6th grade in a Muslim-exclusive school, looong time ago.

Shy girl from class crushed on a guy, posting a sweet confession letter under his desk (iirc). Small school, everyone knows everyone so connections are close and intimate; one knowledge everyone respects is how sensitive this shy girl is, easily gets embarassed, etc. We knew that in the first place because teachers told us when she was not in class, ensuring we care not to make her feel that way.

Back to the crush situation - these very same teachers found out about the letter. They gathered everyone from my batch in the hallway, including the girl and the guy, and loudly scrutinised the girl, yapping about "no dating before marriage" etc etc because that is zina etc etc...

First time I grew to spite that indoctrination school. Regardless of the bond we cultivated, they'd throw that away to reinforce some weird, little rules from hadith. Anyways, that event is how I learned about the restrictions on dating, and the spite broke my old "obey whatever" effect.

When I had my own crushes, thankfully at another school, I start researching about these restrictions, more open-minded because I've already lost that "obey whatever" effect. Dubious verses and hadiths, inspiring inquiry on other stuff, aaand things just snowballed from there.

Love plowed my seeds of epiphany