Ilias & little Dasha

Chapter one · Warsaw

He wasn’t looking for anything

Ilias went to Warsaw on holiday with the simplest plan in the world. See the city. Walk too much. Eat something Polish. Take the same photo of the Palace of Culture that every tourist takes. Fly home.

He wasn’t looking for anything. That’s the part nobody believes now.

Because then, somehow, like a little bit of magic, blonde little Dasha appeared out of nowhere, without a warning, a trailer or any music. One moment Warsaw was just a city. The next, everything had changed, and he couldn’t have told you the name of the street he was standing on.

The Palace of Culture in Warsaw under a sky full of small clouds — the plan: see the city

little Dasha, and Warsaw behind her

That same night, his phone was braver than he was.

little Dasha

That night · 23:48

Ilias: Hi, it’s the Greek from today

little Dasha: I know who you are.

Ilias: Did you save my number?

little Dasha: Maybe.

Ilias: As what?

little Dasha: Secret.

Seen 23:51

It stayed a secret for three days. Then he called her, her screen lit up right in front of him, and he finally saw it.

Nie dzwoń

mobile · saved by little Dasha

Polish for “Don’t call.” He called. Obviously.

Then the messages really started. Then the secrets. Then the personal stories you only tell someone at two in the morning, when the whole city is asleep and only one window is still lit.

A Warsaw courtyard at night, windows lit on every floor around it — one window, still lit at 2 a.m.

Two glasses on a dark bar table next to a golden lamp — two glasses, too many stories

Ilias and little Dasha taking a mirror selfie in a hallway next to door 33 — everyone looks at the camera. he looks at her.

Morning light through a window with dark blue curtains — morning, and a phone already buzzing

A laptop on the bed in front of a window looking out over the courtyard — his window. her city.

Who would have guessed that this was only the beginning of something much bigger…

Chapter two · The first wait

A month and a half of goodnights

Then came the part no movie ever shows properly: the waiting.

A month and a half between Warsaw and Greece. Around forty-five nights, two phones, three languages, and one kind of English that only the two of them understand.

little Dasha

Every night, around midnight

little Dasha: Спокойной ночи“good night” in Russian

Ilias: Καληνύχτα“good night” in Greek

little Dasha: Dobranocand in Polish

Ilias: and good night in English

little Dasha: four languages and still not enough for say how much I miss

Ilias: then I say it in person. June.

He kept that promise. He always does.

Chapter three · Greece, June 2026

Ten times more beautiful up close

June 2026. After a month and a half of screens, little Dasha landed in Greece, and the waiting finally had a face again.

Every photo from those days hides a feeling behind it. A look across a table. A hand that found another hand next to a candle. A sunset they both pretended to be watching. And every one of those moments was ten times more beautiful up close than any camera could ever hold.

He showed her his sea, his sunsets and his favourite views. She found out that he is, secretly, a chicken whisperer.

Little Dasha in a white dress at a railing, looking at the sea at sunset — she watched the sea. he watched her.

Little Dasha in a red dress, relaxing on a big cushion at night — the red dress. he forgot every word, in every language.

Little Dasha walking away down a garden path — follow the blonde

Ilias and little Dasha in a selfie by the sea, she in pink, he in a striped shirt — pink, blue sea, his arm around her

Their hands holding on a small table beside a red candle and two glasses — one candle, two hands

Ilias and little Dasha on a bench, seen from behind, looking over green hills to the sea — the view was nice. the company was nicer.

Ilias and little Dasha dressed in white, a mirror selfie — dressed up for no reason. (reason: each other)

the sound of the sea, and the two of them

Ilias crouching by a fence, chatting to a group of chickens — Ilias, chicken whisperer

A freezer full of Pourquoi ice lollies — Pourquoi? because it’s summer

A calico cat walking along a wall above a village and the sea — a local cat approved of them

Chapter four · Two months on screens

Endless hours, one tiny screen

Then June ended the way perfect things always end: much too fast.

Two more months of waiting. But this time they knew exactly what they were waiting for.

So they lived inside their phones. Good-morning messages before coffee. Voice notes from the bus. Selfies from the supermarket queue. Calls that started with “just five minutes” and ended when one of them fell asleep in the middle of a sentence. The distance stayed exactly the same. They just stopped noticing it.

Of course they fought. Their biggest fight of the summer was about a full stop.

little Dasha

Tuesday · 22:31

Ilias: I am very tired today, I sleep early

little Dasha: ok.

Ilias: ok with a dot?

Ilias: what means the dot

little Dasha: the dot means ok

Ilias: in Greece a dot means war

little Dasha: in Poland a dot is a dot

little Dasha: Spokojnej nocy, głuptasie“good night, silly”

Ilias: Καληνύχτα, μικρή μου“good night, my little one”

He did not sleep early. Nobody slept early. Ten minutes later, his phone rang.

Incoming call

little Dasha

mobile

“Just five minutes,” she says.

“Just five minutes,” he agrees.

Nobody hung up. They both fell asleep.

Chapter five · Greece, again

The birthday that went wrong in the right way

Two months later little Dasha was back in Greece, just in time for her birthday. Their first one together. Ilias had a plan, and the plan was perfect: dinner at the place with the best sushi in Europe.

The plan did not survive the owner.

Let’s just say the evening didn’t go the way it was supposed to. Ilias was angry, properly angry, the kind of angry where a Greek man starts talking with both hands. And then, for her, he let it go. He didn’t make a scene and he didn’t start a fight. He took a breath, took her hand, and walked out smiling.

