Then, I ran across Chase.
He described himself as a bored billionaire who needed a partner by his side.
Fake.
But for fun, I continued.
“I’m twenty-nine, single, with blue eyes, and I’m six feet tall. I party way too much and use my father’s money. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, and, despite my current lifestyle, I would love to meet my partner and see if settling down suits me.”
At least he was honest enough to say his money came from his father. Surely if someone was going to make a fake profile, they would say the money was their own. But money wasn’t all that important to me. Obviously, I didn’t want to be homeless when I got to America, but a small, one-bedroom apartment like the one I had at the time would be suitable.
His message said that he wanted to talk. So, I figured the best way to see if he was real or not was going to be talking to him on the phone. If he was fake, he would make some sort of excuse not to talk on the phone. If he was real, well, if he was real, he would have no problem having a phone conversation.
“Hi, I’m Jordan. Call me if you want to talk.”
I gave him my phone number and suddenly felt mor
e confident than I had all day. I continued to go through some of my messages and replied to a few other guys. I was browsing profiles when a very long number called my phone. It was a U.S. country code.
My whole body froze as I looked down at my phone. It had only been a couple of hours, and I had not expected Chase to call me. I stared at the phone and then, finally, answered it right before it went to voicemail.
“Hello,” I said in my best English.
“Is Jordan there?” a man’s voice said.
His voice was velvety and sweet. My whole body tingled when I heard it, and I instantly felt like he was exactly who he had said he was on his profile. It was weird that someone’s voice could or couldn’t match the picture they had on a profile. But for whatever reason, Chase’s voice did seem to match.
“Yes, this is her.”
“Wow, you sound beautiful,” he said.
“Is it possible to sound pretty?” I giggled.
“Oh, yes. I think it is. I’m going to stick to my guns and say you sound beautiful.”
My whole face flushed, and I felt my knees get wobbly as I heard him talk. His deep voice was seductive even though he wasn’t saying anything that was particularly enticing. It was how he drew out his words and took his time with each sentence. Chase sounded like the kind of southern man I heard about in movies.
I had to sit down.
As much as I wanted to talk to him, I couldn’t think of what to say. My nervousness had overcome me, and I just sat quietly, waiting for him to keep talking. But apparently, nervousness had gotten a hold of him, as well.
We sat in silence for a minute, and I had to pull his profile up on my computer so I could remind myself of the things he had said about himself in his profile. His profile pictures were very handsome and his voice matched – so far, things seemed to be leaning toward this guy was actually real.
“Thanks for calling,” I said quietly.
“Thanks for giving me your number. You know, I thought you were a fake profile. You seem too beautiful to be on any dating websites.”
“Wow, that’s a good line,” I said as I laughed.
“No line. Total seriousness.”
“You can’t tell me you haven’t said that exact same thing to every girl you’ve talked to from that website?”
“Oh, that’s true. I’ve said it to every girl I’ve talked to from OK Love. But the thing is, you’re the only girl I’ve talked to.”
I was stunned into silence and quickly scanned through his profile to see when he joined the page. To my surprise, he had literally just joined the day before and, like me, was totally new to the OK Love world.
“You haven’t talked to anyone else?”