'Kids?'
'Kuh-kids? Huh? What? Uh, no, I don't have kids,' she stutters.
'Hahaha, no of course not, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here opposite me,' her conversation partner laughs.
Oh.
'Then I wouldn't even have responded to your profile.' It almost sounds like a godsend to her; it immediately rubs her the wrong way. 'I meant; do you want kids?'
'Uh, well, I uh-'
'I do, at least three, but preferably double that much. Oh, don't panic, you don't have to care for them all on your own, my mother will help.'
'Wha- what?'
'Mom will help you, of course, since we're moving in with her as soon as we're married.'
'Ma-mar-' WHAT?! She looks at him, searches his face for a glimpse of humor, but she can't find anything, he's dead serious. 'You'll have to stop working, of course,' Martin continues unperturbed, 'and my mother will have to see you first. But don't worry about that, I don't see any traces of mixed race in your appearance, despite your black hair.'
Her mouth falls open, did she really just hear him say that? This can't be real, what on earth has she gotten herself into! This is a first date, and he's already talking about getting married and having children, AND being racist!? She secretly looks around, searches the room, this isn't a "candid camera" situation, is it?
Her gaze falls, not for the first time, on the attractive man sitting at a table further away, opposite a blonde beauty with enormous boobs, also on a date, it seems. She just hopes for their sake that he doesn't pester his date about things that definitely don't belong on a first meet! Assuming, of course, that they're not much further along in their relationship. She doesn't get that impression; the couple rather radiates that they still have to get to know each other completely.
Danielle - Danni to her friends - recently got divorced after a very difficult relationship that lasted far too long, and now, at the age of thirty-one, she has - after a year of healing and gathering courage - cautiously started dating again.
Still a very attractive woman, she's already had quite a few unpleasant experiences with pushy colleagues and neighbors, and since she is now seen as fair game...
Danni is tall, has shoulder-length, very straight, shiny black hair, beautiful curves, shapely legs and a more than generous cup size.
None of the colleagues and neighbors fit within her - not even very ambitious - set of requirements, although they all seem to consider themselves quite the prize.
Pushed by her best friend Michelle, she has recently joined a dating app, but she's not really happy about that either. Lots of creeps out there. And their profile pictures, Jesus! Expecting a woman to think: YES! I'd love to jump the bones of a man with a stubble, posing in a filthy, rumpled shirt, toasting a beer. They even have the guts to call themselves bon vivants, yeah right...
And the app conversations were also downright turn-offs, already after two sentences - full of spelling mistakes of course - sexually suggestive comments, or hours of no response while she could clearly see that her text had been read.
Anyway, this Martin guy seemed promising. They'd been texting for a while and he was the first one who didn't ask after three sentences whether she'd spit or swallow. That immediately put him at the top of the list of contenders.
He had invited her for dinner, and now they are sitting in the rather romantic restaurant where he had made a reservation. Initially, it went better than expected: he helped her out of her coat, pushed her chair, offered to pay for the meal, although as far as she is concerned there's no need to, she earns well, and also takes pride in her independence. One of the reasons for her failed marriage, by the way.
Until suddenly that question about her desire to have children completely threw her off her game.
IE-IE-iii!
'Cheapskate! How dare you!'
Danni covers her ears in horror, and Martin is also momentarily taken aback.
Together they stare at the blonde at the other table, who has violently pushed her chair back, and while shouting even more curses at her table companion, grabs her coat and bag from her chair and then storms out of the restaurant. Her date shrugs his shoulders resignedly, looks around apologetically and then devotes himself to the menu again, apparently, they haven't even gotten around to ordering yet. Compared to this her own date isn't doing that badly, she chuckles to herself, she wonders what on earth the man could have done or said to provoke such an extreme reaction. Danni hears Martin clear his throat and turns her attention back to her own table companion, now with some reluctance.
'My mother thinks a woman should first and foremost be a mother to her children and a caring partner to her husband.'
O. She looks at him politely, but remains silent.
'That modern need for women making a career, that's just nonsense, according to mom, that's what men are for, she's rather old-fashioned in that respect.' He laughs, she gives a forced laugh back, she doesn't really think it's funny.
'But you have a different opinion on that?' she asks hopefully, afraid of the answer.
'Oh, yes.' Thank God, she thinks, relieved. 'There's nothing wrong with a working woman, as long as there are no children yet.' What the Fuck?!
'Oh, okay,' she mumbles. She looks around suspiciously again, but no, still no hidden cameras in sight.
