I defended him in 3rd grade, ran into him years later and he's been trying to get my attention

So I was class president exactly ONCE in elementary school (3rd grade) and there was this tiny, pale, skinny kid who got bullied pretty badly by the boys. I was bigger, so whenever they'd mess with him I'd step in. We'd hang out together, do group projects, the whole thing.

Then high school happened, I switched cram schools, and I see this guy who looks exactly like him. But he's grown like crazy tall so I genuinely thought it was just someone who resembled him. I kept sneaking glances at him (so embarrassing, btw) and honestly he seemed to notice me looking. Never actually talked to him though.

Then one day I see his name tag and I'm like oh okay, so it's not my old friend, just someone who looks similar. Moving on.

Fast forward to one of those late-night study sessions at the academy. I'm getting a drink from the vending machine and HE shows up. I'm like, hey, you kinda look like my friend from elementary school? And he's asking if it's true, asking how much we looked alike, so I'm joking like "dude you were SO much shorter back then" and he laughed.

Then he just casually puts his hand on my head and goes "the class president should be taller though."

I literally FROZE. Like full body froze.

Turns out HE CHANGED HIS NAME. He'd been trying to talk to me the whole time. Saw me at the vending machine, followed me on purpose. Pretended like he didn't know what I was talking about just to see if I'd remember him.

And like. He's been the one initiating everything. We're close now. I want to tell him I like him but here's the thing. The only memory we share is from elementary school when he was getting destroyed by bullies. He literally wanted to erase that version of himself so badly he CHANGED HIS NAME.

So I'm thinking... I'm just gonna wait. Build more memories together. Good ones. Then when we have enough stuff that's just *us* and not tied to that painful time, I'll confess.

for now I'm just quietly into him.