Kyle

Evening slowly flowed into the subway along with the people. She was returning from a walk—just wandering through the park to clear her head after a hard day. Nothing special. Ordinary life. Ordinary route. Ordinary her.

The metro pulled up with a dull roar, the doors opened, letting her into the warm, slightly stuffy car.

She sat up and noticed him almost immediately.

Against.

The guy looked as if he'd accidentally stumbled into the wrong reality: calm, focused, with a hint of weariness in his eyes. He scrolled through his phone, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling faintly—as if he were living in his own separate story.

She found herself looking for too long.

"Say something. Ask the time. Anything..."

But inside, everything tightened as usual. Shyness, uncertainty, fear of appearing stupid - old acquaintances that always came before courage.

The train rocked. The next station was already being announced.

It's now or never.

She didn't fit.

Instead, trying to look like she was simply checking her messages, she turned on the camera. A short, almost imperceptible video. A few seconds. He didn't even look up.

At home she sat for a long time, looking at the screen. The finger hovered over the "publish" button.

“This is stupid…” she whispered. And I pressed it anyway.

The video appeared on TikTok with the caption

"Guys, help me find this guy. Any of his social media accounts, acquaintances, anything... I really want to meet him."

She put the phone down, confident that nothing would happen.

But after just a couple of hours, notifications started flashing one after another. The views grew. The comments multiplied. People argued, joked, tried to guess who he was.

And a few days later he saw the video himself.

Kyle lay on the couch, mechanically scrolling through the feed, until the algorithm threw him a familiar train car.

A familiar coat.

Familiar... he is.

Kyle sat up straighter and watched the video again, then again.

And, having read the signature, he quietly chuckled.

• Well... it seems they've already found me.

He clicked "write message."