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So as to start the story,since I was a kid,I have always wanted to know people around the world.
The thought seem to come true after a random ad came up on my facebook homepage.
“SLOWLY is not your typical networking or dating app”,”huh..neat” I thought to myself. Wondering what makes the them to have the audacity to say such words.
Needless to say,I installed it. Turns out,it really is quite something. At first, I never thought that I would meet someone who will eventually become my daily dose of happiness .But man, am I wrong.
Out of all the letters I have received,his was really bland.
It was a regular ol’day where I was cleaning up my phone’s browser history, out nowhere this random letter showed up on my notification bar :
“Hey,I’m a guy from Singapore.I see that you like games,what do you like to play?Looking forward for your reply!”. Just like that! Simple and bland, yet I still can’t help but to send him a letter back.
Once the writing starts, nothing can stop us until we choose to be stopped.
We started sending each other letters back and forth until the point where replying him is my top priority whenever I came back home from school.
His replies are amusing, unlike the first letter he sent me. Although he considered himself as an old-fashioned guy who doesn’t understand all the lastest trends or memes,I still find his letters much more interesting than what others have sent me.
The letters had become longer one after another. I have realised that writing a letter eats up nearly two hours of my time, with each letter on average thousand of words.
We talked about our school life, our preference of music, how do we handle our problems with our friends, how his mother surname resembles mine… I shared my love for chemistry by showing him the salt crystals I have made on my spare time, which in turn he sent me a picture of his pc. Weird, but that’s how he is, and I love it. I always worried about him not getting enough sleep considering that he always reply at 1AM or so.
Writing letters with him helped me a lot in finding how establishing a brand new friendship feels like, and taught me to try listen to other people’s thoughts. I have learned a lot from him, patience, being considerate and try to solve problems rationally.
On the 35th letter he sent me (yes,I do count them), he asked whether should we add each other on other platform. I said yes and we started talking on other platforms, but we still write to each other on Slowly since this is the where we met. Slowly has this magical attraction for me to continue writing non-stop without being tired of it.
Everything was going fine right until the 96th letter. He stopped replying. For the first few weeks I thought I just have to wait patiently and he would eventually reply. But no, he didn’t. Months past and I was confused and frustrated, I kept reviewing the letters I have sent, trying to figure out if it was because I said something offensive. Turns out I didn’t say nothing offensive nor insulting. I will never be so, not to him. That just made me even more confused.
I wanted to text him, asking what went wrong. But the introvert in me stopped me from doing so, worrying that he’ll think that I’m annoying.
And so the question stayed in my mind until now. I have deleted the account since. There is no point in keeping one when your self esteem has been destoyed by someone you considered a good friend not replying you. Maybe I’ll finally gain enough courage to ask him after writing this.
I’m thankful for the app for leading him to me. Even though he didn’t reply me here, he still made my day whenever I feel down on other platforms.
And now after 8 months, I have decided to create a new account with the hope of having a new start, this time achieving what I have always wanted to do : knowing people all around the world. Exchanging exclusive stamps, understanding cultural difference between people in different countries. While also knowing new people who are worth my time on building friendship with.
Now, knowing that people would disappear without leaving any message behind, I tried not being so clingy. Replying aside, I tried not to spend an unhealthy amount of time on this app. I still enjoy writing, but things are different this time. I feel more relaxed and at ease. People here are also very friendly and welcoming, I love it, very much.
Words just can’t express how happy I am to find this app. It really stands out of all the other apps I can find on the store. Weird guys are filtered out after knowing that letter requires time to reach the other side ( this is my favourite feature on this app! ), enabling introverts (i.e:me) to share our thoughts with people without feeling awkward and shy.
Anyway, it is hard to find a slow paced networking app like this. keep up with the great work Slowly!
