THE BIG READ
Scrolling through TikTok in March 2021, I liked to wind down by watching funny videos.
A post stopped me dead in my tracks.
It was a video of a handsome man with dark hair.
He’s gorgeous, I thought. Just my type!
Clicking on his profile, his name was Kye Botting.
He’d posted a video of him flicking through his camera roll, showing off his selfies.
I was attracted to him.
But there was just one sticking point.
In his bio, Kye had written his age. He was 21.
Being 26 at the time, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, let alone with a younger guy.
Although I’d been single for years, I’d had unsuccessful relationships before with disloyal men.
Surely a younger guy will be the same.
But I was bored and harmless chatter would entertain me.
So, I messaged Kye.
Hey, I typed.
Then, my phone buzzed.
Hi, a message read. Do you have Snapchat?
It was from Kye.
Blushing, I gave him my Snapchat username.
Soon, we were messaging.
We discovered we both lived in Bradford.
Yet I barely had a chance to find out much about Kye.
Instead, he showered me with compliments.
You look beautiful, he’d say.
Kye was so sweet
