Our story began at TeleTech — where William was the trainer and Mary was the agent trying to survive phone calls and back-to-back shifts. One day, while Mary was taking calls, a gay workmate suddenly nudged her and whispered dramatically, “Girl… look! That mysterious guy!” Mary looked up and saw William. Out loud she said, “Oh? Oo nga.” But in her head she was thinking, “Why does he look so mad… parang grumpy old man.” That was the beginning of the teasing. Whenever William visited Mary’s class for training, the playful asaran would start. Little conversations, small jokes, and random moments slowly turned into something more. At that time, life wasn’t simple. Both of us were in complicated relationships — Mary in a toxic one, and William in one that was also slowly falling apart. When those chapters finally ended, we weren’t immediately serious. Mary was still exploring the dating world, even entertaining people from dating apps, while William was busy healing and moving on. But somehow, we kept finding our way back to each other. What started as teasing turned into friendship, friendship turned into flirting, and flirting slowly became something deeper. Eventually we realized something important — we shared the same values, the same goals, and the same vision for the future. And that’s when we decided… this time, it’s not just flirting anymore. NAKS It’s forever.