LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

The Answer I Had Been Waiting For

Chapter three

As our friendship grew stronger, something between us slowly began to change.

At first, it was difficult to tell exactly what was happening. We were simply becoming more comfortable around each other. We talked more often, joked with each other, and spent time together whenever we had the opportunity. The awkwardness that had existed between us before was gradually disappearing.

During school breaks, we would sometimes sit together and talk about ourselves. Those moments gave me the chance to know her beyond the person I had first noticed in the classroom. I began discovering more about her personality, the things she liked, the things she disliked, and the way she viewed certain things.

One day, while we were talking during a break, I asked her a question that had been on my mind.

“Have you ever been in a relationship before?”

She told me she had never been in one.

I was surprised.

“Why?” I asked.

She explained that she did not want to experience the kind of pain that could come with a relationship. She did not want to love someone, become attached to that person, and then have the relationship fail. She imagined herself being the one left hurt and crying while the other person simply walked away and continued with life as if nothing had happened.

She did not want to experience that.

As she explained herself, I listened carefully. But inside my mind, I had a completely different thought.

No problem. I will teach her to love.

I did not say that aloud. It was simply the thought that crossed my mind.

We continued talking.

Our conversations were no longer limited to schoolwork or random jokes. We began asking each other questions about our lives. What did we like? What did we dislike? What kind of things made us happy? What did we think about certain situations?

Every conversation seemed to bring us a little closer.

Even when we were on break from school, we continued chatting. We joked with each other, asked questions, and talked about different things. The more we communicated, the more natural our friendship became.

Somewhere along the way, she also told me that she had a boyfriend. That was something I remembered, especially because of the earlier conversation we had had about relationships.

Still, I did not let that stop the friendship between us.

I had already developed feelings for her, but I had not yet told her exactly what I wanted. I kept those intentions to myself while I continued getting to know her.

Days passed.

Then weeks.

And eventually, I reached the point where I knew I could no longer keep my feelings to myself.

I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend.

The problem was that knowing what I wanted and actually saying it were two completely different things.

I tried to build up the courage.

The first time I considered telling her, I backed out. My confidence was not strong enough.

I tried again another time, and once again, I could not bring myself to say it.

It was strange because I had been confident about so many other things. But when it came to telling her how I felt, suddenly I was thinking about every possible reaction.

What if she said no?

What if she laughed?

What if things became awkward between us afterward?

What if asking her out ruined the friendship we had worked so hard to rebuild?

Still, I knew I had to eventually say something.

Then the last day came.

I decided that I was not going to leave without telling her.

I gathered enough courage and finally told her that I wanted her to be my girlfriend.

For a moment, it felt as though I had finally said the words I had been carrying inside me for so long.

Her reaction was not exactly what I expected.

She smiled, and from the way she reacted, I got the feeling that she did not think I was completely serious.

She said something that made me understand that if she already had something or someone, she wanted more and more. I understood it as her saying that if she already had one, she wanted another one.

I told her I had no problem with that.

But I wanted a clear answer.

“So, what is your answer?” I asked.

She did not immediately say yes.

Instead, she told me she needed time to think about it. She said she would give me an answer the next day.

That meant I had to wait.

I remember telling her that I hoped her answer would be positive and not negative.

She smiled.

Then she said goodbye.

I went home that day with one thing constantly on my mind.

Her answer.

I kept thinking about what she would say the following day. I hoped she would say yes. I tried to imagine how everything would change if she accepted.

At the same time, I knew there was nothing I could do to control her decision.

All I could do was wait.

The next day finally came.

When she arrived, we started talking. During our conversation, she made a statement that indirectly made me understand that her answer was yes.

I knew what she meant.

But somehow, I still wanted to hear it directly from her.

I wanted to be certain.

After she finished talking, she asked me something along the lines of why I had not answered her.

I knew she had already given me the answer, but I wanted to go straight to the point.

She asked why I wanted her to do it for the second time.

I smiled.

Then she said yes.

That was it.

She had accepted.

I was deeply happy.

“Okay, fine. Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” she replied.

Then she went to her class.

Just like that, something I had been hoping for had finally happened.

We had started our first relationship.

There was no dramatic moment. No huge celebration. Nothing that looked like something from a movie.

It was simply two young people who had started as strangers, became friends, drifted apart, found their way back to each other, and eventually decided to give a relationship a chance.

At that point, I was happy.

Things seemed to be going well.

We continued studying and writing our examinations. We still talked, joked, and spent time together whenever we could.

But while everything looked fine from where I stood, something else was beginning to happen around us.

Her friends had started becoming a problem.

Before the second term came to an end, they began disturbing her about the relationship.

They kept telling her that she should not date anybody.

They told her to stop talking to me.

They told her to break up.

They repeatedly pressured her about the relationship, saying that she was too young for one and that she should not be involved in a relationship at that stage.

It continued like that.

Again and again.

I knew they were not happy about the relationship.

From my perspective, I also believed that some of their behavior came from jealousy. I felt that because of the way they saw me, they did not want her to be with me. In my mind, I was someone they considered attractive, someone they knew other girls might be interested in.

Whether that was the whole reason or not, what mattered was that their pressure was real.

They were constantly talking to her about us.

They wanted her to stop.

They wanted her to leave the relationship.

And they wanted her to distance herself from me.

I could see that the relationship was already beginning to face its first real challenge.

It was no longer just about what she and I wanted.

Other people had started having opinions about something that belonged between the two of us.

That was one of the first things I began to understand about relationships: sometimes the challenge does not come from the two people involved. Sometimes it comes from the people standing around them.

Her friends continued disturbing her before the second term finally came to an end.

They kept telling her that she was too young for a relationship.

They kept telling her to stop talking to me.

They kept trying to convince her to end things.

And through all of it, I could only watch and wonder what would happen next.

The relationship had barely begun, yet it was already being tested.

I had spent so much time trying to get close to her. I had watched our friendship grow from simple conversations into something deeper. I had struggled to find the courage to ask her out. I had waited anxiously for her answer.

And finally, she had said yes.

Now, before we had even reached the end of the term, people around us were already trying to pull us apart.

Still, at that moment, I did not know exactly where all of this would lead.

I only knew that something had changed.

The girl I had first noticed when she walked into the classroom on that Wednesday was no longer just the girl I had once admired from a distance.

She had become someone I talked to.

Someone I laughed with.

Someone I had built a friendship with.

And now, someone I could call my girlfriend.

But the pressure from her friends had introduced a new question into our story:

How long could something survive when the people around it were constantly trying to tear it apart?

I did not have the answer yet.

The second term was coming to an end.

Our examinations were continuing.

And while I thought the hardest part had been getting her to say yes, I was about to discover that getting the answer I wanted was only the beginning.

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