2013-08-22 Thursday . The Facebook era. When people judged friendships by “likes” and love stories began with a simple friend request.
Kalyan sat in the last bench of his classroom, staring at his notebook, pretending to write something. He wasn’t dumb, but he always preferred silence over unnecessary attention. His classmates called him ghost boy—not because he was scary, but because he was almost invisible.
In the same class sat Geetha. Bright, talkative, always surrounded by friends. She was the kind of girl who remembered every birthday, uploaded group selfies, and filled her timeline with quotes about friendship. She had never noticed Kalyan beyond a passing glance.
For two years in college, their worlds never collided.
No “hi”, no “bye”, not even a shared assignment.
It was like they were strangers forced to sit under the same roof.
But when the lecture ended, Kalyan’s reality changed.
At night, back in his hostel room, he opened his laptop. The blue glow of Facebook filled his face. Profile pictures of classmates, memes, music videos, pokes—it was a different universe.
And that night, Kalyan made a decision.
“If I can’t talk to them in real life… maybe I can talk to them here.”
His fingers typed a new name.
A fake name. A stylish one that no one would connect to the quiet boy in class. He uploaded a random display picture he had downloaded from Google.
Account created.
Scrolling through the “People You May Know” section, he saw her—Geetha. Smiling, holding her friends close in a group photo, her caption saying: “Forever squad <3”.
His heart beat faster.
For a moment, he hesitated. Should I?
Then with a deep breath, he clicked “Add Friend.”
And just like that, the boy she had never spoken to… had found a way to enter her world.