THE GUY WEARING A MASK

I stopped in front of the school's freedom board. Something colorful pasted on it caught my attention.

It was an advertisement for someone's adorable confession. It read,

"Hi to the guy wearing a mask! Yes, him! That guy wearing a black mask and a cross-body bag. That guy who passes by at this spot at exactly 7:40 am every day. I have a crush on you! Whoever is reading this, check the time. At 7:40, he's gonna pass by and you'll be attacked by his fatal charms. Please say hi to him for me!"

I chuckled. It was cute.

Oddly enough, I looked at my wristwatch and coincidentally, it was exactly 7:40. I looked around the corridor looking for the guy.

I shook my head. Silly! What was I doing?

When I decided to forget about it, it happened. He came. Exactly like how it was written.

At one glance, I knew exactly he was the guy. He had a mask on and a trendy cross-body bag that looked so cool with his university uniform.

I guess I was influenced by what I read, but I got fascinated by him. Was that strange?

Something happened to me after that day. I found myself taking a detour in front of the freedom board the following days. I took pleasure in reading those letters of confession every morning.

All the previous letters were still there, taking up an entire block. Untouched and probably unread.

I would wait until 7:40 am to see that same guy pass by. How weird of me…

I got fascinated by the guy mostly because of how his admirer described him in the letters.

I couldn't help but chuckle one particular morning because of the letter. It read,

"To the guy with a mask, please take it off. I know you're handsome AF WAAAAAH!"

It had a lot of hearts and screaming with love emoticons. So adorable.

I wonder who wrote these and if that guy knew of these letters, 'cause he never stopped by the board, nor looked at anyone when he passed by.

I found joy in reading the letters and seeing the object of those letters. At one point, I thought the admirer's admiration was contagious because I caught it.

One morning, something different happened.

While I waited in front of the freedom board, watching him walk, he moved his head and looked at me. Our eyes met.

OUR EYES MET! NO FREAKING WAY!

That never happened before.

He stopped walking in front of the board but across the hallway. I swallowed hard.

Should I look away? Should I? God, it was awkward!

Just when I decided to look away, he avoided my eyes first and walked away.

I never knew that we signed an assumed agreement at that eye contact because, after that day, the incident repeated every day like we agreed to do that.

I didn't imagine my heart would flutter every morning just because he would stop at his track to glance at me.

"Hi to the guy wearing a mask! Hi again! Hiiiii! I'm praying you are finally reading this today. You who wear a black mask, a black cross-body bag, and who pass by here at 7:40 am. Yes, you… I like you! If anyone else is reading this, scream my hi to him please."

I smiled. I could tell that the one who wrote this was a cheerful person. I wanted to meet this secret admirer. Because of the letters, I developed an attraction to the same guy. There was magic in the letters.

When the clock struck 7:40, I waited for him.

As usual, he came and stopped for a bit to look at me before he continued walking.

I thought it was time I granted the admirer's wish to say hi to him.

"Hi!" I yelled.

He didn't stop so I had to get his attention again.

"Hi! Guy wearing a mask! The one with a cross-body bag!"

Students turned their heads at me, baffled by my loudness.

 "The guy who passes by here every morning at exactly 7:40! Heeey!"

This time, he finally stopped and turned around. His eyes were confused as he pointed to himself.

"Me?"

OMFG! His voice! His voice! Smoky!

"Yes, you."

Though he looked unsure, he walked near me. I pulled out the letters from the board and gave them to him one by one.

He read every single letter addressed to him. He was quiet the entire time he was reading. When he read them all, he looked at me.

"Interesting…" he blurted out.

I didn't expect that reaction at all.

"So I'm the reason why you stand here every morning when I pass by."

My heart fluttered when I learned he did recognize me.

"If only you weren't fixated on these letters and took time to see other parts of the board…" he muttered.

He walked a few steps away from me and removed pieces of paper from that part of the board. He gave them to me.

"You're the girl with no makeup, right?"

Automatically, I touched my bare face. "Huh?"

I looked at what he handed to me. They were sticky notes with brief messages. Some had cute illustrations of a girl.

"Hello to the girl with no makeup! I see you every day. I notice you are always standing here at 7:40. I think I like you! I wish to get to know you better."

"Even without makeup, you're still so beautiful. I hope you walk a bit here so you can see my message."

My jaw dropped. I was wonderstruck by the number of sticky notes I didn't notice. They were written for me?

"I read that and got curious about who it was referring to. So whenever I would pass by, I would look this way. And I found you."

So that was why he suddenly decided one morning to stop and look at me. Mystery solved.

"The guy wearing a mask…" I thought aloud.

I heard him chuckle.

OMG!

"The girl without makeup," he answered.

"We were brought together by two letters we didn't send for each other."

I kind of thought of the situation as funny.

"I wanna thank them," he said.

"Why?"

I saw his eyes stretch like he was smiling. "Because of them, fate found us."

He did what I had always wanted to witness. He removed his face mask and offered his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Ezekiah," he smiled, "your destiny."

And at that moment, I literally stopped breathing.