There should honestly be a warning label on crushes.🙈

“May occur unexpectedly. No logical basis required. Side effects include overanalysing, replaying conversations, and assigning meaning to basic human activities.”

Because no one tells you that crushes don’t always happen in cafes or sunsets.

Sometimes… they happen in orthopedic clinics.

It started with knee pain.

Not the heroic kind. Just the slightly embarrassing kind that makes you feel older than you are.

After some very exciting (and clearly overambitious) hikes in Slovenia—especially around the unreal beauty of Bled—I came back with great memories… and a knee injury that disagreed with my life choices.

So I went to see an orthopedic doctor. Hesitantly. Already a little low.

To make things worse, I had specifically come for the doctor—the famous one. But while waiting, I was told I would be first seeing a doctor training under him.

Great. Exactly what you want when you’re already questioning your joints.🤷‍♀️

My turn came. I walked in, slightly annoyed, fully focused – Fix the knee. Leave.

I noticed he was cute—but priorities.

So within the first second, I said,
“So my knee is paining..”

And he cut in , not to correct me. But.

“Hi, I’m Kabir.”

And that… was the exact moment my delusional crush story began. 😂

He turned out to be unexpectedly good. Calm. Attentive. Annoyingly competent.

He checked my name. Then my age. Paused for half a second.

A normal pause. But my delusional brain immediately upgraded it into a moment.

Suddenly, every question felt important.

“How long has it been hurting?”
“Does it pain while walking?”

Simple. Medical.

But in my head:
Why did he ask that like that? Is there concern? Is there… depth?

(So you see , this is what I mean by self-inflicted emotional pain.)

I showed him my blood reports. He examined them carefully, then checked my knee in multiple ways—bending, pressing, rotating.

Very clinical.Very professional.

And then he said, injury will heal but..
“Looks like early onset arthritis.”

What. Seriously, now I had a new problem.😂

I didn’t know whether to be worried… or slightly embarrassed.

Because arthritis? Already?

But also—why was he so charming while telling me this?

So there I was, sitting like a responsible adult on the outside…

And internally:
My knee is aging faster than me and I’m noticing his tone??

Anyway, he told me to get an X-ray done.

Normal.. right.

But then he walked me to the reception to show me the way.

Unnecessary.

Which, of course, made it extremely important.

Because now this went straight into my mental list: “Reasons This Interaction Is Definitely Not Normal.”

He could have just pointed. But he walked. With me.

Then I met the main doctor. The one I had originally come for.

And I forgot half the things I wanted to say. Important things.

Because my brain was still stuck between:
early arthritis?? and why did he walk me to reception though…

I walked out with less clarity than I went in with. Which is honestly impressive. 😂

And then came the overthinking.

Googling arthritis.
Replaying conversations.
Analyzing pauses that probably didn’t exist.

And quietly waiting for my next appointment.

For medical reasons. Obviously.

Turns out, my diagnosis came with a completely unrelated side effect.

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To be continued… strictly for medical reasons, of course. 😁