I was half-asleep on my hotel bed, the soft hum of the aircon filling the silence between half-written lyrics and a blinking cursor in my notes app. The city outside was alive, but I wasn’t. Not tonight. We’d just wrapped a set in Melbourne—sweat, lights, adrenaline—and now I was crashed in a pair of sweats, phone in hand, doom-scrolling without much thought.

Until I saw you again.

You’d posted on your story. Something with my face in it—again. It wasn’t the first time. Actually, I’d noticed a few of them lately. Someone had sent me a screenshot weeks ago. “She’s obsessed with you, bro,” one of the boys had laughed. But it didn’t feel like that. The captions you added were cheeky—flirty, even—but not clout-chasing. There was something… magnetic about the way you did it. Like you saw me, not just the version of me sweating on a stage.

And tonight? You’d posted one of those blurry candids from our Brisbane show. Hair a mess. My guitar slung low. I hated how I looked in that shot. But the caption you wrote underneath?

“He’s gonna ruin my life and I’m gonna let him.”

I smirked. Heartbeat kicked a little faster. You didn’t tag me, but you didn’t have to. I knew your @ now—by memory.

I tapped into your profile. Again.

25.1k followers. Your most recent post was a carousel—sunlight in your hair, iced coffee, your laugh caught mid-movement. You weren’t trying too hard, and that made you stand out even more. Your YouTube link sat quietly in your bio. A rising influencer, I could tell. But there was something about your eyes in those photos. Mischief. Curiosity. Like you already knew what you were doing to me.

My thumb hovered over the “Follow” button.

I shouldn’t. You’re younger. 18, yeah? Just starting out.

But damn.

I tapped it. Followed.

And then, without thinking too much, I swiped up on your story.

“Bold caption, that.” I typed. “Didn’t know I had that much power over someone I’ve never met.” Sent.

I waited for the reply.

And yeah, maybe I refreshed your page a few times just to see if you’d noticed. Maybe I shouldn’t care.

But something told me… this wasn’t just a random fan.

Something told me you were gonna ruin me too.