Inkwell's Love

All through my life, I've never been so loved by someone to the extent of the person saving my contact with a love emoji on his or her phone. Yeah, I know I'm loved by many, especially by family members, but I've never seen an emoji attached to my name. So when @dianelson told me she saved my name as "Inkwell's ❤️❤️" I was surprised and full of doubt until she brought a screenshot for me to see.

_{Image | Designed on canva}

I met Dianelson in this community via a comment on her article. At first, she didn't look like a Nigerian because of her display photo and unique name, which looked so foreign, until she replied to one of my comments with "abeg,"(please) and that became the beginning of our friendship. We exchanged contacts right before the eyes of the admin of this community, and from that moment on, a very strange bond ignited within us, as if we'd been waiting for each other. We had deep, endless conversations that day, trying to get to know each other very well.

It was just like a dream when we spilled out absolutely everything that we ought to know about each other in just a few hours of chat. I got to know that she has an older brother in this blockchain, and I jokingly told her that I'd be paying her dowry instalments to her brother via Hive to make it easier for me.
Before we met, I had so much admiration for how she weaved her words, and I concluded that she must be a literature student at her school, but she said no, she's into microbiology.

"Microbiology! You don't expect me to believe that." It was so unbelievable to me, and before I knew it, she was rolling in couples of photos of her in white lab coats in a laboratory.

The photos looked so real, but I still doubted, "Anybody can go to the lab, wear a lab coat, and take a photo".

Immediately after she read that, she recorded a voice note, and when I listened, the voice was like that of a 6-year-old baby crying to justify herself, and the voice was all I needed to convince me. I was still listening when she sent handwritten notes with an oesophagus diagram—an assignment on which she's working.

"Your writing skill must be a gift from childbirth for you to be good at writing like a professional in literature."
She thanked me, and we laughed over everything.

Throughout those days and nights of that week, we exchanged affectionate messages, creating the illusion of romantic involvement while we weren't dating; It's friendship that was the bedrock, with a chemistry stronger than a covalent bond.

As days passed by, the bond grew stronger, which led us to trust each other with finance. She bought a course online for both of us to read and enrol in another writing platform. I was impressed by her passionate pursuit of her goals, leading me to reconsider my previous nickname for her as the "ajebo girl" because of her gentle demeanor.

It was during this lovey-dovey period that she brought out a quote that later became our slogan:

_{screenshot from my phone}
"Some of the best relationships start with people you've never seen in person. It just happens, and they become a major part of your story."

Then, after a month, the burning fire of love from her dwindled away, and she began to reply to messages after hours. At first, I got the heat in my heart, but I refused to show a symptom because I'm a guy. I manned up and followed her mood swings; after all, we weren't dating; it was just 'agape' love at work.
Her attitude continued till I couldn't hold it anymore. The man in me left, and I had to swallow pride one night and flooded her DM with heartbreaking messages, pointing out how she's letting the beautiful bond leave for heaven before us.
The messages didn't double thick, so I slept off, hoping to get her reply the next morning. I woke up that morning to see her endless apology messages, blaming everything on how busy she's with her 4th year exams.

That week, she returned to Hive after her one-week break due to an exam. She put up a story and tagged me, apologising and gearing up to come back and for sure, the Crafted words melted my heart.

_{Screenshot from phone}

Yes, she returned; the bond ignited again within a week, and she left without words. I tried to figure out what could be the issue, and she narrowed it down to her school studies, which I decided to allow her to be.

The morning I wrote this, I wanted to know if she still has my name saved as "Inkwell's ❤️❤️" on her phone, so I dropped a message with her;

"Hi, goodmorning. Do you still have my contact saved as "Inkwell's ❤️❤️" on your phone?"

"Why would I ever change that?" She accompanied the reply with a screenshot bearing the name.

_{Screenshot from phone}

She didn't stop there; she went ahead to narrate all the battles she's been facing that made her stay away from people and Hive, and at the end, I was assured of her return to my life soonest, to ignite some sparks again before running away.