ok PLEASE tell me you saw her story before it disappeared
she posted a photo with HIM. in the café we used to go to. with the little heart-shaped lamps. Priya tell me you saw it
hi?? I think you have the wrong number lol
...wait. you're not Priya.
I am very much not Priya 😭 I'm Dee. Your contact probably has a similar profile picture or something?
oh god. I'm so sorry. please forget everything I said
impossible. my brain has already committed every detail to memory
also... heart-shaped lamps café is a very specific detail. is this about an ex?
...yes. but I'm not going to talk about it with a stranger, thanks 😭
fair enough. go find your Priya. hope you're ok though, genuinely
thank you. sorry again for the random panic dump
Zara finally reached Priya, vented for forty-five minutes, and then spent the rest of the evening doom-scrolling. The next morning, she opened Instagram — and froze.
ok so. weird follow-up question and you can absolutely ignore this
your instagram handle. is it @dee.makes.things?
...yes? why does that feel ominous
because. and I need you to stay calm. you follow my ex.
I follow like 800 people. I follow a man who only posts photos of his sourdough bread
his name is Marcus. @marcusrunscities. he posts running routes and oat milk opinions
oh my god I do follow him. he reviewed seven brands of oat milk in one reel. it was weirdly compelling
see that is EXACTLY the kind of thing he does and it's annoyingly charming and I KNOW, I KNOW
ok but this is a small world coincidence, not a conspiracy. why are you looking through his followers?
I wasn't looking through his followers!! I was looking through mine. YOU followed ME first apparently
oh! yeah I sometimes follow people from mutual accounts. that's probably it
right. so we have a mutual account.
which one
let me check...
ok don't freak out
Dee. you have three seconds
@calm.mind.with.dr.chen
.
..
that's my THERAPIST'S account
I KNOW. I'm in therapy too!! she's great! very calming voice!
so let me get this straight. you follow my ex, you see my ex's followers, you follow me, you text me by accident, and we share a therapist
when you put it like that it sounds like a Netflix show
Ok so here is what is messing with me — Dr. Chen always says, 'trust that the right connections find you,' and I always thought that was just something therapists say to sound deep? But now I'm wondering if she somehow engineered this. It's completely irrational, I know, but she follows Marcus. She follows my ex! Does she follow all her clients' exes?? Is that a thing?!
she has 4,000 followers. she's a semi-public wellness account. Marcus probably found her too and that's how she found him 😭
also... have you considered that maybe YOU follow too many people connected to your ex and that might be the actual issue here 😬
wow you sound exactly like Dr. Chen
maybe she told us the same things and it stuck lol
ok I need to send you something. this is either going to make you feel better or make everything significantly worse
📷
she only follows 312 people. Marcus is one of them.
ok
ok that IS a little weird
THANK YOU. validation accepted.
are you going to ask her about it?? in your next session??
I have a session on Thursday. I have been thinking about nothing else for the last ten minutes.
right. so instead of spiraling alone, here is a useful reframe: does it actually change anything? or does it just feel uncomfortable because it blurs a boundary you thought was clear?
...Dr. Chen literally said that to me. word for word. last month.
lmaooo she said it to me too. two weeks ago.
she has a script. she absolutely has a script.
I mean... they're trained. they have methods. it's not a secret conspiracy, it's like... a treatment approach
you're reasonable and I don't fully trust it
that is the most therapist-patient thing anyone has ever said to me and I'm honoured
Zara's Thursday session arrived. She walked into Dr. Chen's office with a list of bullet points in her notes app. Two hours later, she texted Dee.
I asked her.
NO. you actually asked?? what did she say???
she said she follows accounts related to urban wellness and running because she runs marathons. she found him through a running hashtag. no drama. completely innocent.
and then?
and then she asked why it bothered me so much that the boundaries between different parts of my life were overlapping. and we spent the rest of the session talking about Marcus.
which was probably the point. she's very good.
she really is 😭
she also said — and I quote — 'it sounds like this stranger you spoke to helped you process something in a more honest way than you expected'
she knows about me?!
she knows a version of you. the version who sounds weirdly like her.
Ok I have to say — this whole situation started because you sent a panic message to the wrong person at seven in the evening about heart-shaped lamps, and now we're connected through your ex, your therapist, AND Instagram. Honestly? I think Dr. Chen would call that 'meaningful.' I'm just going to come out and say it — do you want to actually be friends? Like, intentionally this time? If the universe went through this much effort to introduce us, the least we can do is get coffee.
...I cannot believe you just asked me out for coffee by referencing the universe and Dr. Chen in the same breath
I was nervous ok. I've been in therapy long enough to know I need to actually say the thing instead of hinting at it
ok yes. coffee. yes.
not at the heart-shaped lamps café though. just to be clear.
obviously not. I have standards 😭