The First Chapter of the Short Story I Wrote About Us — Dedicated to You, Jim

This short story is dedicated to my greatest love, Jim Reynold Zamora, who became the spark during my darkest times. Now, he’s a roaring flame that will never die. 

This is our story, love… from my point of view. Happy 26th Birthday!

(This is the first chapter of the short story I wrote about my boyfriend and me. Basically, this was supposed to be a gift for our first anniversary, but I didn’t really have the chance to finish it. I’m posting it now for his 26th birthday… as a gift to him and also to share with my readers the story of how we met. Enjoy the first chapter of our story!)

1

“Did he just…”

Raphael squinted his eyes and arched his eyebrows as he pulled his phone closer to his face. He stared at the username which appeared on his notifications tab three times.

jimreynold_ liked your photo

jimreynold_ liked your photo

jimreynold_ liked your photo

The young lad let out a soft laugh and pressed the username of the guy who seemingly liked a series of his photos. The laugh was not out of amusement but because of how cute he thought the guy was for liking every single one of the three photos he posted that day.

“Hey there, cutie,” he whispered, staring at the profile of the Instagram user. He appreciated the content of his feed. It looked good due to its sense of genuineness and bright colors. ‘He isn’t concerned with the color of his feed, nor he cares about the aesthetic,’ the lad thought.

Raphael slid his fingers on his phone to scroll further—deeper into the feed of the stranger. Well, they follow each other, but they’re still strangers at this point. But he felt really interested.

That’s when he realized something. “You look familiar, wait,” he mumbled while tilting his head and staring at the guy’s random photo. He swiped up from the bottom of his phone to immediately search for his apps.

He clicked on one of them—one he felt he saw the guy in. The lad then scanned through the tabs to search for something. “I can’t be wrong. You are familiar.” He scoured through the app, looking at all of the people he had on it. 

Then there he was, the exact same photo he saw on Instagram.

Matched: Jim Reynold Zamora

‘Of course, he was from Tinder,’ he thought. Raphael then came back to Instagram to confirm. “Yeah, this is him.”

After making sure that they are the same guy, he then proceeded to admire the guy. First, as usual, he appreciated Jim’s beautiful features. He looked cute, almost like a teenager. His nose was carved to a point, his lips were plump, and his eyes… 

‘Oh, those eyes look like they are pleading. He looks so innocent,’ he thought. 

After looking at more photos in the guy’s feed, the impression that he is a teenager or a young adult was immediately disproven. There were photos of him from work. Heck, he even had a shirtless photo taken as a mirror shot. ‘This guy is definitely not young.’

Being the guy that he was—shy, paranoid, someone who lacks confidence, he didn’t send him a direct message on Instagram. Nor did he hit him up on Tinder. He didn’t do anything, really. “I need more proof that he really likes me. I won’t risk being rejected.” Of course, that’s the ego talking. But you can’t blame him for fearing rejection. Raphael is a guy who craves for things to be certain and sure, always, before diving right in.

And so he did. He continued admiring Jim Reynold Zamora from afar. He also started liking his photos whenever they appear on his feed. And every time Jim liked his series of photos, it definitely left a smile on his face.

He then stalked the guy’s feed once again, and every time he did that, he discovered something more fascinating about the life of Jim Reynold. From the looks of it, he is a writer. And some of the beautiful pieces that he writes are about mental health, friendship, social awareness, and other important things. As he continued to do this, his admiration for the guy also continued to grow. This is far from love, of course. The young lad isn’t shallow. But he is sure he wanted to know him more.

After weeks of ‘stalking’ the guy, he finally had the courage… to reply to his story… with an emoji. Well, at least he did something, right? It didn’t take long for Jim to react to the little heart-eyed face he sent and also replied with three hearts. What a convo. That is better than not having any progress, right?

If he is being honest though, he wasn’t head over heels for Jim Reynold Zamora. He just thought he was cute and admirable due to the things he posts on his feed and shares on his story. It is all about using his platform for good. Raphael has been talking to a few guys as he tried to search for himself and experiment with what he truly searches for in a partner. However, so far, Jim Reynold is the closest to what he’s looking for. At least, with what he presents on social media.

“Hey, Kuya! Let’s go! We’ll be late,” Raphael’s sister, Nat, called out. It didn’t take him long to answer as he slid his black sweater onto his body. “Yeah, yeah, just a second.” The lad slipped his feet into his brown boots and then jumped from his bed as he sped up downstairs. It was his aunt’s birthday and they were about to eat in a restaurant.

“What took you so long? You’re always like that.” His mother groaned as they made their way into the car and head toward the nearby mall.

“Nothing, Mom. You know I wouldn’t go out looking like crap, right? I had to choose my clothes.” Raphael fixed his hair and made himself comfortable in the car. 

As they made their way to the restaurant, Raphael and his sisters didn’t waste any chance to pose for a picture. Trips like this were limited because of the pandemic brought by the COVID19 virus. Opportunities to have access to beautiful backdrops should always be seized.

The siblings along with their mother, aunt, uncle, and cousins entered the restaurant. “Oh, that’s beautiful.” Raphael noticed the huge mirror in the middle of the restaurant. He thought that he should take a photo of that before they left the establishment.

