Meeting one’s significant other online isn’t really that weird of an occurrence anymore. There are tons of dating sites and apps dedicated to doing just that. But meeting your significant other on an Asian Fanfiction website is a completely different story.

    You hadn’t been writing on the site for long, mostly fluff stories related to your favorite girl group (Red Velvet, of course). Someone by the name of “iCuty96” seemed to enjoy your stories the most. She never wrote any stories herself, but she was subscribed to all of yours. She posted on every one of them, at every new chapter, at every update. Each comment was long and involved, as if she’d read through your writing three times over before even responding to it. They were always filled with praise and wonderment, as if your story was the greatest thing she’d ever read. So, naturally, you added her as a friend.

    It didn’t take long for her to message you first. It was just a quick message thanking you for the friend request and talking about how much she loved your stories, but soon it evolved into a full-blown conversation. You spoke mainly in general terms at first; your favorite members of Red Velvet, how you got into them, all things you would speak about to another idol-obsessed fan on the internet. But eventually, you opened up to each other more. The conversation lasted for months, from the beginning of the summer to the end of the summer. You talked about where you lived (your hometowns were only about an hour from each other, coincidentally), where you worked, and how your home life was. You found out that her name was Park Sooyoung and that she had two younger sisters. Her parents weren’t home a lot, so Sooyoung took care of them most of the time, and when she wasn’t taking care of them, she was working at a local restaurant as a server. She told you about how much she hated her manager, and about how she didn’t get paid nearly enough to make up for the amount of work she did. Sooyoung talked about how when she went off to university in the fall, her sisters would have to take care of themselves; she talked about how worried she was going to be. Sometimes, you didn’t know what to say, because you couldn’t really relate to that particular problem she had, but you always tried your best to make her feel better about it. And then you just so happened to ask what university she was going to in the fall. And, by some miracle, it was the same university as you. And you were both ecstatic.

    At the same time, you were nervous.

Because somewhere along the way, you developed feelings for this girl, this mysterious Park Sooyoung who you only knew by the screenname “iCuty96”. You keep those feelings contained relatively well until there’s about two weeks left until class begins; two weeks left until you and Sooyoung have agreed to meet up for ice cream. That’s when you decide to confess. You tell her about how amazing you think she is, and how much of a connection you feel, even though it’s all been through written text. To your pleasant surprise, she agrees wholeheartedly. She admits that she’s liked you since midway through June (which is much earlier than you started liking her, though you’d never actually say that). She starts referring to going out for ice cream with you as your “first date”, which (as corny as it is) makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

    And yet, you’re still nervous.

    Because there are still so many things that could go wrong. You know that despite how much you like about each other’s personalities, you wouldn’t know if you truly meshed with each other until you’d met. What if she didn’t like how your voice sounded? Or how you dressed? What if she thought you were repulsive and ran away