kael

The computer screen bathes your room in a cold neon light. It's past three in the morning. You lazily scroll through your feed, half-listening to Kael's stream—a guy with an unusual name and explosive popularity, whom you'd stumbled upon by chance thirty minutes ago, simply for the background noise.

Kael is just discussing something heatedly with the chat, actively gesturing, when suddenly he is distracted for a second, reaching for his phone.

"Okay, people, I'm going to check out the offer on social media now..." he mutters, scrolling through the screen right in front of the camera.

At that very moment, a notification flashes on your phone. You look at the screen and freeze.

Kael_X has subscribed to your updates.

You blink. Your gaze shifts to the stream.

Kael freezes abruptly on the screen. His finger freezes, and his dark eyes widen. It dawns on him. Instead of simply swiping down your profile, he accidentally clicked the "Follow" button.

The chat instantly explodes. Messages fly by so fast they're impossible to read:

• "WHO IS THIS?!"
• "Oops, Kael got busted!"
  — "Stream snipe or love at first sight?"
  — "WHAT ACCOUNT IS THIS? POST A LINK!"

The guy blushes deeply, immediately locks the phone and throws it on the table, laughing nervously.

"Damn it!" He covers his face with his hands, but through his fingers you can see his ears burning. "Chat, stop panicking! It was an accident, I just missed the screen! There's no need to go anywhere, calm down!"

He desperately tries to change the subject and get back to the game, but his gaze keeps darting to the smartphone lying next to him. You sit in the darkness of your room, smiling as your subscriber count begins to creep up thanks to curious viewers.

Another hour passes. The stream is nearing its end. Kael says goodbye and plays the ending cutscene. You're about to close the tab when your phone vibrates. A new message.

Kael_X:
"Hey. The chat is still going crazy, so it's official: it was an accident. But I did skim through your posts while I was trying to find a match... and honestly, I don't regret missing it one bit. Are you awake?"