After awkward conversations with their relatives, it was time for everyone to go home. As the siblings fixed themselves to have a much-awaited photoshoot outside the restaurant, Raphael made sure that he took a mirror shot of himself in the beautiful mirror he saw a while ago. After doing so, he immediately uploaded that to his stories.

A few minutes went by when he heard his phone’s notifications. It was from Instagram. When he saw the app’s icon, he immediately read who it was from as the phone unlocked with his face ID. It was from the user, @jimreynold_. He didn’t notice that his lips started to curve as he stared at the tiny little notification.

“And why are you smiling?” Raphael’s sister, Gabbie, asked as she crossed her arms and looked at him with suspicion. The 11-year-old was smart for her age, even sometimes acting like a big sister to him and Nat, with Gabbie being the youngest.

“Nothing, nothing, baby…” That’s what he calls her, for Raphael sees her as their baby which is far from the little girl’s mature mind and mannerisms.

 
“Let’s go?” The lad pulled his sister along with Nat out of the restaurant as they paved their way out.

jimreynold_ replied to your story: (heart-eyes emoji)

Raphael fastly yet also nervously clicked the notification.

“I should reply but also not sound that interested,” he whispered as he strut his way towards the beautiful garden of the mall where the restaurant they ate at was located.

raphilia__: (three heart emojis)

jimreynold_: I love your sweatieee

raphilia__: Yes, my ex-boyfriend gave it to me

jimreynold_: Lmao, he has taste, huh

raphilia__: Who are we talking about again?

raphilia__: jk

jimreynold_: Your ex who has a sense of style?

raphilia__: Ah, he gave this to me because he knows it looks good on me.

raphilia__: jk

jimreynold_: Lmao yes it does

jimreynold_: It complements your body-frame

raphilia__: hey, I’m just kidding, lmao

Jim just liked Raphael’s last reply but didn’t send any more messages. Of course, he was happy about this. His first real conversation with Jim. He just smiled and then slipped his phone into his pockets. 

On their way home, he kept on checking his phone. He just posted a series of his photos and he’s been waiting for someone to react. And no, you might have guessed wrong. It wasn’t Jim Reynold but the guy he’s been talking to for the past few weeks. They haven’t talked for quite some time but he still waited for some interaction with him. They haven’t connected properly and never had a very meaningful conversation. ‘Maybe that’s a sign that we really aren’t compatible,’ he thought while realizing how he wanted someone who he can connect with and have a healthy and beautiful conversation about life.

After quite some time, Raphael and Jim have not talked again except for the emojis they send to each other as a reply to their Instagram stories. Due to this, after being sick of just the small interactions, Raphael chose to pull himself together when he saw a cute post from Jim. It was a photo of the young lad, mimicking the statue beside him. It was a photo taken in Thailand.

Raphael pressed the little paper airplane icon and scrolled down to choose the username, jimreynold_. “Why are you so cute?” He mouthed the words he typed on his phone before sending the Instagram post.

raphilia__: Why are you so cute?

jimreynold_: Aww that made me feel butterflies in my stomach 

raphilia__: It’s because you’re cute af, really. It even seems like I can carry you.

jimreynold_: Yeah, I think so too, since you’re big.

jimreynold_: piggyback me

raphilia__: You haven’t even seen me. How did you say I am tall?

raphilia__: sure, I can piggyback you.

jimreynold_: I think you’re taller than me.

raphilia__: How tall are you?

jimreynold_: 5’6 lmao

raphilia__: Ah, you’re taller than I expected.

raphilia__: I thought you’re about 5’3, tbh. Sorry (laughing emoji)

jimreynold_: Whoa is that how small I look? (laughing emoji)

jimreynold_: I’m a ‘cute-size,’ not a ‘micro-size’

The conversation between the two went along as expected… it felt perfect. They started with how Jim looked way younger than Raphael expected. He was actually 24 years old compared to the 19 to 20-year-old age Raphael had in mind. So, basically, Jim was two years older than the young lad.

What was magical about the moment was how he finally had the meaningful conversation he was searching for with the guys he had talked to. The whole night, they tackled how Raphael was actually drowning in sadness already, overwhelmed with his workload as a law student and other personal matters. He had thought about leaving graduate school but had the fear of judgment from society and the expectations of his parents.

Jim then shared how he thought Raphael is smart just with how he speaks and talks about things. “There’s no need to be a law student for me to think you’re smart,” he said, continuously listening to the younger guy with his sentiments.

jimreynold_: If you feel like you’re comfortable with your situation and you feel like you want to stay there for long, you’re stopping yourself from realizing your full potential. The more complicated, the better.

That’s just one of the fruitful things Jim imparted to Raphael as they continued to talk about career and life. They really connected with how similar their perceptions are, but at the same time, also how their differences contributed to the knowledge of the other. Their souls were connecting and they both knew it.

The wonderful conversations about life continued for days which has evolved into late-night phone calls. They could actually go for hours and they wouldn’t be able to notice the time.

And it was not long before they decided to take this to the next level.

jimreynold_: I think we should see each other

raphilia__: I think so too