FATED AT 2AM

The wall clock ticked loudly, breaking the heavy silence of the bedroom. It was exactly two in the morning. The room was pitch black except for the sharp, blue glow from Luna’s phone screen lighting up her face. This had become her nightly routine—a secret habit she couldn't break. While everyone else in the house was asleep, Luna sat wide awake in the sticky, humid night air. Her mind was thousands of miles away, drifting across the ocean toward a different time zone, looking for a stranger she felt she knew perfectly. With a slightly shaking finger, she tapped on his profile. Elio. In his latest photo, he stood on a modern glass balcony overlooking a city that looked like a glowing grid. The golden streetlights of London blurred beautifully into the background, but Elio himself was perfectly sharp. He looked incredible, like a painting made of shadows and starlight. The cold European wind had messed up his dark hair, and he wore a simple black hoodie that made him look completely out of reach. He wasn't even looking at the camera. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the dark horizon, looking like he was carrying a heavy secret. Luna touched her thumb to his jawline on the screen. The cold, smooth glass felt nothing like real skin, but it was the only connection she had. To him, she was just an anonymous profile on a screen, another view count among millions of followers. But to her, he was the only thing keeping her world together. "Do you ever feel it, Elio?" she whispered into the empty darkness of her room. Her voice cracked. "The way the universe keeps bringing us to the exact same places, even if we never have the courage to meet?" This wasn't a normal celebrity crush. It was the strange coincidences that made her believe they were connected by fate. It happened in the quietest ways. Just yesterday, she had walked into a tiny, hidden cafe she had never noticed before. On a whim, she ordered a hazelnut latte with extra cinnamon—something she had never tried in her life. An hour later, Elio posted a photo of the exact same drink from a cozy cafe in London. His caption read: "A familiar taste in a strange city. Like a memory I haven't lived yet." Her heart had stopped when she saw it. And it wasn't just the coffee. It happened with everything—the indie songs she found on lonely afternoons, the old poetry books hidden in dusty corners of the library, and even the sudden rainstorms that seemed to hit both of their cities at the exact same time despite the massive distance. It felt like they were living out the exact same script on two different stages. Luna closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, leaning her head back against the cool wall. She tried to imagine that the distance between them was just an illusion made up by maps and clocks. Somewhere out there under the same sky, Elio was looking at the exact same moon, feeling that same strange pull in his chest, thinking of a girl he hadn't met yet. For Luna, the digital world was her only real comfort. In this quiet hour, Elio was the only person who made her feel less alone, even if it was all just a dream.