Linked

1: black air force ones.

At some point in their life, every girl, no matter their ethnicity or personality, has dreamt of or at least thought about getting married.

I have this strict, well thought out plan for life. I go to college and become a psychiatrist. At the same time, I meet the man who I'm sure I will marry because he's the One. I would like for him to be rich. Then, we'll starts a family. Somewhere along the line, I'll start my very own business and become a CEO. My life will be completely stable.

That's the plan. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck at the "find the One" part.

This date that I'm on is honestly going nowhere.

We're sitting at a table in a fancy restaurant. Because I'm a college student, I'm broke but I didn't let my date know that. Besides, me being broke wasn't the problem. He had offered to pay for the whole dinner.

Gentleman? Check.

The problem was the fact that we haven't said a word to each other and it was driving me crazy. My date, a guy named Eduardo, has been staring at the menu since we've sat down. I'm busy looking around, desperately looking for something for us to have a conversation about.

"So..." I started. I like to call this my pickup line. People usually laugh and the tension in the air usually goes away. Unfortunately, it didn't work this time.

Eduardo didn't even bother to look up from the menu when he answered me. "Do you have a problem?"

"It's just that we've been sitting here for...has it been up to 20 minutes? Let's have a conversation or two," I answered, playing with my fingers under the table.

My foot was nervously tapping on the floor. Why hasn't anything happened yet? Did I already mess things up? But what did I do?

"What do you want to talk about?" Eduardo asked, checking the time on his Rolex.

Rich? Check.

"You have any ideas?" I asked, shooting him a smile I usually used to charm people into doing what I wanted.

"Suji has told me a little about you," Eduardo answered, falling for my charm.

Suji Bae is my roommate and a close friend of mine. She was the one who had set up this date with Eduardo for me.

"What did she say about me?" I asked.

"She said you were good with kids," Eduardo answered, turning the page of the menu after spending a lifetime on the same page.

"Yeah, I've always been good with kids," I answered.

"That's good then," Eduardo answered.

"Thank you so much," I said as I moved one of my box braids behind my ear.

"As the woman, it is expected of you to be good with kids," Eduardo answered.

I blinked. "Not all women are good with kids. You know Suji. She hates kids and kids hate her back."

"Which is why she will always be single," Eduardo answered.

I frowned. "Excuse me?"

Eduardo finally put the menu down and looked me in the eye. "A lot of women today are boasting about independence, refusing to follow traditional roles. As a result, they are hopping from boyfriend to boyfriend and some even have children without getting married. There's that song WAP that shouldn't even be a thing. I like women like you who know their place. I suggest that you drop out of college. I'll support you."

I'm a classy woman; it's not in my nature to lash out on anyone. However, I was about to make an acceptation. The only thing that stopped me was a waiter walking by.