Adventures Of A Female Loner

Mister Beautiful & I Part 1

I think by the time you, dear reader, are reading this, a large portion of my twenties would've passed by. My university years were lackluster in the romantic department. I had one or two crushes on charismatic boys, but I didn't pursue them. Most of my time was spent on getting my chemical engineering degree. I lived in Durban for roughly two years and went on a blind date setup by mother. Note to self, never go on a blind date setup by your mother. She will laugh at you while she is eating the Wagyu steak you brought home from the encounter. Alas, here I am twenty seven years strong staying in my parents house after Covid reeked havoc on my young independence.

At twenty seven years old, you start feeling the aches and pains of staying up too late and just the general aging process. I'm actually writing this chapter with a potential throat infection (when you get older, you get sick more often) in the dark (because of South Africa's loadshedding). I was prompted by my work mom to seek out companionship on a dating app. I had previously dabbled with a dating app when I was twenty four after my mother set me up with a semi-bald, non-fluent English speaking Chinese boy who asked his Uncle and Aunt to pick me up from my house instead of picking me up by himself. At the time, most of the boys rejected me because I didn't know what I wanted and didn't keep up my conversations. After that, I learnt to document in a journal what I would like in a partner. This actually really helps narrow the choices down because boys can be very hungry on dating apps and I'm sure you don't want hyenas instead of lions. So feeling the ache in my bones due to my age, I decided to give it another go. My work mom and I setup my dating profile and it went to the universe.

Mister Beautiful popped up on my app. I've given him this nickname because I think he is beautiful. He is tall, dark, and handsome, but what drew me in was his soft smile. The kind of smile that reaches the eyes and makes you feel like he is a genuine person. I was hesitant to swipe on him, the little nagging voice of suspicion at the back of my mind wondering what this magnificent creature was doing on this app and of course the fear of rejection emanating from my low self-esteem, but luckily my work mom swiped for me. So we started the conversations. I was determined to go on a physical date with Mister Beautiful because my work mom (who is also inexperienced in love) kept lauding over my head the one physical date she had been on. Yes, I was peer pressured into going on a date.

With this new sense of determination, I asked Mister Beautiful to go painting with me. I had always wanted to go, but I never had a partner or friend remotely interested in doing the activity with me so why not ask a stranger. The worst thing that could happen is him not showing. I googled an art studio and even booked two seats for this event. It was my first time booking for two and I could hear the "ooh la la" tone of the person doing the booking on the line. This was really going to happen. On the app, he was also skeptical and kept on asking for any extra information like my cell number or IG handle just in case I didn't show or if I was catfishing him. But we met, I didn't catfish him and he was as pretty in person. We trusted the process and no one died. Disclaimer: Please do not go out with strangers in non-public areas. If you must, go to a public place like Art Jamming in Melrose Arch... We went about painting and it was a great experience. Going on this date and reading my previous work, I've picked up that I might have a type that I like. I like men who are academically inclined but are not gifted in creative arts. Hahaha. He struggled painting Pikachu from Pokémon, but he pulled through despite his lack of creative skills. I struggle with social anxiety, but I was thankful to my life experiences and was able to keep up with him with a little bit of help from Pinterest questions.

Random Tip: If you run out of topics, use Pinterest!

I learnt a lot about him and we connected on talking about family and dating topics courtesy of Pinterest. My friends had warned me to not let my date walk me to my car, but I guess attraction makes you stupid, and he walked me to my car. We hugged goodbye and he smelled amazing. Sometimes when you hug someone, it either works or it hurts. As if bodies are puzzle pieces and sometimes those pieces don't fit. But this time, it was a perfect match.