started with a like

“when they ask how we met i won’t say much— just smile, and whisper, “it started with a like.” no grand moment. no movie scene. just your photo on my screen and something in me paused. i didn’t know your name but your eyes felt familiar— like a story i had once forgotten but wanted to read again. i sent a message. waited. regretted. almost unsent it. you didn’t reply. not at first. but that’s okay. you were healing. i could tell from the quiet storms in your captions and the way your words carried weight without needing volume. i watched from afar— not in a creepy way, but in a i see you, even when you’re hiding from yourself kind of way. we talked. slowly. awkward at times, but always honest. some nights we stayed up just sending voice notes and laughing about nothing until it felt like everything. you met my flaws before you met my family. you saw my mistakes and still made space for me. i wasn’t always right. i wasn’t always kind. but i was always real with you. they called us childish. too fast. too young. too digital. but they didn’t see the way you brought peace to my chaos or how your voice felt like home when the world was too loud. we fought. of course we did. we’re human. but we always found our way back— like gravity, gentle but certain. you helped me grow without asking me to change. and that, to me, is love. so when they ask how we began, i’ll say— not in a park, not at a café, not some rom-com magic… just a post, a scroll, and a moment where two hearts on opposite sides of a screen found a way to speak the same language. and from there, we kept choosing each other. again, and again, and again. because love doesn’t always need a fairytale— just a bit of timing, a little faith, and someone worth replying to.”