The video call

Sasha walked at her usual speed back to the reception desk, quite, her eyes steady whilst giving a signal that everything was fine on her side to Tom, who was coming of the Khalid's office from delivering his breakfast.

Sasha upon reaching the desk followed by David, picked up her purse and walked out to the basement of the building as agreed by Dylan, the guy who took her suit and shoes out the changing room beforehand.

After changing from her uniform to the business suit she had intended to wear that day for her interview, she walked out of the security officers room and gave them a tip.

The interview was a success and she got the job but after working at the hotel as guest relations manager for a week, Sasha quit the job citing mental distress and went broke afterwards. With no money to pay for her rent and basic needs, Sasha knew she had to move back with her dad and make a new plan.

During this whole time, Ivan never reached out to Sasha and likewise, Sasha took it as a goodbye. Months went by, the friendship with Tom and Robert dwindled and the rumours came in that Ivan had gotten into a pretty serious relationship with the junior receptionist who had previously worked under Sasha.

Sasha already disturbed by her fall from the high life, couldn't do anything except to heal from Ivan and whatever hate that sorrounded her heart including David.

In the first week of April, 2023

Sasha secured a small paying job at a well known estate as a residential chef. The estate was located in mbale district, two miles away from her father's home. It was a blend of country side with an urban flare.

Far away from the rich capital city Kampala..

After the homeowners had briefed Sasha about their meal schedules and house rules, Sasha returned to her Dad's house. It was a warm afternoon that day, her window curtains white in color swayed back and fourth.

Sasha's room in her father's house was spacious with windows only metres away from the floor, Sasha lay on her bed listening to Charlie Puth's "One call away" when a reddit user "cheapskatevaya" sent a follow up message to his previous ignored messages.

When the notification rang on her phone, Sasha unlocked the screen and read through the text that read as follows

"Hi, it's been weeks here waiting for your reply. I still like you even when I don't know how you look like but every time I read your comments and posts, I just get more convinced that we should get to know each other. Please, give me a chance even if it's one time. Here is my number, save it as crazy reddit guy or Nick if you want, I am okay with facetiming."

Sasha's heart fluttered with excitement as she read the message, a wide smile spread her face as she absorbed his friendly words and felt giddy.

Sasha read through the message again, parsing each word and mentally tried to compose the perfect response so she wouldn't appear easy to hop on his ride.

Despite the excitement, Sasha couldn't also help but feel a little nervous like what if he was a scammer or something else. After a few minutes of crafting the perfect response, she saved his number first and asked him if he could Facetime her via discord.

They exchanged their IDs and In a minute, Nick was on the camera.

"Hi."

"Hi"

Both exchanged greetings and stared at each other for some seconds. Nick was slim guy with no facial hair, dark curly hair that had a natural wave to it giving him a slightly casual look.

Perched on the bridge of his nose was a pair of rectangular framed glasses. His complexion was a warm golden brown, a testament to his south Asian heritage. He was wearing a grey polo shirt and his background was a balcony, pots of plants, some hanging others on the wall and it was clear to Sasha that he was atleast Indian.

And Nick's eyes fell in love with Sasha's rich brown almost black eyes, slightly brown skin and a noticeable gap between her front teeth. Her Naturan dark shoulder length Locs, a testament of her African descent excited Nick more he kept complimenting her.

"You are so beautiful." Nick told her, pushing his glasses a little up on his nose.

"Thank you." Sasha replied, still fluttered by his simple yet sweet looks.

"So what do you do? " Sasha asked him, her right thumb on the screen pressed on the record button.

"Well, I am finishing my school this may and will move back to Uganda to join my father or I will have to maybe move to my mother in the states and see what goes up."

The conversation went on for almost an hour until Nick asked if they could get back to messaging later on as his classes were about to begin.

Sasha, impressed by how long they had stayed on the call allowed him to go. They both hung up and Sasha fell back on her bed, breathing deeply and enjoying the wonderful feeling.

Filled with a sense of contentment and growing attachment, Sasha curled up in the middle of the bed, pulled her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes for a while before opening them and rolling over to the other side.

She picked her phone up and unlocked the screen, went to her phone book and changed Nick's name to Bae. Afterwards she spread her feet and turned on the playlist Nick had texted seconds after hanging up on the call.

Nick upon arriving in class, sat down clicked a photo of himself at his class desk with a V sign of his two fingers amd added a text to the image at the bottom.

"Nick is my real name and my number is on WhatsApp. We can also use discord for as long as you like but I would like to have your number some day, gotta go now."

Sasha on reading the text, felt an increase in comfort and connection with Nick and went to WhatsApp to text him.