Sincerity?
(Reading time: 3 minutes)
When he first saw her, he thought she was dancing.
They were at a baseball game. She was coming out of an eatery behind the center field scoreboard just when he was going in. She slipped on something and nearly dropped the burger she’d just bought. Somehow, she righted herself and took two more staggering steps, only stopping when her shoulder connected with his chest. Then, she laughed. And, he did, too.
He said, “Did you do that on purpose?” She frowned slightly, pretending her feelings were hurt. “No. It was an accident. Sorry.”
Unfortunately, that was a lie, but he couldn’t tell.
That’s when he noticed her eyes. They were the deepest of dark browns. They shone with a glossy intensity that would steal anybody’s heart. She blinked once, then once again. That’s all she needed to do. His heart was now hers.
They started talking. They exchanged details. And, a few weeks later they were dating.
He fell for her pretty hard. He ignored the fact that she wasn’t interested in deep conversations. He ignored her habit of constantly changing the topic. She got bored pretty easily. He ignored her slightly devious habit of saying something that she felt the other person wanted to hear. Her heart was in the right place, more or less, but her technique was rather too close to deceit.
During this time, they texted each other relentlessly. He kept each message. It was like having a detailed diary of their blossoming relationship.
Then, the messages suddenly stopped.
She didn’t respond to his phone calls. After a day of rising anxiety, he went to her apartment. The landlord was locking the door just when he arrived. He said she’d terminated the lease and he was checking that the place was clean and in good order. No, he had no idea where she’d gone.
In a daze, he returned to his home. Later that day, she sent a text message that struck him like a blow to the chest: “I’m bored. See you sometime, maybe.”
Confused, angry, devastated. All those feelings surged through him like electric shocks. For a week or so he texted her but got no reply. When he called, her phone rang out. He thought she’d come back to him in a week or so. But, she didn’t. And, she never returned his calls or messages.
He took it very badly. It was as though she had been suddenly ripped out of his life … like she never really existed.
Even a year later, he still felt the pain.
Time moved on, and he tried to rebuild his confidence. But, friends and work colleagues noticed how sad he appeared. Still, he often saw women who looked like her, or moved the way she did. It always proved to be someone else.
The firm he worked for introduced MercurySays to help improve interaction with their customers. That’s when he measured her old text messages. They were a revelation. The real shock came when he submitted her last message to him: “I’m bored. See you sometime, maybe.”
MercurySays reported among other things that she felt “helpless.” More than that, it said she was expecting something to happen soon and that she was being cautious. And, it reported that she was deeply insecure. Worse, it indicated that it would have been “simple” to change her mind.
Of course, the biggest impact on him was the last report offered by MercurySays. When assessing if her message was sincere, the program responded “Mostly No. Their message has only a few indicators of sincerity.” He thought he was going to be sick.
A year passed by, then another. In July, just before leaving town for a two-week vacation, he received a text message from her. She apologized for her behavior. Said she’d grown up since then. Said she’d like to see him again.
He was hesitant. He tested each of her messages when they arrived. He carefully considered his options. He was not going to rush anything. He did not want to find himself in that world of pain again.
Then, just yesterday, he received another email. It read: “Oh dear. You got me. I can’t get you out of my mind.”
He put her words through MercurySays, read its results carefully, and made one of the most important decisions of his life.
To find out what his decision was, put her final message through MercurySays Personal.
Here are her words: Oh dear. You got me. I can’t get you out of my mind.
Copy-paste it and press Submit.
Here’s the link: www.mercurysays.com
