Hey, I’m Farhan Tak. At this point in my life, things are a bit different. I’m more serious now, trying to figure things out, though I still feel confused and frustrated at times. Life has its ups and downs, but this isn’t how my story started.

  Let’s go back to when I was just a teenager. A teen filled with nonsense, carefree, and with no real understanding of life. I didn’t take things seriously, not retionships, not the future—nothing. But little did I know, something was about to happen that would completely change everything.

  It all began one ordinary evening.

  I was scrolling through Facebook out of boredom. A few weeks ago, I had gone through a breakup, but honestly, it didn’t bother me much. I wasn’t the type to sit around feeling sad. I had just passed my 12th and was on a break, with no real pns for the future.

  As I zily scrolled, a message popped up.

  “Hello,” it said.

  The name on the profile read Zara Malik, but the name didn’t seem real—it felt like a nickname. The profile picture didn’t ring a bell either. My first thought was that it could be my ex or one of my friends pying a prank. But still, I replied.

  “Hi,” I wrote back.

  “How are you?” she asked almost immediately.

  “I’m fine,” I replied. “What about you?”

  “I’m good. Where are you from?”

  “Doda,” I said simply.

  “Wow, I’m from Doda too!”

  That made me pause. Doda wasn’t a big pce, and I thought I knew most people there, or at least I would’ve heard of them. So I asked her directly.

  “Do I know you? Or are you using another account?”

  She sent a ughing emoji and replied,

  “No, you don’t know me. I saw your profile and decided to message you.”

  It still seemed odd, but I decided to keep talking.

  “Oh, okay. What do you do?”

  “I’m a student,” she replied. “And you?”

  “I’ve just passed my 12th. Taking a break for now,” I said.

  “That’s nice. It’s good to take a break sometimes,” she said.

  The conversation started to flow naturally after that. We talked about simple things like hobbies, movies, and life in Doda.

  “What’s your full name?” I asked.

  “Zara Malik,” she replied.

  “Nice name,” I said.

  “Thanks! What’s yours?”

  “Farhan Tak,” I wrote back.

  “Nice to meet you, Farhan,” she said.

  “Nice to meet you too,” I replied.

  After some time, I asked her,

  “Are you on Instagram?”

  “Maybe,” she replied. “But I’ll only follow you if you have fewer followers than me!”

  I ughed. “Okay, deal. What’s your username?”

  She gave me her username, and I followed her. She followed me back, and soon, our chats shifted to Instagram. Over the next few days, we talked about everything and nothing.

  One evening, we were chatting again.

  “So, how was your day?” I asked.

  “Nice,” she replied. “What about yours?”

  “It was hectic,” I said. “Had to go shopping and do a lot of other stuff.”

  The conversation slowed down for a moment. I hesitated but then decided to say what was on my mind.

  “Actually, I want to tell you something,” I typed.

  “What?” she replied quickly.

  I stared at the screen for a few seconds before typing,

  “I like you. I love you and… I want to be with you.”

  I hit send.

  And that was how it all began