To All The Boys I Liked Before

TATBILB: Mr. Stranger

Do you like someone whom you don't know much? Like a stranger that you don't even know the person that much, but you like that person?

My best friend, Sam, was calling someone, and that someone was a guy. When I saw the person she was calling, I could say he was handsome and my type. I asked Sam about him, and she said they are friends and neighbors. His name is Louise Leonard. He is tall, handsome, and intelligent. That was in 10th grade. I didn't see him after that.

In my senior high, I dared to chat with him. I'm glad because he has seen it and replied. In a few days, we got comfortable talking on Messenger daily, and sometimes we video-called. I learned a lot about him, and I'm happy because we have the same interests: our love for anime. Whenever we would chat after school, my friends would tease me because I would smile when reading his replies. We call each other crazy.

Everything was okay, but he said he wanted to see me in person because he was unfamiliar with me. Still, I already saw him that day, so it's not a problem with me. I also wanted to see him in person. He asked me on a date during our Christmas party, but it's not just that. He invited me to go to the park and meet in person, but I disagreed because I was scared. After all, it's my first time. He also teases me to go to his house to help accompany him.

Fast forward, and it's Valentine's Day. I chatted with him, telling him how his day was. He said many girls gave him roses, but he threw them all in the garbage. He is handsome, after all, no doubt about it. I said not to throw it and accept it with a smile even though he didn't like it. He said that if I gave him a flower, he would put it in a frame and put it on display. What a crazy guy, indeed.

One day, I chatted with him that I would be taking up engineering. I was startled because he replied that he had an engineer wife. I felt my heart flutter there. When I turned to college, I was studying at an excellent school that everyone was envious of. Louise is also jealous of me because he wants to study at my school someday. He said he would study at my school when he turned 3rd year and see me. I was happy, but things changed, and a lot happened to me that was not good. I'm no longer happy taking engineering, so I shifted to another course and transferred to another school. I told Louise about it, and he forced me to take up Civil engineering instead at his school. I refused. I'm not particularly eager to study and take that course at his school. Sometimes, he would share that he has a perfect or high score on his quizzes and exams in calculus, and I would praise him because he is smart.

One time, while waiting for a jeepney, Louise chatted with me, saying he saw me waiting for a jeep. I was stunned because he knew me already, but it didn't change that we had not met personally.

After a few months, we didn't chat often, and I heard he already had a girlfriend. He would see it and not reply whenever I chatted with him, so I stopped chatting with him. From that day on, I stopped liking him. It's easy to stop liking him because he's a stranger. I only like him because of his sweet messages. I don't know him too well, and we didn't even meet personally.