LINK: family affair parte once
Currently listening to: Livin’ La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin
She never drinks the water
Makes you order French Champagne
Once you’ve had a taste of her
You’ll never be the same
Yeah, she’ll make you go insane
Alright
Write about a stranger who left a lasting impression on you.
Prompt created by yours truly.
Feel free to use any prompts for April 2026 that I post and/or tag me.
I’d love to read your responses.

Well, I knew sooner or later it was going to happen. I’d end up on a dating app…
I wasn’t particularly in a rush, but my friends suggested it because I obviously wasn’t going to meet someone organically. They say, “Don’t shit where you eat.” Considering I spend an exorbitant amount of time working, finding someone on the outside on my own felt dismal.
My range was: California only, age range set to minus five years from mine and plus twenty on the other side. I didn’t feel like spending hours swiping, so I set it, closed the app and went on with my day. When a notification came through my inbox that someone had matched with me, I felt a bit nervous and excited at the same time.
I opened the app and clicked over to his profile.
Andy. He’s Korean, an engineer, 6’1″, athletic build, and average looking. He looked kinda geeky, but aren’t most tech bruhs? Reading his profile, he graduated from Seoul National Uni, which is basically the Harvard of Korean unis. He works at a major tech company, no kids, no ex-wives. He’s from an affluent area of Seoul and it seemed like his parents were prominent members in society.
We started e-mailing back and forth. The conversations were easy and friendly, considering we were still in the getting-to-know you phase. Things seemed to be going well to the point where he suggested a video chat. I thought, “Sure, why not? It seems like a natural next step.”
Side note: I have a terrible habit of evaluating people—strangers, friends, or even family. I just clock it and don’t say anything because I don’t want people to get self-conscious. There are times when I’ll watch someone walking across the parking lot and I can’t help but quietly diagnose them.
Anyway, I got ready for our “video date”. I applied makeup, wore a t-shirt layered under a sweater, and jeans.
He was prompt. Exactly at 2200, he showed up. I appreciate punctuality, especially if I’m carving time out of my schedule to spend time with someone. At any rate, when Andy’s face appeared, he seemed rather happy with a broad smile. I had to admit he looked better on camera than in his photos. He complimented me immediately on my looks. We were able to converse in both Korean and English fluidly, which was rather nice.
The first thirty minutes seemed easy breezy. It was light and fun and we laughed quite a bit. He did have me stand up and wave my hand in front of my face to confirm that I wasn’t using a filter or AI. I had him do the same as well. Yes, this is what people are doing now because you just never know anymore. After we verified that we are actual humans with our natural looks, things started going downhill from there.
“Aren’t you hot? Don’t you wanna take off your sweater?”
I literally told him minutes ago that I had anemia and that I was consistently cold. I responded, “No, I have anemia, remember?”
And because he lives in NorCal (Northern California), he suggested meeting halfway—SLO (San Luis Obispo), which was fair, I suppose. He mentioned picking me up from the train station and I countered by telling him that I’d prefer to drive because I have motion sickness. I also didn’t want to be in a position where I got “stuck” anywhere, especially when meeting a stranger.
He seemed fine with the answer. Then he proceeded to ask what I would wear for our first “live date”. I shrugged, “I don’t know, probably pants, t-shirt, and sweater? Something like what I’m wearing now?”
He shook his head. “I think you should wear a tank top and short skirt. I want to see your legs. You should also wear high heels, to accentuate the length of your legs.”
Red flag, I thought. Like a bunch of SOS flares lighting up in my head. First off, I don’t like being told what to do. I get that already at work, I don’t need that in my social life too. Let alone, being told what to wear by a stranger.
I joked and responded, that unless it were 90 degrees or hotter, that wasn’t going to happen. He laughed, but it felt and sounded more sardonic than anything. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Ahh, okay, this is the real version of him coming through. Underneath the smiles and compliments, the mask was slipping.
Whatever attraction I had initially felt was now dissolved. The more he spoke, the uglier he became to me. I wasn’t listening to him anymore, and my RBF (resting bitch face) made an appearance, but he didn’t clock it.
I let him ramble on for another ten minutes before I told him I had to go and that it was nice meeting him. Before he could ask about a next time, I hung up on him. I then blocked his number and e-mail address, deleted my profile from the app, and let out a huge sigh of relief. I had given him my Google number so it didn’t matter anyway.
No harm, no foul… right? Le sigh…
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