The conversation -- if you can even call it that -- continues in the same vein, Danni is treated to extensive lectures about what Martin, or rather his mother, thinks is the ideal woman, in which being submissive to the man appears to be an important aspect, and motherly love -- of a son for his mommy, that is -- is the main thing, the red flags are now waving as if a hurricane is raging. Soon Danni's answers are no more than 'hm-m, aha, okay' and so on, as she pushes her food, barely touched, back and forth on her plate, her appetite gone by now.
But then, in the middle of a lecture on personal hygiene, she suddenly has had enough, this date is a total waste of her time, she realizes, she has better things to do!
'That's all very interesting Martin,' she cuts him off, 'but we live in the twenty-first century, women are not extensions of their husbands, we are not incubators, a thirty-seven-year-old man should no longer live with his mother and I love my job and I certainly don't intend to give it up for pushing a pram. And besides,' she now looks at him with a particularly penetrating gaze: 'My black hair is due to a tiny, but definitely present, drop of Indonesian blood, so I don't think your mother would consider me a good enough partner for you. No matter how suitable I may be as breeding material.'
Martin is speechless, he looks at her as if she were the devil herself.
'Oh yeah, and women can talk too, and have opinions of their own, dear Martin, and they also have eyes,' she adds in a fit of inspiration, 'and you are definitely NOT six feet tall, and I can clearly see that there is also no six-pack hidden behind that shirt, more like a beer barrel!'
Oops, that was probably a bit too much, Martin stands up abruptly, throws her a fierce look with an alarmingly red face, the steam almost coming out of his ears, and without a word strides to the restroom.
Too bad, she thinks, sighing deeply, but this outburst was the relief she needed! Geez, this date is gone out of hand at a furious pace! She has never experienced anything like this before. She watches his back for a moment and then her gaze falls on the man at the other table, he is watching her with interest, a half-amused smile on his lips. Their eyes meet and she immediately feels a physical reaction, very inappropriate of course in this situation, but she can't help herself. He seems to feel it too, because a knowing grin appears on his face as he stands up. The next moment he is looming over her table.
'Hey, I uh, I caught your last words,' not surprising, given her raised voice, 'and I couldn't help but get the impression that your date isn't going entirely as planned either. Can I- can I maybe be your savior?'
The scorching look she gives him makes him realize that this may not be the smartest approach and he corrects himself with an apologetic smile: 'Not that you need a man to save you, it looks like you can hold your own, without any help. But uh, maybe you could use a sounding board? And a drink?'
Danni laughs, the anger immediately disappears, and was actually only aimed at that lunatic Martin with his idiotic outdated ideas.
'What do you propose, exactly?' She looks back, in the direction of the restroom, she wouldn't mind being gone before Martin comes back and she'll be exposed to his nonsense again, life is too short. Besides, just before he walked away, she had seen something vengeful in his gaze, she had of course put him down in public, and something else, as if her outburst had suddenly made her a challenge, someone to suppress, to tame. And given her past experiences, she has absolutely no interest in that, those days are gone!
'We could go for a drink somewhere? Have a nice nag at each other about the challenges of being single and finding a suitable -- with the emphasis on suitable -- partner?'
He sees her hesitate. 'I'm an expert by experience...'
Danni laughs. 'Me too,' she sighs, 'more than I'd like. So yeah, that sounds like something I'd be in to.'
She looks around again, still no Martin, thank God, and she rummages in her bag, finds her wallet and pulls out a twenty and a ten note, thirty euros should be enough to cover her glass of wine and the barely touched main course. She throws the notes on the table and grabs her coat from the chair. 'Come on,' she says resolutely, 'let's get out of here!'
Leo laughs, gallantly grabs her by the arm and accompanies her to the door. Strangely enough, she doesn't mind his touch at all, she doesn't feel a trace of condescension or control from him. What she does feel, to her surprise, is a pleasant tingling sensation that runs from the point of contact to the top of her head.
Halfway through their departure, Martin suddenly reappears, a mixture of disbelief and anger on his face when he sees her with another man.
'Sorry, Martin, I really am,' she whispers apologetically as she passes by, 'but I don't think it's going to work out, give my regards to your mother!' Shit, she's shocked, why did she say that last thing? Next to her she hears her new friend chuckle softly and she feels a deep blush coming up. Well, it's not like there's anything left to ruin in her "relationship" with Martin, right? She's only too happy to be rid of that idiot.
As soon as they're outside the restaurant, she lets out a sigh of relief.
