10 years, to fall in love

Chapter seven

The wait felt so long, even though I was only a week away from leaving for Malmö, Sweden's southernmost city.

Altho it felt like centuries away, that day has finally come. Because I had to attend the graduation ceremony of my boyfriend's niece that day, it was already past 10pm in the evening when I arrived in Malmo.

I went to the hotel to drop off my luggage, Arthur was already waiting for me outside the hotel entrance, I was walking like a fly, and I didn't want to miss every minute and second of meeting him.

A tall, chubby, long-haired boy at the door waited anxiously, our eyes looked at each other, and yes it was him. We gave each other a hug, I felt his broad and warm chest, even his heartbeat, and after a little taste, we let go of each other.

He is bigger than I imagined 🤦‍♂️😅 but I am exactly as he imagined, just as cute and playful.

He asked me if the illusion has broken. I don't remember how I answered, but I was honest and relatively embarrassed to admit that he's a little bigger than I thought.

Since I like him not because of his look, but because of his intelligence and wisdom. And his face is in fact not unpleasant at all. Quite the opposite, I find his face very attractive. Although it has absolutely nothing to do with the traditional and typical sense of European and American masculinity, it is the kind that makes people feel comfortable and brings people inner peace. His chubby and tall body also gave me a sense of security. If he loses weight one day, I bet he'd definitely be above average. Maybe I'm biased as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Because it was my first time in Malmö, I was not familiar with the city, and the hotel I booked was quite far out of city center. It would take 30 minutes to walk to his apartment, but somehow, because we chatted along the way, the time passed in the blink of an eye.

He led me back to his small one-bedroom apartment he rented. It was quite small and pocket-sized, but it had everything it should have. There are so many stuffing animals, and it's so much he could even open a toy store. Many girls don't understand and appreciate an adult guy who likes stuffed animals. I can totally understand and relate to such adult children boys. I appreciate boys with childlike innocence. No matter how things change, the beginning childlike innocence will never change and fade.

Two large bookshelves are filled with his nerdy collections, books with his programming and game development, RPG game design, science fiction, various board games, and some classic anime dolls such as Totoro on the top of the bookshelves, he is proud to introduce me his nerdy collections as a super nerd. Seeing how he was talking so confidently and proudly, I admired him and fell for him even more.

I admire him for not letting go his early age dreams of developing games and his genuine passion for it. He likes to play games and develop his own games. The enthusiasm for games accompanied him from childhood to adulthood as he turns it into his career that he loves. How many people are actually doing the work they love?

After the apartment tour, the two of us laid down on his two-seater sofa. I was still a little nervous and could not really be myself. Although I used to flirt with him online a lot, but in reality, I was more shy, and he even had less experiences than me. Fortunately, we could still carry on a conversation in person. It's just a matter of time till we feel comfortable with each other again.