"Are you serious?" Kia was shocked. She stood still, looking into my eyes, and waiting for my response. Anyone would have given the same expression when I said everything that happened since the day I moved to this place.

"Yeah," I said in a low voice.

"Oh, okay!" She took some time to process things. After a minute or so, she asked, "So what about you?"

"See, that's the problem. I think I like him too. To be honest, a lot." I whispered.

"Jeez! Only in movies have I heard about falling in love even without meeting each other." She said this as she stopped walking. She pulled my hands away and made me stand in front of her.

"Just stop kidding, Kia." I sighed.

"No, I'm serious. Are you into him already, even without seeing him?" That question from her was something that I expected already.

"Yeah, I know nothing about him. I don't know where he is living, I don't know what he's doing, I don't know anything about his character, and for God's sake, I don't even know his actual name. I don't know how, but yeah, I love him. From his letters, I can sense him. I can sense his thoughts. One thing I could say for sure is that he is so pure in his heart. He is so genuine that, in these many letters, he never forced me to love him or made me feel vulnerable. He just wanted to hear my thoughts about him, nothing more. His love is that genuine." I paused and looked at her. She nodded her head in silence.

I continued, "Initially, it was like a game, you know, to find the next letter. It was like solving a puzzle and nothing more. But as time went on, I gradually started looking for his letters. I started re-reading all the previous ones. In fact, I read it so many times that it got in my head like something I had memorized. I got so obsessed with his letters. I started imagining how life would be when I was with him. It's not with everyone we get to feel this way, right? With him, I felt it hard. I got connected to him so quickly. I know it sounds stupid to fall for a stranger who's stalking me. But I can't take away his thoughts from my mind. I can feel that I am so into him already. I can't help myself." I stammered as I said all these things that had piled up in my head for so long. I was on the verge of bursting out.

"It's ok. Just breathe." She patted my back.

"I just got a little nervous, Ki."

"Yeah, I can see that. You're so nervous that you called me Ki." She laughed.

"That's not bad either." I smiled. The tension in the air oozed out. I looked at my watch, as it was already late for the class.

"Do you really want to attend Ms. Mila's class today?" Kia leaned against the wall. I raised my shoulders with ease and said nothing back.

"You don't need to justify yourself, El, for loving him. Everyone is a stranger until we love them, right? Some people fall for someone at first sight. Some fall in love gradually after getting to know them. And there is also someone like you. If you feel it, then you feel it. Don't deny or complicate your feelings for him. If he's someone you think he is, then you're so damn lucky to have a passionate boyfriend. And if he's not, then you should also be ready to accept the reality." She effortlessly made me calm.

"I should've told you earlier," I said after a brief silence.

"For sure, you should've." She swiftly nodded her head in agreement.

"So... what do you think I should do now?" I asked her.

"I think you should talk to him."

"But how? I don't have his phone number or address." I exhaled helplessly. She guffawed after hearing me. I was confused, wondering in what world it sounded funny.

"In my life, I've never seen someone who's brainless like you." She said after controlling her laugh.

"Oh god! Stop roasting me, Kia."

"Then, for what sake, there's something called email? You logged in to the account he created, right? He might already know that you've logged in. This universe already did its part to help you by notifying him that someone logged in to this account by sending him a security alert." As she said, I looked at her in awe and also felt embarrassed for being the epitome of dumbness.

"For a minute, you sounded like Sherlock Holmes, Ki." I hugged her in excitement.

"But still, I don't have his mail ID to send back a message, right?" I asked this question that popped up in my mind as I hugged her.

"Are you for real, El?" She did a facepalm. I didn't know what was wrong with my question. So I stood still without answering.

"You can even send mail to an ID from the very same ID. He, for sure, would have logged in with this ID that he gave you. So if you send a mail to that id, he will also get a notification of it. You can talk to him through that account." She might have definitely doubted her choice of choosing me as a friend.

"You should be on a Mars mission. What are you even doing here?" I asked her in admiration. I knew I exaggerated a little. She smiled and said, "Better send him what you wrote in a letter that you planned on giving him when you two meet." She started walking away.

"Nah. I want to give it as a letter to him and see how his face goes when he reads it." After giving it some thought, I shouted so she could hear it.

I felt relieved. But I also felt something different for the first time. It was maybe due to the mere thought that I'd finally be going to talk to him. I was so thrilled. Promptly, I unlocked my phone, and there was already a message sent by him this morning.

My girl,

I don't know whether someone else's in your heart, or you are going through something very heartbreaking, or you don't like me at all. Whatever it is, it's you in all my heart. Every time I see the sky, I can visualize how the stars group up to portray this charming face of yours. Every time I close my eyes, I can feel you. I can feel you holding my hand. I can sense the warmth around you. The moment I open my eyes, you are no longer in my sight. I owe you no more. That reality hit me hard.

