Maybe This Is How It Starts.
I don’t know how this story ends because I’m still living it.
I never planned on writing about a guy from the gym.
Actually, I never planned on writing a love story at all.
Mostly because there isn’t a love story yet.
There’s just me.
And there’s him.
A guy I keep seeing at the gym.
Someone I don’t personally know yet, but somehow started noticing more than I expected to.
It started innocently.
At first, he was just another familiar face. Someone I would occasionally see while working out.
Then I started recognizing him.
After that, I started noticing when he was there.
And eventually, I started wondering if I would see him every time I went to the gym.
That’s when I knew.
Oh no.
I have a crush.
And honestly?
I kind of missed this feeling.
The butterflies.
The awkwardness.
The way one tiny interaction can stay in your head for the rest of the night.
The pretending-not-to-look while absolutely wanting to look.
The ridiculous overthinking after two seconds of eye contact.
Did he look at me?
Was that smile for me?
Did I smile back?
Why am I even thinking about this?
Maybe you’ve been there too.
The funny thing is, he probably has no idea any of this is happening.
To him, I might simply be another girl he sees at the gym.
Meanwhile, I’m apparently turning our five-second encounters into entire paragraphs.
But that’s exactly why I decided to write this.
Not because I know we’re going to end up together.
I don’t.
I don’t even know if we’ll ever properly get to know each other.
Maybe one day we’ll talk.
Maybe we’ll become friends.
Maybe something unexpected will happen.
Or maybe he’ll simply remain that one gym crush I’ll remember years from now.
And I’m okay with not knowing.
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Because this isn’t going to be a fictional story where I already know the ending.
I’m writing it while it happens.
Every chapter will come from something that actually happened in my life.
The glances.
The awkward moments.
The days I hope to see him but don’t.
The unexpected moments when I think he won’t be there …and suddenly he is.
And whatever comes after that.
I won’t create conversations that never happened.
I won’t turn every smile into a sign that he likes me.
I’ll probably overthink some things, because that’s part of having a crush.
But I want this story to stay real.
Because maybe this isn’t really about getting the guy.
Maybe it’s also about what happens when someone unexpectedly makes you feel something again.
There was a time when liking someone felt more exhausting than exciting.
So finding myself genuinely looking forward to seeing someone again feels strangely refreshing.
He doesn’t even know it, but he reminded me that I can still get butterflies.
That I can still feel shy.
That I can still have that tiny spark of excitement when someone walks into a room.
And I want to remember that.
So I’m writing it down.
I don’t know how many chapters this story will have.
I don’t know whether the ending will be romantic, embarrassing, heartbreaking, funny, or completely ordinary.
Maybe I’ll eventually look back at all of this and laugh.
Maybe someday I’ll be reading these entries beside him.
Or maybe I’ll read them alone and smile because there was once a stranger at the gym who made an ordinary part of my life feel a little more exciting.
Right now, I genuinely don’t know.
And that’s my favorite part.
Because for once, I’m not writing about something that already happened.
I’m writing about something that is happening.
Today, he’s still the guy from the gym.
Someone I haven’t properly met.
Someone I secretly hope to see.
And someone who probably has no idea that he has already become the beginning of a story.
So let’s see where this goes.
One day.
One encounter.
One awkward glance.
One little smile.
And one chapter at a time.
Next: Chapter 1 — The Smile at 8 PM
