twenty-twenty-three

one

May 2021

alia stood at the side of the kitchen counter, watching the noodles boil. her mother had been bantering with the maid about how she had been doing her chores inconsistently, but it was just white noise to alia at this point.

she stirred and stirred at the ramen, and thought, 'gee, i am actually not single anymore.' she had been only 13 at the time, and she met a boy online. they were still in the pandemic, so she socialized by talking to different people online.

looking back at that memory now, it seems so silly, considering a boy she had never met, never even seen before her, to be her boyfriend. but i guess everyone had that phase during covid. she stared off into blank space as she wondered about their conversation and felt her cheeks heat up.

he had been the only boy she had ever talked to, non-platonically, as she grew up going to an all girls school. this was all so foreign to her, she couldnt help but feel excited about what was to come. she had met him only a week prior, and he had asked her to be his girlfriend.

she was from bangladesh, and while bangladesh is a very small country in itself, the boy was from the maldives. even smaller. she thought it was quite funny, because before meeting him, she hadn't even known people of the nationality maldivian even existed. she just thought it was an expensive island, white people went to vacation on.

she was like that sometimes, vague about the things around her. they continued to talk and talk, however she noticed the conversations were rather dry, with no real topic. just some mindless chatter. she thinks now, how simple her life was.

she used to sit in her pretty little room, which she had decorated with led lights and posters, she listened to music, ate a bunch of processed shit, watched endless shows, read endless books and talked to her online boyfriend.

if only she had known.

school was closed, and her school in particular wasnt very strict about online school, so there was really no schoolwork. she had a falling out with a friend group she had, and kind of lost contact with her school friends at the time. but she was content with herself.

October 2021

they broke up. it was all very silly. how can a make-believe relationship formed online, have a "break up." Alia had felt that the relationship had become pointless as the boy was not giving any effort, would barely reply, was too engrossed in gaming, and they barely knew eachother. it had already been 4 months though.

she had done it with a simple message at around 3 am, and the next morning she woke up to a message that just said, "oh alright. hope we can get back together some day." and that was that.

she felt shitty about herself for feeling sad about breaking things off, as she had always had a habit of invalidating her own feelings. she was just a child after all, and this was the first boy she ever had romantic feelings for. and it hadnt worked out.

one week later, she finally caved, and texted him. it had just been a simple 'i miss you.' and that led to a short conversation. it had been pretty clear he was not very affected by the break up, which hurt, but it wasnt surprising. they lost contact after that, but she messaged him again on his birthday.

right on the dot, at 12 am, october 16. he replied two days later. she took his vague 'ty' as a hint and they lost contact once again.

November 2021

she was the first one to message him. she sent him a meme, which simply reminded her of him, after almost a month of no contact.

to be continued

authors note: hello, i know this seems like a very stupid story rn, but i promise the plot and the twists and the storyline gets better. i have a whole format planned out on how to present this story to you guys, and i really hope you stick around to appreciate it.