Can someone who doesn't follow me see my story?

If your stories have wide appeal and are related to popular or trending topics, they might show up in search results for people not following you. Also, if others share your stories outside the platform, non-followers could potentially come across them that way.

It depends. Usually, if your story settings are public, then anyone can see it, even if they don't follow you. But if you have set it to private or for followers only, then no.

It depends. Some platforms might show your story to a wider audience based on certain algorithms or settings, but generally, it's less likely for someone who doesn't follow you to see it directly.

Maybe they just wanted to see what you shared without committing to following. Could be they were curious but not interested enough to follow.

There could be several reasons. Maybe they just want to keep an eye on your updates without having your posts constantly in their feed. It might also be that they haven't decided if they want a more involved interaction with your account yet.

Maybe they stumbled upon your stories by chance and found them interesting.

It could be that your stories showed up in their recommendations or they were exploring similar content and ended up seeing yours. Sometimes, people check out random stuff even if they don't follow the creator.

Perhaps they don't want to clutter their follow list but still enjoy the quick updates from your stories. Another possibility is that they're a bit shy or private and don't want to be an obvious follower but still like to keep up with what you post.

Well, perhaps they don't want to clutter their following list but still enjoy the snippets of your life or information you share in stories. Another possibility is that they're not sure if they want to fully engage by following but are curious enough to check out your stories from time to time.

Don't overthink it. They might just be passing time and your stories caught their eye.