I always wonder why I have fallen so deeply for you. But you hold the answer. You are the answer.

I'll wait for you. Don't break my heart, El. It can't cope up this time.

Waiting for you,

Enrytt.

I was speechless. It was like he injected all of his feelings into my nerves through this letter. I could hardly breathe. Until now, I never realized what it must have been like for him. But now I felt it hard.

Instantly, I clicked the compose icon and started typing another email. I could feel my rising heartbeat as I typed.

"Hey there!" I pressed the send icon. My hands started trembling shortly after. I turned off my phone immediately and started running behind Kia.

"Ufff! Slow down." Henry told as he passed me in the hallway. "Wait! Are you not in the class already?" I slowed down and turned towards him. He turned back and replied, "I was."

He smiled as he spoke. His face was different than usual. It was glowing. He was full of beans today. It was shocking to me, as I have never seen him in high spirits. "You were?" I asked him curiously.

"Um. Yeah, until a thing came up." He barely stood in position.

"So what thing?" I regretted intruding in his private space as soon as I asked.

"Maybe later?" He said it calmly. He was so kind, with his brightening face and all. I was excited to see this version of him. He was always like a lonely kid lost somewhere. There used to be this deep-rooted sadness in his face. He never spoke to anyone for more than five minutes at a stretch. But I could see that there was also this urge within him to befriend people. Maybe, for some reason, he couldn't pull it off. At times, I tried talking with him, but none of the conversations turned out to be great.

"Yeah, don't mind." I smiled nervously and started walking on my way, as I already couldn't stop the tickling sensation in my stomach since I sent the mail.

I've never felt this nervous and peaceful at the same time. I felt weightless. It's like all the weight in my heart was carried away by some misblown wind.

After getting an earful from Ms. Mila for always being late, I sat near Kia, who pretended to be attentive.

"You should hire me as your relationship advisor."

"Ugh! Please let me indulge in my imagination, Ki." I sighed.

I impatiently waited for the notification sound the whole day but ended up being disappointed. "What if he's as dumb as me? What if he didn't know how to reach me? Maybe I should send him my number." I kept wondering about all the possible reasons that kept him from texting me back.

"You should just go home and relax, El," Kia said as we came out of the class.

All the way back home, I couldn't help smiling and, at the same time, couldn't control the adrenaline rush. I gave up on restricting my mixed emotions.

As soon as I reached home, I rushed to make some coffee. But even coffee couldn't fix me this time. It didn't calm me down, as it always does. I hopelessly laid down after a long, tiring day.

7:09 PM

"Hi!" The popping sound woke me up from my cat nap. My hands were shaking as I got hold of the cell phone.

"Who's this?" The next mail arrived within seconds.

"Who do you think it would be?" I just wanted to provoke him.

"El?"

"Yup, you're right."

"So it took these many days for you to finally talk to me?"

"Sorry for being dumb."

"Haha! So how are you?"

"Good. How about you?"

"Feeling too great after so many months:-)"

I got stuck and didn't know what to say next. I wondered if I should send a photo of the letter I wrote to him, as Kia suggested.

"Should we meet this weekend?" Another email popped up.

"Oh yeah, yeah. We should definitely meet."

"?"

"7:09 PM, Saturday, at your safe haven." I just pathetically attempted to sound like him.

That's the thing about love. It makes us do crazy things. It makes us love all the things about that one person. If they like apple pie, then sooner or later we'll also start loving it. All our favorites become theirs, and all the things they love become our favorites. How beautifully that transition occurs even without our realization.

It's like we're not losing our individuality, but at the same time, our list of favorites gets expanded. It's more like how we start accepting the other person for all of the things they love. It's more like respecting and accepting them for who they are. I have only read about all these things in books, but to experience them in person is truly surreal. This self-realization of mine was suddenly disturbed by his reply.

"A beach can never wrong you!

Good night."

Only after saying good night to him did I realize how stupid I was for not asking his real name.

"Argh! Another day and another embarrassment. Kia is going to definitely roast me for this."

I printed the mail he sent this morning and added it to the collection of his letters. It was already a bunch. To have a hand full of letters meant the world to me. Letters are the most intimate companion one can ever have. Pointlessly looking at those pages for hours, talking to them, and laughing at them have become hobbies of mine in recent times. Though some of them are torn here and there and as damaged as they can ever be, as long as the words in them are intact and as long as they hold the same amount of love they are meant to carry, they are priceless. I already knew I was going to treasure it for the rest of my life.

*****

Hey there! I knew it had been ages since I uploaded a chapter.

I hope Elena doesn't curse me for being this irregular in her story.

And of course, I can't wait for them to meet!

;-)

*****