Come on! Admit it! Most of you have tried dating through the net before! It’s inevitable! I know a few people that met online and actually gotten married in real life. Now, they have a family of their own. Some online relationships can be sweet and everlasting but most of the time they are hilarious, cringe-worthy and downright embarrassing!

As I was sipping a mug of Milo eating biscuits, I came to realization that I’ve been a very bad girl on the internet (get those dirty assumptions out of your head, people! It’s not that kind of bad). I’m guilty of having online flings! Those were the days. It’s so embarrassing that I’m blushing right now recalling back those times!

It all started when I was 14 and my best friend, Serra introduced me to this online RPG MapleSEA (MapleStory). Battling monsters, levelling up, you know… that type of games. It’s normal for people to hook up solely for the purpose of the game. Rarely are there any affection attached to the ‘hook ups’. It’s usually for getting the wedding chair and ring in the game! Gad…what was I thinking?! Alright, so I never did had the chance to walk down the pixelated aisle in MapleSEA because my ‘fiancée’ (yes, you read right. ‘Fiancée’) didn’t have enough materials and MapleCash (That’s real money in purchasing the game card to buy stuff in the game, by the way) to ‘afford’ a wedding. So, we remained engaged in the game until both of us stopped playing and I never did see him again. OH GAD AND GET THIS! His name in the game was WarLord. JESUS CHRIST! That’s a pretty good cringe-worthy story if you ask me! I quit the game completely when I was 16 towards the end of the year because I wanted to focus on my studies.

2011 came and I’m 18. My interest has completely adverted from online games to the usual teenage interest. Alright, so I met this guy on Facebook and hear me out! I would NEVER, EVER add strangers with no mutual friends nor do I engage in a conversation let alone be in a relationship with them. This guy however, was a friend of a friend; introduced through Facebook. He lived in KL and was working at a resort. So, he added me and we talked as friends through Facebook chat and exchanged numbers knowing that he’s a genuine person. He started getting a bit too obsessed with me by calling and texting me at every hour of the day and this lasted for about 2 weeks? 3 weeks tops? When I didn’t reply his texts and told him that I didn’t have credit, he actually willingly bought me RM10 worth of reload before he went to work the next day so that I can continue replying him. At that moment I felt uneasy of the whole thing because first of all, I’m not a person that would accept money from someone I just met (or rather talked to) lol and secondly, when money is involved, a feeling of debt arises even when they say it’s a gift. Thirdly, when money does get involved, that person is serious about the situation.

After a couple of days he told me that he loved me and that he was flying to KK, Sabah to visit his uncle and was like, ‘Can we meet?’. JESUS. In my head I was like WOAH…WOAH …WOAH… BACK-OFF YOU RAPIST! But of course the feeling of guilt within me wouldn’t allow saying such words. I didn’t give him a direct response as I wanted to quickly end the conversation and put down the phone realizing that this had gone too far. What happened afterwards? You guessed right! He kept on calling and texting until I finally picked up his call and gently laid him the honest truth while giving him advices on how to treat the girl whom you like without forcing affection down her throat. He was so in denial that it made I felt even guiltier. He didn’t brought up the fact that he kept spending me phone reloads whenever I ran out though (I did told him to stop giving me top-ups by the way but he wouldn’t take no for an answer).

A few months after that uncomfortable confrontation through the phone, my phone text beeps and with surprise, it was him. Thank God I didn’t delete his number in my phone or else I wouldn’t have known who the creep was. He texted, ‘Do you still remember me?’ and intentionally I said, ‘No.’ Just for kicks and he replied back… I forgot what he said but I didn’t reply him and it ended there.

I learnt my lesson of internet flings and how serious it could be for some people while it doesn’t mean much to you. From that day on, my online fling days are long gone. Now, I’m more in favour of reality, that’s for sure.