13: Design a Darling part 3

“My third boundary is that sharing of personal or in-depth information is optional. In dating, it is inevitable to share your life’s stories. However, there is personal information that we would rather keep to ourselves than share with others. If we decide to share crucial information about ourselves, it will be up to us,” Ashmille remarked.

“I agree. I’m chatty, so I might share my life with you, and I don’t mind.”

“Next is about the dating curfew. Dating ends at 6:00 PM.”

“Do you have night classes?”

“I have one that ends at 9 PM. Why?”

“Me too, but we’re not in that same class. That class pretty sucks. It’s too late, yet we’re still studying in the class.”

“Fifth, dating locations must be within a 10-kilometer radius of the school. This would also be more convenient for us and for my commute. In addition to that, no dating in bars, clubs, your house, or my house. Comments on this?”

“No problem with me.”

“Sixth, all shared data and experiences from this study must be consulted with each other first before putting them into our own thesis. We are our own interviewees, too, aside from interviewing external people for the study. Before putting any confidential data in our own studies, it is recommended that we check with each other first.”

“Brilliant. I’ll take that.”

“Lastly, we keep our identities anonymous in the study to avoid unwanted misconceptions about us.”

“Other than getting each other's approval before putting information about ourselves into the study, we must also keep our identities anonymous…”

“Yes. This would also protect our data privacy.”

“I have no objections. Anything else?”

“That’s it. Everything’s clear.” She ended screen-sharing her slide presentation. “Share your boundaries list, too.”

“I haven’t prepared a presentation as you did, but I guess I don’t have to because… I don’t have any boundaries to list.”

“You didn’t prepare one? It’s alright. We can discuss it now and-”

“No, I mean, I don’t mind you doing anything to me during our dating phase.”

“Are you serious about that?”

“This is the most serious thing I said.”

“Okay”

“And I trust you.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Going back... The agreement,” she initiated.

“Oh, yeah. I will copy-paste all the boundaries’ list and send the file to you.”

She waited for 5 minutes after Drino finished their contract.

“There, I sent it. Let’s put our signature on it, and we’ll discuss the dates.”

“What happens when someone doesn’t abide by the rules?”

“We can decide whether to continue with it or not.”

They both put electronic signatures on the soft copy of their prototype dating agreement form.

“Alright, we’re done on the first part. What kind of first date do you dream about?” Drino asked, giggling.

“Uh… I never really dreamt of having first dates to begin with. I don’t know, maybe the usual dating stuff couples do? I read online some first date ideas: a coffee date, visiting a museum, watching a romantic movie in the cinema, and a food trip. All these work for me.”

“So, you’ve never dated anyone,” Drino murmured to himself.

“N-Not that it concerns you,” Ashmille heard him. “Okay, Mister dating expert. What do you recommend then?”

“Hey, I’m no expert at all. You looked cute when I found out accidentally. Oops!” he covered his mouth. “This is personal information about you. Worry not, I won’t spill your secret.”

“It’s not a secret, silly.”

“Oh, really, then what’s with the red ears?”

“I’m not mad,” she denied while her eyebrows furrowed.

Drino laughed softly. “I want to know what you truly want. We don’t have to follow other couples’ date ideas. This is about us and our relationship.”

“Why do you sound so serious about this?”

“Because I am…” he blinked twice fast. “I mean, we can’t afford to fail this experiment.”

“What about you? What’s your ideal first date?”

“My ideal first date with you is…”

“Is?” She’s waiting for his answer.

“It’s strange because… I don’t have the answer.”

“You’re bluffing. I gave some ideas, and you mocked me. But here you are, you couldn’t even think of one.”

“I told you. I’m not a d-dating expert.”

“This is your first date with anyone, too?”

“What made you ask that?”

“Correct? You're teasing me about my lack of dating experience, but you're in the same situation,” she laughed like she won an argument with him.

“I’m that funny.”

“What’s funnier is I thought of you as a Casanova,” she chortled. “Or you dated someone but never defined the relationship. What do they call it?”

“A situationship”

“Yes, that’s the word.”

“No, I never had either of those,” he whispered with a blank expression on his face.

Ashmille paused. She observed that he went silent suddenly. “Alejandrino?”

“There may be times that I joke a lot, but Ashmille, I’m telling you the truth. I may not give the impression of being a decent man, but believe it or not, I’m a virgin who never dated anyone romantically.”

Ashmille choked on her own saliva.

“Not even my parents and my closest friends know that. I don’t keep it a secret, but I don’t find it necessary to tell anyone. On top of that, nobody dared to ask me that. Perhaps they have already presumed that I am not.”

She stared into her laptop screen with no words coming out of her mouth. This is her first time encountering a boy confessing his amateur romantic experience.

“Hey, say something,” he pouted.

“Ah… Aren’t you supposed to limit how much you share with me about your personal info?”

She reminded him of boundary list number 3.

“Not a big deal. I don’t mind sharing everything with you.”

Drino is comfortable sharing his personal life with her.

“I’m sorry. I made fun of you a while ago. I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s not new to me. I go to bars with Terryl and the squad. I visit new places, meeting many people, so it’s to be expected,” he smiled lightly. “I apologize too for poking fun at you.”

“Okay… How do we start the prototype dating?” she switched the topic to switch the mood.

“I’ve got something. How about we list all our ideal dates and play a spin-the-wheel game? Whichever dating scene the arrow landed, that would be our first date.”

“Interesting take... Let’s do that.”

They listed their five ideal dates each and agreed on them. Drino typed all ten of them. Drino opened the spin the wheel app online and shared his screen.

“Here we go,” He tapped his tablet. The wheel started spinning.

After spinning rapidly for a full 30 seconds, the wheel gradually slowed down. The tension was heavier when the wheel finally came to a complete stop and revealed their first-ever prototype date scenario.