"who are you?"

After a long time, I received a text message from him. He was one of the very few guys I was attracted to in my college. I never managed to tell him that I was interested in him. I was not prepared to lose his friendship. But eventually I did find myself separated from him. It was too hard to control myself... to stare into his eyes... to hold his hands... to stop my fingers from feeling his thighs... ... ... just being with him. I did not want anybody to suspect that I'm showing any special interest in him. More importantly, I didn't want him to know that. Because I was quite certain that he was not gay.

It read 'good morning'. Such messages usually remain not more than a few minutes in my inbox. But, this was special. I did not delete it. I scanned my inbox for a forwarded message that suggests 'I missed you'. Found something and sent it immediately.

He never replied but continued to send 'good morning' messages. I couldn't help but assume that he had been sending that to all his friends.

Today, I didn't receive any. I don't remember getting any message from his number even the previous day. I scanned my inbox again. This time for some message that is more neutral. Something just to let him know that I'm free.

Within minutes of sending the message, I got the reply. I was so happy seeing his name on my screen. The next moment, it disappeared. Anger, disappointment, and sorrow quickly replaced it.

The message read "Hello, who is this?"