Page 43 of Never With You
You’re just saying that to make me feel better about my OCD tendencies.
@worth_traveling_to:
No, really. I hate being in charge of things. I can do it if I have to, and I’m pretty good at it, but I’m not volunteering myself for anything. I prefer to sit back and let everyone else do the work while I enjoy life. You’re the perfect yin to my yang.
@girl_sees_the_world:
Does sitting back and letting others do the work make you feel lazy or like you should be doing more?
@worth_traveling_to:
No, it makes me feel stress-free and happy.
@girl_sees_the_world:
I’m jealous of you. Why can’t I be content without conventional markers of accomplishment?
@worth_traveling_to:
Who says you have to be? If you’re happy being in charge and you’re in your element, then who says that’s a bad thing? People can be a lot of different things. You can be highly driven and responsible and still like to jump off cliffs recklessly. I like that there are multiple sides to you. It’s what keeps me coming back for more. You keep me on my toes, and it’s exciting.
@girl_sees_the_world:
You’re the first person who hasn’t made me feel like there’s something wrong with my personality.
@worth_traveling_to:
I’m pretty good with risk management. I wouldn’t hang around if I didn’t think you were worth my time.
@girl_sees_the_world:
What about you? What’s the deep reason behind why you travel so much?
@worth_traveling_to:
It was initially just for fun, and it drove my dad crazy. To him, traveling is just one vacation after another. He’s a lot like you—very driven. But he likes to project his personality onto others. He wants me to be more responsible, stop playing around, and grow up. Real men run companies, not see the world. So, I leaned into my carefree lifestyle even more just to spite him. He already thought I was a failure, so I decided I might as well do something I enjoy instead of trying to convince him otherwise. Traveling and seeing new places morphed into something bigger. It became my career and my identity, and, to this day, the reason my father and I don’t get along that well.
@girl_sees_the_world:
So you travel to lean into your labels, and I travel to escape them.
@worth_traveling_to:
Sounds like it.
@girl_sees_the_world:
I happen to disagree with your dad. Real men see the world.
@worth_traveling_to:
Good news for me.
I tooka screenshot of my last message exchange with Mr. International and sent it to my friends so they could read it and prepare to discuss it at our monthly dinner that night. If we’d had a TV screen and a laptop, I would’ve presented the whole exchange as a slideshow presentation.
“Honestly, this is the cutestYou’ve Got Mailthing I’ve ever seen,” Emma says with a sigh.
Camila sits back in her chair, folding her arms. “I don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer here, but all this secrecy is giving red flag vibes. This dude is married or already in a relationship and is trying to keep his cover.”
