Team building, November 2024. Everyone was buzzing with excitement, catching up after years of not seeing each other. The entire department had been apart for so long that the energy felt like a reunion—people were greeting each other with loud laughs, warm hugs, and stories that spanned years. It was chaotic in the best way.
As for me? I was physically present but mentally drifting elsewhere. I had just finished my dissertation proposal defense and was still processing everything—still in awe of joining the audit team, with the pressure of the upcoming audit report hanging over me. And to top it off, that same week, I had a family trip to Davao. It was hectic. It was overwhelming. It was... life happening all at once.
Despite the noise, the laughter, the music, and the fun retros happening around me, I found myself seated in the middle of the crowd, scrolling through my phone. Detached. Zoned out. Until something—or rather, someone—snapped me out of it.
I stood up and turned around, almost bumping into a person. We didn’t physically collide, but our eyes did. And in that brief 5-second moment, it felt like the world paused. A strange, almost cinematic kind of stillness. There was no introduction, no words spoken—just our eyes locked in what felt like an eternity inside a single second.
I shook my head awkwardly and walked away quickly, internally screaming:
“Sheeett! Who was that?! I didn’t even say hi. That was so awkward! Kahiya!”
The room was packed, but all I could think of was that encounter.
What just happened?
Why did it feel so significant? Why did my heart skip like that over a stranger’s eyes?
The next day at breakfast, I saw the person again, but I couldn’t recognize her fully. Instead, I randomly asked someone, "What happened to her?" And they told me, “Her dog died.” I quietly responded in my thoughts, “Ohh... I see.” There was a sense of empathy. A feeling of being drawn to her, though I still couldn’t explain why.
Later that day, at the reception area for our adventure tour, I spotted her again. I felt the same pull. The same magnetic energy. Yet, I still couldn’t confirm if she was the one I had that surreal eye contact with the day before. But the feeling wouldn’t leave me.
Now, looking back, it’s wild how I remember that moment so vividly. I didn’t even need to convince myself it happened—it etched itself in me like a memory carved by fate. And somehow, I knew it wasn’t random. That kind of moment? It wasn’t nothing. It was something.
Fast forward to March 2025—Audit Week for one of our branches. I had no clue that she—yes, the same person—was there. I didn’t realize it immediately, but there was something unmistakably familiar about her. It was a quiet recognition. A soul memory.
And then, life surprised me in the most beautiful way. A month later, this person—whose eyes once stopped my world for five seconds—became my favorite part of every single day.
She became my person. The one who sees me beyond words. Who understands my silence. Who walks with me through every version of myself.
Now when I look back, I ask myself:
How did the universe do that?
I wasn’t even looking. I wasn’t searching for love. I was busy building myself—my career, my goals, my healing, my faith. I was chasing wholeness on my own.
But maybe that’s what made it the right time. Maybe the universe was just waiting for me to stop searching—so that it could finally give me what was always meant for me.
And now I know—this was the missing piece.
The moment. The person. The love I didn’t expect.
Right time. Right person. Right everything.
Because sometimes, the universe writes the best stories when you’re not even holding the pen.