He Followed Me

"There are crushes, and then there's the kind that make you forget how to breathe when their name pops up on your screen."

Nthabiseng

I was just lying there, scrolling through my phone while Sethu hummed to some lo-fi music in the background, flipping through her notes like the bookworm she is.
Me? I was recovering from the best weekend of my life — the Kat Moeketsi weekend.

Mirror pics. Stadium pics.
My lucky white mini skirt. My black Air Forces.
And him.

I had posted the carousel on Sunday night.
Caption:

"Match day with bestie ✨🖤🔥 #StarsFC"

A little joke, you know? The usual.
And then Wednesday evening hit… different.

I was lying on my stomach, chewing on my straw, pretending to study when I casually opened Instagram — and there it was.

Follow request from:

@kat_moeketsi_17

I screamed.
Not a cute scream. A full-on, panic-slap-the-air, make-Sethu-drop-her-pen scream.

"What happened?" she sat up, wide-eyed and worried.

I held up the phone, hands shaking.

"Sethu. He followed me. Kat. THE Kat."

"Which Kat?"

"Katlego Moeketsi! Number 17. Stars FC. Tall. Fine. My husband!"

"Wait, what?"

I shoved the screen in her face.

"LOOK."

She squinted, then just casually said,

"Hawu. That's his real account?"

"Yes!"

"And he followed you?"

"Yes, friend! Me! ME!"

I jumped off the bed, pacing the room barefoot like I was accepting an Oscar.

"Oh my days! What do I do? Do I follow back? Do I DM him? Do I wait? What if he's looking for you? What if he saw our post and followed the wrong one?"

Sethu raised a brow.

"Wow. Thanks."

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!"
I collapsed beside her dramatically.
"You're obviously the mysterious beauty. I'm the loud friend. The obvious one."

She shook her head, laughing.

"You're overreacting."

"Overreacting? Girl, this man has 500K followers. He follows, like, 213 people. And one of them is ME."

I ran to the mirror, fixing my hair as if he could somehow see me through Instagram.

"I need to post a story. Something chill. Something that says 'I'm hot but not trying too hard.' I've got it — the video where I was celebrating the goal."

"Or," Sethu said, already back in her notes,
"you could just relax."

Relax?
The man I've dreamed of since his debut at Stars FC just tapped the blue button on my profile.
And Sethu thinks I can relax?

I turned to her, serious.

"Friend. If I die tonight, just know I died loved."

She rolled her eyes, but I saw her hiding a smile behind her book.

It was just after 11 p.m. when I saw it:

Kat Moeketsi viewed your story.

I froze. Literally.
I even double-checked to make sure it wasn't one of those fake fan accounts.
But no — this was THE Kat.
Blue tick. Verified. Golden boy of Stars FC.
Scorer of dreams, and apparently viewer of my stories?

I was still screaming internally when the next notification popped up:

kat.moeketsi:
"that 'iyoh😭❤️' was loud hey 😂"

I died.

I stared at my screen for a whole minute, thinking of the perfect, cool-girl reply — the one that didn't make me sound like I'd already named our future twins after that stadium moment.

But I settled for:

nthabi.glitters:
lol had to express myself, you know 🥲 the guys played well though

He replied almost instantly.

kat.moeketsi:
appreciate it 🙏🏾
i saw the pic you posted... you took that with me?

I grinned.
What kind of question is that? Of course it was!
Still, I played along.

nthabi.glitters:
yep 😎 dragged my roommate to the field to take it lol

kat.moeketsi:
you guys looked cool tbh. i remember her – the one who didn't want a pic?

I blinked.
Wait…

nthabi.glitters:
lol yeah that's Sethu, my roommate. she's camera shy.

kat.moeketsi:
i noticed. rare these days 😂

nthabi.glitters:
haha yeah, she's a vibe though. just not a soccer girl like me 😉

kat.moeketsi:
sounds like you the hype one 😂

nthabi.glitters:
always. someone's gotta bring the energy. so what made you follow me tho? 👀

No reply.

But I could feel something brewing.
Maybe it was friendship. Maybe a connection.
Or maybe I was just vibing too hard.

Still…
he remembered Sethu.

And that part? That part had me curious.

It had been almost an hour since I dropped the "👀" and asked why he followed me.
I mean, come on — it was a fair question.

I'd already typed and deleted "hello??" twice when the notification finally pinged.

kat.moeketsi:
actually... i was gonna ask – uhm, your roommate... you got her IG handle? or number maybe?

My stomach dropped.

Not dramatically. Not like in movies.
More like… slowly.
Like something inside me untied itself and hit the floor with a dull thud.

I stared at the message.
Read it again.
And again.

As if maybe, the words would rearrange into something else.
Something better.

But they didn't.
They stayed the same.

He was asking for Sethu.

I tried to laugh it off.
I even typed "what 😂😂 why??" but it felt desperate.

So instead, I took a breath and replied:

nthabi.glitters:
why?

He didn't explain.
Not immediately.

Three minutes passed.
Then five.

kat.moeketsi:
please...

Just that.

Please.

That was worse.

So now I was just… what?
A connection point?

I opened my gallery, scrolled through my screenshots like a woman on a mission, and pulled up that one picture — the one from recess.
Sethu smiling, Lwandile and Sbusiso beside her, his gummy smile stretching across his face, arms over both of them.

I sent it.
No caption.

Then I waited.

And waited.

Then:

Seen.

Kat viewed it.
But he didn't say anything.

No thumbs up.
No "cute pic."
No "thanks."

Just viewed.

I wanted to scream.

Instead, I sat on my bed, gripping my pillow tightly, feeling the air in the room change.
One minute I was the girl with the 'iyoh😭❤️' that caught a soccer star's eye.
Now I was just the roommate of the girl he really noticed.

But I wasn't going out like that.

He wanted to know Sethu?
Fine.

He could know her. The real her.
Not the innocent version he imagined.

nthabi.glitters:
just so you know, she's not that innocent. she's Zulu and married, with a whole kid. the picture i sent says a lot.

Petty?
Maybe.

True?
Not exactly.

But I was heated.

Then again…

Seen.

Nothing else.

I locked my phone.

The silence said enough.

Suddenly, being "the hype one" didn't feel so fun anymore.