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

And, well...that’s exactly what ended up happening.

You randomly met Leon on an inconspicuous weekend, in the middle of March, on Omegle. Apart from being a good pass-time to ward off the boredom, it was to help you consolidate your English. Aside it from being a universally spoken language, it had also been a long time aspiration of yours to travel overseas, once you were able to get the funds to do so. You were young and impressionable—it was natural for you to be curious, wanting to see what the world has to offer. So, what better way to start and practice, than with random strangers?

Since you've already been self-studying for a while, your English was at a relatively good conversational level. Though, there were certain words and phrases in the lexicon that were a bit difficult to grasp. Despite this however, you and Leon pretty much hit it off during your first interaction in the online domain, neither of you skipping the other or prematurely ending the call.

He learnt about a lot you, and vice versa. There was also this light-hearted, yet subtle flirty tension that carried on in the midst of the exchange, long transcending the language barrier. Shy smiles and disguised compliments were thrown back and forth. Leon genuinely admired your ambition, finding your slight accent and contagious, talkative energy absolutely adorable, even if you slipped up a couple of times—it also 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, working around a flexible schedule to overcome the time differences. You often caught up with each other's weeks, whilst mixing in some nonsensical topics. Naturally, given the constant playful and coquettish nature of your dynamic, romantic feelings blossomed between you. After a couple of weeks of the 'talking stage', 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 actually serious. You somehow pulled and got yourself an American boyfriend, who was going out his way to sit in a cramped airplane for several hours, just to see you in person. The genuine commitment almost floored you.

Currently, it was barely past five-AM on a Sunday—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.