my screen carried both hope and dread.

Refreshing the chat, checking for a reply, convincing myself not to overthink—only to do it all over again minutes later.

Had he seen it yet? Was he just busy? Or had my message already faded into the endless stream of notifications?

It was a quiet kind of waiting, filled with restless thoughts, the weight of possibility pressing in.

The night ended with quiet hopes, imagining possibilities.

Morning came with the wish for a notification, a reply—something.

But disappointment settled instead.

No response. Just silence.

That day felt different—like something had shifted, but I couldn’t quite place it.

Maybe he was just being polite. Maybe it was nothing more than a courtesy.

But the inner voice in me refused to let it go, convincing me that taking the risk was worth it.

And yet, when I searched for him, when I scanned familiar spaces—

He was nowhere to be found.

For the first time, the anticipation wasn’t just in my mind—it was in the quiet absence of which I had expected him to be.

Did I imagine too much?

And just like that, the doubt cracked, the waiting ended—

His name appeared on my screen.

A notification. A message.

For a moment, I just stared at it, letting the weight of it settle.

After all the second-guessing, the unanswered hours, the wondering—

He replied.

Now, all that was left was to open it.