It was 2014. I was 21 years old. I had become pretty good friends with this guy named Gio who lived in London. We met on social media and had been consistently communicating for about 4 months. He was a few years older than me, but we had many commonalities. We lived in different countries so most of our conversations were via video chat.
We would video chat for hours, even while I was at work. Over time, our friendship grew stronger and he expressed that he had developed feelings for me. I told him that I liked him as a friend, but I wasn’t ready for a relationship. He seemed pretty understanding and accepting of a platonic friendship between us.
Fast-forward a few months to Valentine’s day. I awake to a picture message from Gio. I open it and it’s a picture of my full name written in the sand in huge letters. He had amazing handwriting, lol. I thought it was funny and kinda cute; being that my name was in the sand on a beach that I had never visited. I reply with a heart-eye and kiss emoji. He immediately replies, “be my Valentine.” I laugh it off and reply “whatever, lol.” He didn’t text me back for the rest of the day, which I found kinda odd.
About a week later, I wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay home from work. I was watching TV when my phone suddenly started ringing. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it anyway. When I answer, there’s a guy on the phone saying that he has a delivery for me. I look out my window and there’s no one there; so I tell him that he may have dialed the wrong person. He verifies my name…correct, then my address…he was at my job.
I ask him to hold on a second while I call my coworker and ask her to accept my delivery. My coworker accepts the delivery then video chats me…someone had sent me three roses with a card. I ask her to show me the name on the card…Gio.
Now, I would have taken it as a friendly gesture…but I had never given him the address to my job. Plus, he lived in a different country and had never been to my city before, so I was really baffled as to how he found that information.
I video chat Gio to let him know that I had received his “gift.” He smiles and says “I know you loved them.” At this point, I realized that maybe he isn’t so accepting of a platonic relationship between us. I ask him how did he get the address to my job. He explains that when we would video chat while I was at work, he would hear me say the name of my job when I would greet customers over the phone. He then got on the internet and searched the name of my job and the city; and that’s how he got the address.
I was stunned and a little creeped out by the fact that someone would go to that extent to send me flowers, and we’re not together. I explain to him that I would prefer he not send things to my job. He then says “well give me your house address.” I tell him no and explain that we don’t have to send each other things. Immediately, he seemed very tense and upset. The shift in energy felt too awkward for me, so I told him that I would call him later.
Fast-forward two months, I had fallen on tough times and decided to resign from my job, and move back home. I didn’t inform Gio of this move because, he had been acting very weird ever since the flower delivery…like slightly obsessed. So, I move back home and decide that I’m going to cut all ties with Gio. Two days after I move back home, I receive a picture message from Gio. I figured it was an apology or something mushy. I open the message and it’s a picture of him…standing right in front of my old job that I had just quit less than a week prior. He never told me of any plans to visit me and if I had still been there, we would have come face-to-face for the first time ever. This shook me to my core. I immediately blocked him on every possible platform, changed my number and all of my social media usernames, and that was the last time I heard from Gio.
Anywho, that’s the end of this storytime, comrades. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Like, comment, share and subscribe! Stay tuned for more awesome content, Epic Empire.
