Halcyon Dreams

 At the end of 2013, I came home from school one day to a message in my Ask Box from some guy with the blog handle ‘hanbaeksol’ telling me he liked my taste in music and my blog. I was fairly new to the world of Tumblr and without a second thought, replied with a friendly response wanting to make my first internet friend.  I will admit, I was slightly hesitant and had second thoughts - in my family, there is a huge stigma with meeting people over the internet and quite frankly, I was slightly worried that he was a creeper. But as time passed by, he turned out to be really really friendly and almost every single day since, we’ve talked or video called each other. He opened up to me really quickly and I found that he was someone that understood me, my interests, my family background, my culture, etc. 

After some time went by, I became attracted to him but I faced a problem - I lived in California, and he lived in New Jersey. At the time, it seemed impossible and impractical for us to pursue any kind of relationship so we remained content with being acquaintances, friends, and eventually best friends over the years. 

I think at some point in 2015, we confessed that we had feelings for each other but again, we knew it wouldn’t work out because of how far away we lived so we eventually laughed it off. But since then, we stayed by each others’ side through every failed test, break up, shitty day that was thrown at us and we’ve watched each other grow. 

In 2016, I moved to San Diego from LA to study at UCSD and I remember it was a night in October I was sitting on a bench outside of my apartment talking with him over the phone. I remember telling him, “I wish you were here right now - I think you’d really like it here in SoCal!” 

A month later, he messaged me saying he did one of the bravest, dumbest, and probably most impulsive things he’s ever done in his life. Then he sent me a screenshot of the plane ticket he purchased to San Diego for the following winter break. And I think that’s when I knew I loved him.

In January 2017, I finally met my best friend after 5 years of screen time and walls of text. It was actually that same night at the airport when I met him that he asked me to be his girlfriend. Did I ever think that some random person that hit me up on Tumblr would be my partner? No. Never. But we’re nearly a year long into the relationship and there’s nothing more I could possibly want.  We’ve grown so much together, and I can’t imagine my future adventures, ambitions, and endeavors without him.