And the fail turned into one of the best nights of the summer. Cocktails by candlelight. A cake with her own face on it. And a full moon rising over the beach as if somebody had booked it.

Make a wish, little Dasha

She made a wish. She still hasn’t told him what it was.

A pink birthday cake with little Dasha’s photo printed on top and candles — a cake with her face on it. obviously.

Cocktails and a lit candle on a round table at night — plan B looked like this

A big orange full moon in a black sky — even the moon showed up

Ilias and little Dasha on a lounge bed on the beach at night under the full moon — the best fail ever

Chapter six · Summer goes on

The adventure kept going

The holiday kept going, and so did they. Landscapes that didn’t look real. Water in colours that don’t have names yet. Food they’ll still be talking about when they’re eighty. And so much laughing that strangers turned around to see what was so funny.

One day they followed an old railway line along the coast. No trains run there anymore. It didn’t matter. They were already on their own track.

An old railway line running through green trees — rails to nowhere. they went anyway.

The old railway line along the coast, with the sea beside it — the sea at the end of the line

A small quiet cove with clear water and rocks — a beach with nobody else on it

Swimming in clear green water under the trees — cold water, warm laughs

A gyros wrapped in paper with fries, held over a wooden table — gyros, the real Greek love language

Chapter seven · Warsaw, then Belarus

Meet the family

One month later Ilias got on a plane to Warsaw again. Not as a tourist this time. This time the trip went further: all the way to Belarus, with little Dasha’s family.

One Greek, one Russian-speaking family, and one language everybody understood perfectly: food. There were surprises nobody had planned, experiences nobody expected, and moments so funny that somebody always had to leave the table to breathe.

Ilias learned the important words in record time. His survival kit:

Кушай!Eat! Heard about forty times a day. Ilias never once said no.
Ещё?More? Not really a question. The answer is always yes.
Вкусно!Delicious! His most used word in all of Belarus.
Молодец!Well done! What he earned after the third plate.

He also met the family cat, who studied him for a long time and decided he could stay.

A fluffy cat peeking out from behind a chair — the cat who approved him

A white Orthodox church with golden domes under a blue sky — golden domes, blue sky

A tall monument on a wide square with clouds above — a history lesson. Ilias understood about 4%.

Little Dasha taking a photo behind a table with pink flowers, cocktails and food — flowers on the table, little Dasha behind them

Little Dasha at a table full of breakfast plates and juices — breakfast, Belarus size

A dinner table set with plates as the food is served — the dinner that never ended

Ilias relaxing in a red armchair — Ilias on the red throne

A bright room made of windows, with plants and a round table — a whole room made of windows

Ilias and little Dasha in a mirror selfie, she in a pink jumper — matching smiles

Ilias and little Dasha in sunglasses, a selfie in front of tall buildings — sunglasses on. smiles on.

Chapter eight · Greece, October 2026

Cozy season

One more month, one more flight. October 2026 brought little Dasha back to Greece, but a different Greece this time: softer light, cooler evenings, a quieter sea.

This trip wasn’t about adventures. It was about the cozy things. Cooking pasta together in a small kitchen. Movie nights with a blanket and something sparkling. Flowers on the table, and then more flowers. Long, slow brunches. Silly faces. Even a trip to the supermarket felt like a date.

A balcony with a Greek flag, rooftops and mountains behind — the flag said welcome back

Ilias and little Dasha pulling silly faces, cheek to cheek — the face. you know the face.

Pasta cooking in a pan on the stove in a small kitchen — cooked together. burned nothing. (almost.)

A laptop, a bottle of sparkling wine and two glasses for a movie night — movie night, sparkling edition

Pink roses in a glass vase in the corner of a room — pink roses, just because

A bouquet of pink and white flowers in a vase on a table — there are always more flowers

A brunch table with pancakes, salad and coffee — slow mornings

Pasta and wine on a restaurant table, a chef cooking with flames behind — pasta, flames and a chef showing off

A supermarket aisle with a red shopping basket in front — romance is choosing yoghurt together

A tabby cat sitting on a chair outside a café — another cat, another fan

Chapter nine · The airport

Goodbye, for two months

And then came the hardest morning. Ilias drove little Dasha to the airport. A red suitcase, sleepy eyes, and a hug that lasted much longer than the parking was allowed to.

She walked away sad and tired, back to her life for the next two months. He watched her through the windshield until she was a tiny dot, and then a little longer.

But this is not where the story ends.

Boarding pass

Passenger: little Dasha
From: Ilias’s arms
To: back to real life
Seat: next to him, always
Return: in two months
Class: fairy tale

to be continued

Little Dasha walking with her red suitcase outside the airport — the red suitcase. the hardest walk.

The airport seen through the car windshield, little Dasha walking away with her suitcase — he watched until she was a dot

Chapter ten · The reasons

Why Ilias and little Dasha are the best couple

Because Ilias has enough humour for both of them. Just kidding. (Mostly.)
Because they have their own beautiful story, and nobody else could have written it.
Because he speaks Greek, she speaks Russian and Polish, their English is a comedy show, and somehow they understand each other perfectly.
Because they turn every moment into something funny or something beautiful. Usually both.
Because their life is like a little fairy tale, only with more laughing.

…and about a thousand more that didn’t fit on one page.

Three selfies of Ilias and little Dasha in the car, pulling faces — three photos, one car, zero serious faces

He wasn’t looking for anything

A month and a half of goodnights

Ten times more beautiful up close

Endless hours, one tiny screen

The birthday that went wrong in the right way

The adventure kept going

Meet the family

Cozy season

Goodbye, for two months

Why Ilias and little Dasha are the best couple

To be continued…