Elena couldn't sleep.
Not after what happened.
Her phone kept replaying the moment over and over again in her mind — the moment she opened TikTok and saw the impossible. Ares Lee… the man she admired in silence… had replied her.
But that wasn't what kept her awake.
It was what came after.
Around 2:17 a.m., her phone vibrated again.
At first, she thought it was another comment.
Or maybe one of her friends sending her a voice note.
But no.
It was something else.
A new notification appeared at the top of her screen:
"Ares_Lee_Official mentioned you in a story."
She froze.
Her chest tightened.
Her fingers trembled around her phone.
"No… no, no," she whispered. "This can't be happening again…"
She tapped it. Slowly. Carefully. Like the phone was about to explode.
The story opened.
Her edit — the one she made just for fun — was on his page.
Public.
Tagged.
Credited.
And under it, Ares wrote:
"Beautiful work. Who are you?"
Elena dropped the phone.
Her heart stopped.
Her breathing vanished.
For a moment, she genuinely felt the world tilt.
Who was she?
Nobody.
Just a girl in Nigeria editing videos in her room.
Why would he ask that?
Why would he notice her?
Why would he… tag her?
Tears pricked her eyes — not from sadness but from shock so deep it almost hurt.
She picked up her phone again, staring at his message like it was a dream she wasn't supposed to touch.
"What am I supposed to reply to that…?" she whispered.
She didn't even realize her hands were shaking so much until the phone nearly fell again.
Before she could think, before she could breathe, before she could even react—
Her phone vibrated once more.
Another message.
From him.
"Are you there?"
Elena's world shattered.