My First Love, His First Lie

Part 1, The Midnight Wish

The glowing numbers on my phone read 23:56. Four minutes left. Four minutes until I officially turned nineteen, and I was just sitting on the edge of my bed, staring at the floor.Lately, everything in my life felt like it was falling apart. My parents had just gotten a divorce, and the house was totally quiet now. There was a "For Sale" sign sitting in the front yard, which meant the only home I'd ever known was being sold. Between the divorce, the packing boxes, and breaking up with my boyfriend a month ago, it felt almost impossible to find any happiness. Everything was going wrong at the exact same time."Anastasia! You can come down now!"

My mom's voice called out from downstairs at exactly 23:59. I took a deep breath and walked down the steps.When I got to the bottom, the living room actually looked warm. Music was playing softly, and my mom and brother were standing there smiling. There was a beautiful birthday cake with a single glowing candle on the table, right next to a few presents. For a second, the heavy feeling in my chest went away.Right at 00:00, the clock hit midnight."Make a wish, Ana," my brother said.

I looked at the candle, closed my eyes tight, and made a wish. Please let me meet someone special to make me happy. Someone to stand by my side through all of this. I really needed someone. I opened my eyes, blew out the candle, and hugged my mom and brother tightly. I opened my gifts, feeling super grateful for a good moment. Before heading upstairs, I snapped a quick picture of the cake, posted it to my Instagram story, and went straight to sleep.The next morning, my alarm went off at 07:00 for school. My first morning being nineteen.I dragged myself to the bathroom and started brushing through my long, light brown hair. People always told me I looked like an absolute doll—like my beauty was out of this world—but I just felt tired. Because guys usually bothered me for my looks, I kept my life totally private. My Instagram was locked down with only 18 followers. I got random follow requests all the time, but I always deleted them immediately.

Then, my phone buzzed.

It was a follow request from a guy. For some weird reason, instead of deleting it like I always do, I hesitated. I clicked accept, and then requested to follow him back.He accepted it a second later.

I started stalking his Instagram highlights, private planes, Private events, expensive tailored suits, and huge business projects. He looked incredibly successful. I couldn't help but get a little excited. Who even was this guy?A minute later, a direct message popped up. He had seen my story of the cake."Good morning!"I typed back, "Good morning.""Happy birthday," he responded. He was so polite and respectful. "May I ask, how old are you?""I turned 19. What about you?""I'm 19 too," he said.I really liked how nice and well mannered he was. He asked for my name, and I told him it was Anastasia. His name was Mateo. We couldn't talk much more because he told me he had a bunch of business meetings to get to.

I went to school, went to pilates after, and then went out to my birthday dinner with my family. Right during dinner, my phone buzzed again. Mateo was finally free.He asked for a picture of me, so I sent a quick one from the table. He sent back the sweetest compliments that made my face turn red. When I asked for a picture of him, I couldn't believe my eyes. He was gorgeous. He had thick brown hair slicked perfectly back, and he was wearing another expensive suit.We ended up talking all night. We stayed up until 02:00 in the morning because the connection was just so strong. It was crazy, we had the exact same personality and so much in common. It felt like I had known him forever, and all the loneliness I'd been feeling completely vanished.Before we went to sleep, he texted: "I'd love to get to know you better, Anastasia. Would you like that?"I smiled at my screen and replied, "I would love that."I put my phone down and stared at the ceiling. For the first time in months, I felt genuinely happy. I went to sleep so excited, hoping this was the start of something amazing.