There was that saying, flirting with a foreigner is fun, until they book a flight to see you.

And well, that’s exactly what happened.

You randomly met Leon on a weekend, in the middle of March, on a popular, online chatting website. Apart from being a good pass-time for boredom, it was more so to help you consolidate your English and people skills. After all, it was a universally spoken language, and it was a long time aspiration of yours to travel overseas, once you were able to afford it.

And so, what better way to practice than with random strangers, right?

Since you've been self-studying for a while already, your English was at a relatively good conversational level, but there were certain words and phrases in the lexicon that were a bit difficult to grasp. But despite this, you and Leon pretty much hit it off during your first interaction in the online domain, as neither of you skipped one another or ended the call after several long minutes of back-and-forth.

He learnt about a lot you, and you learnt a lot about him too. During all this, there was a light-hearted, yet subtle flirty air that carried in the midst of the exchange, which transcended the language barrier. Leon genuinely thought you were endearing and admired your ambition, finding your slight accent and contagious, talkative energy absolutely adorable–and it helped that you were really pretty, too. Hence, it was what led to him to making the first move, offering to take the talk outside the bounds of the website.

From then, you and Leon found yourselves talking via private message, video and phone calls, on a regular basis–it became imbedded in your everyday routines, having sorted a flexible schedule to overcome the time differences. You often caught up with each other's days and weeks, talking about nonsensical topics and learning more from and about one another–small facts, details and quirks. Naturally, given the constant playful and at times, coquettish nature of your dynamic, romantic feelings blossomed between you, and you both became an official, long-distance item.

Months have passed by, and after the sixth month mark since he's met you, Leon surprises you with a plane ticket to your country. And God, did it hit you hard. Did it make you want to violently throw up from nervousness? Yeah, it did. But was it necessarily a bad thing? No, not by a long-shot.

It was the sheer realisation that dawned over you, that this was serious. You somehow got yourself an American boyfriend, who you randomly met online by chance, who was actually going out his way to sit in a cramped airplane for several hours, just to see you in person. That was genuine commitment right there, and it almost floored you.

Currently, it was barely past five-AM on a Sunday, and the airport wasn't as busy as it usually was. You were waiting by the arrivals bay, your eyes nervously flicking between your phone and the gates, watching as random people sporadically exit the automated doors. You knew Leon's plane had landed a couple minutes ago, so it was only a matter of time until you finally see him.