16 Jan 36 Questions 2
It was an early Monday morning, day 2 of her third-ever solo vacation. This time, she had picked Tokyo. Japan had always been a place she wanted to visit since 2014, when she promised herself she would take at least one solo trip a year. For day 2, her goal was to find some company to make the trip even more fun. To make things more exciting, she gave herself the challenge to find someone to try out an experiment with. About two years earlier, she had read an article in the New York Times titled “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This”, which she had always been curious, yet skeptical, about. The article claimed that by asking another person a list of 36 questions, they would fall in love with each other instantaneously. She knew it was crazy, but she was there on an adventure.
First, she had to find a guy, so she resorted to the great amount of fish she knew there were in the Bumble sea, and started swiping. She was looking for a handsome man, around her age, that hopefully spoke English or Spanish. Within the first ten minutes, she matched with “Richard”, and sent him a funny GIF to break the ice. After a few hours of talking, they exchanged numbers and decided to meet that same night.
They met at Tenichi Ginza Honten, a restaurant she suggested. According to her research, it was a frequent spot for American celebrities, so she was convinced it must be good. She had low expectations for the night because she didn’t want to get her hopes up, but Richard ended up being a lot cuter in person and made her laugh the entire night. He told her he was there taking a summer course, but that he was going to school back in the United States. They also talked about everything you’re not supposed to talk about on a first date: religion, politics, and even their horrible exes. She realized she hadn’t had a connection like that in over two years.
He paid for dinner, and they left together. She was feeling bold—maybe it had something to do with the two bottles of wine they’d drank—so she decided to tell him about the article. At first, he seemed a little skeptical, but quickly accepted the challenge. So, they asked the night away. They cried together at the “what is your most terrible memory?” question, and laughed together at the “do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?” question. They held hands. They shared some of the most intimate details of their lives with each other. They kissed. A lot. And they went back to his apartment at the end of the night.
It was 6AM and her alarm went off. He still had another hour of sleep before he had to wake up and go to class. With a piercing headache and still a strange feeling in her stomach from the night before, she left his apartment, making sure not to wake him up.
As she was walking to the train, she touched her earlobes and realized she had left her earrings on his nightstand.
“SHIT!”, she yelled.
Not because of the earrings. In that moment, she realized something: leaving had been easy. But not coming back, was going to be hard.
