Fakiru Week 2018 Day 7: Heart
Ahiru scrolled through her feed on Instagram, looking at all the photos from the people she followed. She should be studying for her upcoming math test but was distracted by her phone buzzing with notifications. I'm just taking a little break, Ahiru decided. I'll turn it off in five minutes!
She lazily swiped through pictures of delicious food, cute nail art, and her friends making silly faces until a certain photo caught her attention. Ahiru smiled and tapped to enlarge the picture.
In elegant and colorful calligraphy, a quote stood out on the stark white page. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Delicate filigrees and whimsical curlicues surrounded the quote, and Ahiru was awestruck.
Of all 323 people she followed, this person's pictures were her favorite. Simple quotes were stylized in such a beautiful way, and after seeing her favorite quote from her favorite book being written in such an elegant way, she couldn't wait to see what the writer and artist would do next. She quickly tapped the heart icon in the corner of the photo and left the comment: "Another beautiful work! Has someone caught your eye? ?"
In real life, Ahiru didn't think she would be so brazen and flirtatious. Behind the screen, though, Ahiru had the courage to leave bold comments and all the winking face emojis she could fit! To be honest, she had developed a slight crush on the mysterious writer, who followed her back and left comments on several of her own dance videos. Ahiru liked to dance and whenever she had free time to herself in the dance studio, she would record short clips of herself dancing to whatever happened to be on her playlist at the time. Sometimes it was hip hop and she would incorporate a lot of footwork. Other times, it was contemporary, and Ahiru would dance slow and elongate her movements.
Ahiru shook herself out of her daydream and gasped at the time – her five-minute break had turned into a 20-minute reminiscing of her online crush! She took a quick look at the picture and thought to herself, "After my study session, I'll go to the studio and make another dance video!"
Fakir sat down at his usual lunch spot and pulled out his phone. Opening this Instagram app, he noted all the hearts and comments his latest picture garnered. At first, Fakir created his account for the purpose of having somewhere to store his calligraphy and writing, but without him realizing it, he began to gather a following who followed for the beautiful inspirational quotes he penned.
One particular comment caught his attention: "Another beautiful work! Has someone caught your eye? ?" Fakir noted the username and smiled. It was the rosy-haired dancer he followed some months prior, and to be honest, he was thrilled to see that she had commented again. Fakir didn't follow too many people – this app was more of a gallery for him – but this girl had a style of dancing that entranced him the first time he saw one of her videos. No matter the music, she would always find a way to dance her heart out.
Fakir tapped out a reply to her comment: "Maybe I'm trying to catch your attention? ?" He returned the winking emoji and hit Enter before his nerve got to him. Fakir wasn't so forward in real life, but behind a digital barrier, Fakir couldn't see what harm some light flirting would do.
At that moment, a notification popped up letting him know that the girl had posted another dance video. Fakir eagerly tapped on it and the music that started to play was surprising. The girl's taste in music seemed to be made up of hits from the radio with a little K-pop mixed in, but this was the first time she was dancing to classical music. In fact, he recognized it as a piece from the Phantom of the Opera, but he wasn't sure which specific song. This wasn't a routine she had practiced, though. Instead, the girl moved to the music, slow and deliberate to accentuate her movements and convey the meaning of the music with her body. Even before finishing the video, Fakir wrote the comment: "I've never seen you dance with such emotion. Really amazing."
He left the first heart on the video, then closed the app. Maybe today was the day he would finally get the courage to privately message her.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the story! I did several drawings for Fakiru Week, so I'd love for you guys to come check them out on DeviantArt, same username!