Snapped together

Part 1:A Random Request

Bhavya sat on her bed, legs pulled under her thin blanket, her phone softly lighting up her face in the dark. It was a normal school night—homework spread out on her study table, her younger sister sound asleep in the bed next to hers, and her mom's voice barely audible from the living room, speaking to a neighbor on the phone. Everything was just like normal. Quiet. Predictable.

Until her phone buzzed once more.

Snapchat Alert: "ekanshx has added you as a friend."

Bhavya blinked, bewildered.

Who?
She hadn't shared her Snap handle with anyone in a while. Her account wasn't even public. She paused on the alert. Her reserved heart yearned to know. She opened it.
His Bitmoji was dorky—a messy-haired boy with brown hair, red hoodie, and big grin. Guy stuff, usual. His username was dorky too, having two x's at the end like some TikTok brat trying too hard.

She nearly dismissed it. But a part of her, perhaps boredom, or perhaps secret hope for distraction, caused her to click "Accept."

In mere seconds, a message appeared:

"Hey, cutie ????"

Bhavya's eyes opened wide. Cutie? Who speaks like that? She could sense the heat rise in her cheeks even though she was by herself. This was ridiculous. She didn't even know him. She was about to leave the app when the next text arrived.

"Wait, don't block me. I promise I'm not creepy. You just popped up in Quick Add and you looked… interesting."

Now this got her.
Interesting?
Bhavya typed slowly, her fingers reluctant on the keyboard.

"Do I know you?"

The response came immediately.

"Not yet. But I'm Ekansh. 16. I go to St. Xavier's. What about you?"

Bhavya hesitated again. She'd heard of St. Xavier's—it was one of the schools in her city, famous for its sports teams and self-assured boys. Not really her set.

But she typed anyway:

"Bhavya. 16. DPS."

A typing bubble popped up.

"Ooh, DPS girls. Smart, shy, and secretly sarcastic. Tell me I'm wrong."

She couldn't help but smile—just a little.

"Maybe."

One word. That's all she gave. It was safer that way.
"Knew it! Damn, you even text like a mysterious novel character. Do you only speak in cryptic one-liners?"

Bhavya thought about ignoring him again. But she didn't. She surprised herself when she responded:

"Depends who I'm talking to."

A pause.

"Okay, okay, I see you. You're one of those deep types. Great. I'm Ekansh, Class 11, loves football, pizza, and snapping at 2 a.m. I talk too much, so fair warning. Still interested?"

Bhavya leaned back and muttered to herself, He really does talk too much.

But she answered anyway.

"Maybe."

A few seconds later, a selfie came through. It was him, obviously—dark hair, bushy eyebrows, a sly grin. He was propped on his bed, sporting a Marvel shirt and holding up two fingers in a peace sign.

"Alright now your turn. Sent mine. Fair, right? Let's see if you're actually a DPS mystery girl or an uncle catfishing me at 45."

Bhavya rolled her eyes. He was infuriating. But not negatively so. Just… too much. The polar opposite of herself.

Despite that, a part of her wished to play along.

She swiped her camera over to selfie mode in a flash, applied a dog-ear filter (since she was not going to expose her true face without it), and took a shot. No makeup. No angles. Just her, hoodie-clad, glasses sloping down on her nose, lips pursed in a half-smile.

She sent the message.

The response arrived within less than ten seconds.

"Okay. Wow. You're cute. Like, I knew you'd be cute, but damn. This is not fair."

Bhavya didn't know what to do. Her heart racing, her fingers on the keyboard paused, wanting to type "thanks," or just click off and act like this never occurred.

"You're lying."

"Why would I lie to a girl who speaks in riddles and has dog ears?"

She snorted softly. For the first time in a while, someone had made her laugh. Genuinely.

They kept chatting. Nothing too deep—school, subjects, favorite movies. Ekansh kept the conversation flowing like a river, while Bhavya carefully stepped from stone to stone, slowly warming up.

An hour passed.

It was 11:23 p.m.

“You’re still awake? ????”

he asked.
“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep.”

“Same. Wanna make it a streak?”

Bhavya hesitated.

She had never actually cared for Snap streaks. Yet somehow, the prospect of waking up tomorrow and finding his name on her screen did not feel too terrible at all.

"Okay."

she sent.
"Deal. This is the beginning of something awesome, I can tell."
Bhavya switched off her phone, still grinning. In the dark silence of her room, her heart muttered something her brain was not yet willing to acknowledge.

Perhaps, perhaps… perhaps this was not random after all.