YOLO and I Love You
Oh this is not my story so that's why I am so eager to write it :D . The person involved still feels horrible about it and me, despite a friend and ex-colleague, still can't find the empathy underneath the thick layer of humour covering this particular event in his life
And so it goes.
Some 3 years ago we got an intern and being a mostly men company, she was automatically upgraded into hawt-stuff status and of course, not made aware of it. She kept in touch with my colleagues after finishing the internship and ended up in cyberjaya which was close by. So when going out for dinner with colleagues she joined in.
Let's call her Dhia.
During one of those dinners, Young Talib, came into focus of our table talk and the introvert apparently had a huge crush on Dhia and decided to confess to her one fine day. Shy Introvert Talib... confessing his forever love to Dhia. Didn't think you had it in you. Details please!
Dhia, the talker, held nothing back.
Talib arranged for her to meet him telling her he had a gift for her. While handing her the gift, he said in the gen-y language of youth (translated for my lovely mature readers) "Dhia I have something to tell you" and then proceeded to point her to the magical words displayed on his mobile phone.
"A fancy 'I love you' on the phone?", I asked with a sudden respect for Young Introvert Talib.
"No, it said 'YOLO'", replied Dhia casually. I took back my respect and replaced it with confused. I wasn't the only one confused.
Dhia was as well. At that time (3 months back) didn't know what YOLO is and so ended up just staring while the mind working at max trying to figure out what YOLO means. While her mind crunches on the possible meanings of YOLO, Young Introvert Talib was pouring his heart out. She didn't get anything Talib said as her brain wanders on. She just smiled pretending to undertand and said: "OKayyyyy" when he said his last sentence. She thanked him for the gift,went back and looked up what YOLO means. Shrugs. Next item please.
Talib continued texting her after that and she just replied like the usuals. This went on for a month until one day, Talib called her asking 'So?'. Of course Dhia's' confusion re-emerged and replied 'So what?'.
Ouch la kan.
That awkward YOLO moment mercifully saved Talib from a direct rejection and for most of us with enough sense, we'd know it's a no-go. Luckily, Talib still gets that so he stopped texting Dhia after a few week. We figured he was kinda heartbroken but introverts are introverts. They sulk and go for a marathon of DOTA games and is fine.
update 2023: Talib married another intern which came in after Dhia and lived happily ever dota-ver. Dhia married someone who says I love you without any other distractions.