1. My Own Twin Flame Story — The First Meeting

It was the best 20 pesos he had ever spent in his life, he told me later. One dollar… that was what it had cost him to give me a Superlike on Tinder. I had just moved to a new place—planning to stay put for about two months, escaping the busy (and expensive) holiday season in Mexico. I had been traveling nonstop for the last six months in Central America, never staying more than three consecutive nights in each place. And I was tired. I needed a place to unpack my bags and put down my guidebook.

A New Start in Mexico

I had made a deal with a resort to work 25 hours per week in exchange for free board (three meals a day + accommodation with only one roommate). A welcome change from always sharing my nights with up to ten different dorm buddies and eating only twice per day to save money. To be honest, I was getting tired of my nomadic lifestyle. I had been moving between numerous countries for many years, always looking for a place to call home.

I know now that I was never going to find it. Simply because I didn’t feel at home in my own soul. But more about that later.

A Mysterious Match

Now, his pictures were staring back at me through my screen. He looked like a completely different man in each photo. None of them particularly sparked my interest. His description didn’t say much either: ‘Looking for friendship’. Right. Superlike my friendship? The only reason I swiped right was because I was actually looking for friends. I told myself that at least somebody with a car would be handy since I was stuck in this sleepy town without any wheels.

He immediately started messaging me. “Hi dear, what brings you to this place? You look like a surfer girl”.

It was the start of a month of texting back and forth, exchanging information about our lives. For some reason, the conversations just flowed between us. I couldn’t really explain it, after all, I had no idea who the person on the other side of my phone really was.

Anticipation Builds

It took a month for us to meet up, because he was spending his Christmas holidays with his family in another state. At that moment, my ignorant self still thought he was talking about “his family” — meaning his siblings and his parents. I had no clue he could be married, since every morning I woke up to ‘buenos dias’ texts from him, and every evening he wished me goodnight.

His messages started to become the highlight of my day. His name popping up on my screen gave me a weird type of butterflies. I had never felt like this with any other online match. Normally the conversation would just fade if there was no immediate date planned, but with him, I caught myself waiting for his return so I could finally meet him.

At some point, his texts turned into voice notes. I remember hearing his voice for the first time—it was almost too sweet. He sounded fakely nice. A knot formed in my stomach. What if this is all an illusion and he is a creeper? Never actually intending to meet up with me?

I soon turned out to be wrong: he sent me a screenshot of his flight ticket. January 10th, (10012020, a number that at that moment did not mean anything to me, since I had never even heard of synchronicity) would be the date of his arrival and the day we would see each other for the first time. But after the initial excitement, a big fear fell over me. What if he had bad intentions? I had also heard the scary stories about dangerous Tinder matches—what if he had different plans with me?

A Dangerous Date

I should not forget that I was a pretty, blonde woman in Mexico, with no friends or family on this entire continent. Especially after hearing his plans—taking me to another town an hour’s drive away to go surfing, and afterwards spending the night in a hotel—I was thinking of just blocking him and never replying again.

But my curiosity won. Never in my life had I ever agreed to spend the night in a hotel for a first Tinder date. What was I thinking?! I hadn’t even met him yet! I still don’t know why I agreed to it, but something inside of me told me he was going to be important in my life. Whether it was because I would hit the news as the ‘backpacker who got kidnapped by narcos during a first date’, or because he was going to change my life profoundly in other ways—I don’t know. But I did know he was somehow part of my destiny.

The First Meeting

Finally, the day arrived. I was scared shitless. I never used to be nervous for first dates—I knew I almost always left a good impression. Nearly every first date I had in my life wanted to go for a second one. It was mostly up to me to call it quits (which I often did, because not many guys sparked my interest). I knew I was a desired woman. And even if somebody was not into me, I quickly moved on to the next one.

But this time it was different. I spent hours deciding what to wear. Should I put on make-up? Or already wear my bikini for the surf and dress ‘beachy’? The hotel he had booked looked pretty fancy; I, with my hippie clothes, would definitely not fit in. I always travel with a small backpack that fits in cabin luggage, to save money on flights. So I had a very limited amount of clothes, none of them fancy, let alone sexy.

I decided to wear black shorts and a black t-shirt, remembering he was ‘just looking for friendship’ anyway.

The First Encounter

My phone rang: he had just taken the exit to my town and would arrive in a few minutes. I took a deep breath and walked to the entry of the resort I was working for, as that’s where we agreed he would pick me up. I had informed my colleagues of my plans and asked them to keep an eye on their phones. If I hadn’t come back in two days, something was wrong.

The moment I spotted him in front of a big, white truck, my heart stopped. He looked much younger and more handsome than in his pictures. And a lot smaller too. There was a weird sense of recognition between us when I looked into his eyes. It scared me. He smiled and hugged me. I immediately felt an immense attraction towards him, and my heart was pounding like crazy.

I stepped into the passenger seat, thinking to myself what the hell I was getting myself into. His car was an expensive and impressive brand-new looking 4×4 truck, with nice surfboards already loaded up in the back. Why did I not realize earlier he could be rich? Especially after forwarding me the link to the hotel he had booked, I should have known better. How does a Mexican get so rich?

All sorts of ideas came into my head, and I already prepared an escape plan as soon as we would arrive in the surf town. But first, I had to survive this car ride. He closed my door and hit the road.

A Confession

I asked him: ‘How come an attractive guy like you—with money—doesn’t have a girlfriend?’

He grabbed my hand and said: ‘Actually, I am married with two kids. Do you mind?’

I had to think for a second about this information, but soon came to the conclusion that it was a little bit too late now to “mind”. It was not particularly what I was expecting, but actually… no, I did not mind. I was only going to be here for another month anyway, and I had always been interested in polyamory, so why not? This could be a fun, non-attachment adventure!

I asked him if his wife knew about this. He replied that their marriage had been on the breaking point for a while already, and the only reason they were still together was because of their kids.

Now, this was a familiar story for me: my parents had done exactly the same. I had never seen any love between them, and was still cheering for the moment they finally got divorced when I was 17 years old. My dad had numerous affairs while still being married, so I understood this guy’s plan to just have fun with other women once in a while. Besides that, it was fun for me too to get spoiled while not being expected to be somebody’s girlfriend in return.

I couldn’t have been more wrong, though, as this guy turned out to be the most significant person in my entire life.