ONCE UPON A LITTLE HELLO
This is the story of a girl named Parimah and a boy named Ahmad.
They lived in two different countries and met through two little screens. Neither knew that a simple conversation would turn into eight or nine months of friendship… and a love story neither had quite dared to say out loud.
But let’s not skip to the good part.
First, there was a message.
One day on HelloTalk, Parimah sent Ahmad a message.
Just a little hello. Nothing that came with a warning saying, “Careful. This boy is going to become very important to you.”
They clicked from the very beginning. The conversation felt easy, and they were both happy to have found someone they got along with so well.
Quite a lot happened because one girl decided to say hi.
For eight or nine months, they were just friends.
Friends who messaged almost every day.
Friends who called at night.
Friends who somehow kept finding more things to talk about.
Voice calls, video calls, little updates about their days—they slowly made a place for each other in their lives.
And yes, they were still calling this friendship.
Please remember that. It becomes rather funny later.
Somewhere along the way, Parimah started liking Ahmad a little differently.
She liked their friendship, of course. But quietly, she wanted to be more than his friend.
She thought he might be the right person for her. Sometimes, she wondered what it would feel like if the two of them were actually together.
But she didn’t tell him.
So she kept talking to him, being his friend, and carrying around one small, hopeful secret.
Ahmad, meanwhile, had no confession from her to work with.
Then came that video call.
One of those nights that becomes a memory before it has even finished.
Something felt different. Both of them felt their feelings growing stronger, and both felt how well they fit together.
And after the call?
They both dreamed about each other.
As if their brains had decided, “That was lovely. Let’s have a little more of that.”
The next morning, Ahmad messaged Parimah.
He needed her help.
He had fallen in love with a girl, he explained. Saying it was difficult, and he didn’t know how to tell her.
So Parimah started helping him figure it out, what to say, how to say it, how to let the girl know.
There was just one tiny detail missing from this conversation.
The girl’s name.
And then Ahmad told her.
The girl was Parimah.
Which meant Parimah had just been helping Ahmad figure out how to confess his love…
…to Parimah.
A rather clever way of getting advice, honestly.
But behind the little surprise was something much sweeter: the boy she had quietly wanted to be with wanted to be with her, too.
And just like that, their long “just friends” chapter finally got a new title.
Us.
Now, they have been together for nearly eleven months.
There have been happy days, difficult days, and days that didn’t go quite the way they hoped.
Their story has had both.
But through it all, Parimah and Ahmad still want to keep going together. They still want each other in the chapters ahead.
One in Iran. One in Bahrain.
Still making a little space for us.
And today, the boy in this story gets a birthday chapter of his very own.
Parimah wishes she could be there. To see him, to give him his gift, to say “Happy birthday” without a screen between them.
For now, she has this story to give him.
The one that began with her little hello.
The one with months of friendship, two matching dreams, and a confession disguised as a request for advice.
Happy birthday, Ahmad.
You probably weren’t expecting a love story when you opened HelloTalk.
Neither was Parimah.
But she’s very happy she messaged you.
AND THE STORY IS STILL BEING WRITTEN...