Chapter Text
It’s summer in 2014 and you’re living with a roommate in a small apartment. You’re a recent college graduate, in your early twenties. You work a dead-end job in retail and have no boyfriend. Other than the occasional night out with your roommate, your social life is pretty dead. You’re bored and frustrated with your life and how it seems like your goals aren’t progressing as quickly as you’d hoped.
At the insistence of your roommate, you begin checking out online dating websites. While being wary the entire time, you still think that it couldn’t hurt to meet new people, whether online across the world or even in the next town. Hell, at least you might be able to get dinner and a movie out of a meeting. After a few weeks of chatting with random people from all over the world you’ve settled into a steady correspondence with a select few. Two were from other countries, and three were from your own.
One guy in particular that you enjoyed chatting with was from Asia. You weren’t sure from which country because he never said. He also never said his name, and always used his username in communications. You mostly called him “V” for short. He was younger than you, but he seemed to enjoy that fact. He was funny, and silly, and as time went on he became flirty. He always talked to you online, and he never exchanged any private information such as telephone numbers or emails or anything like that. Occasionally he would send you snapchat or instagram pictures of himself, and sometimes even the random video. He never really spoke, probably because of the language barrier. You still couldn’t pinpoint what country he was from just by looking at him. He always requested videos and images of you as well, and sometimes you even indulged him. You always insisted that you were too old for him, but that only seemed to encourage him more.
V was always on the go, but of course he never told you what he did or where he went. You knew personal quirks and hobbies that he had, but never really what he did. You were pretty sure he was a student of some kind, maybe in university? When you first met him online he had dark hair, but as time went on he began dyeing his hair, and every time he had it styled in a new color or crazy fashion he’d send you a selfie. You noticed more and more that the pictures he was sending to you showed him in either really nice or stylized clothing, and quite often it looked like he was wearing makeup- or at least eyeliner. Not for the first time you wondered what he did- was he an actor? A model (after all, despite being younger he was really good-looking)? Any time you tried to ask he simply brushed you off. The most you ever got out of him was that he seriously wasn’t allowed to share any information with anyone. No names, no personal communications, and nothing about what he did. He wasn’t supposed to be showing you pictures either, but apparently some rules he couldn’t stick with.
As time went on you really looked forward to hearing from him, even though you kept telling yourself that it wasn’t because you were into him, but rather you enjoyed his humor and his upbeat personality. Being good-looking wasn’t a set-back either. After about a year of talking on and off (when schedules allowed) your conversations began to dwindle. You knew there was a major time difference between you two. He always seemed to respond to your messages either while you were at work or asleep. You were hardly ever able to catch each other online simultaneously. Without feedback and encouragement your messages to each other began to read as daily reports- dry and impersonal. Eventually, the messages stopped coming. It was no one’s fault, really. Life just happened. He obviously had a busy life, and he was so young, that you felt at peace about him moving forward with his life. Even though you secretly harbored a feeling of regret that nothing more ever blossomed between you two, despite all the flirting. You moved on as well. You dated here and there, had another job change, and life continued on for you as it always had.