He Ghosted His Female Friend After She Tried To Set Him Up With A Single Mother Since That Was A Deal-Breaker For Him

This 31-year-old man hasn't been in a relationship in a few years, and his friend, Lily, 34, knows this. He's always loved his line of work.

Over the years of training in his field, he got acquainted with Lily, who praised his enthusiasm. From then on, he and Lily were friends.

Several months ago, Lily contacted him to ask if he was dating anyone and explained that she had recently befriended a woman named Sarah, 29.

She told him Sarah worked in the same field as they did and had moved from another state a year ago. Later, Lily asked if he'd be interested in meeting up with Sarah for a date that weekend.

Since he didn't see any downsides, he decided to go to dinner with Sarah that weekend. As they talked, he admired how smart and charming she was.

She spoke about the patients she worked with, and it was evident that she was a caring and compassionate person.

"However, as the conversation went on, I discovered she had a child, which was a dealbreaker for me. But I was already in the conversation, and the statement about her daughter came up as off-topic rather than me specifically asking for it," he said.

For the rest of the date, he attempted not to look or act differently than he had been before, and he continued listening to Sarah talk, even though he knew that he wouldn't want to go on a second date with her.

He put in effort to act upbeat, but inside, he felt terrible that Sarah's time was being wasted on someone who wouldn't want to date a single mother.

pedro - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual person

In addition, he felt worse, thinking that Sarah probably needed to find a babysitter to go on this date, and she'd have to care for her daughter afterward.

Understandably, it must not have been easy for Sarah to leave her daughter, who most likely missed her, for a night.

Over the next few days after their date, Sarah texted him several times, telling him she had a great time at dinner with him. It was clear Sarah was trying to keep the communication going.

"Initially, I responded with as much positivity and professionalism as I could, but eventually, I had to clarify that, despite enjoying our conversation, I preferred to maintain a professional relationship," he explained.

Later, there was a staffing shortage at Sarah's workplace, and he directed some of his most talented interns to her workplace to pitch in.

Even though he seems like a social and self-assured person, this is only because of what he's learned throughout his years of training for his job.

"I get easily flustered and awkward, and this whole situation with Sarah just made me feel so bad that it led me to start ghosting Lily. A few months later, I saw Lily again for a work thing where she confronted me about my avoidance, suspecting something went wrong on the date," he shared.

Instead of telling the truth, he told Lily he was busy with his job and dealing with the staffing shortage.

Lily didn't buy his excuse, but she dropped the subject because they were at a work function. So, she told him they should get together after work to have a chat.

With reluctance, he agreed to get together with Lily at a coffee shop. He avoided talking about Sarah, and when Lily picked up on this, she explained that she wanted to find out how the date went and assured him that the reason it didn't work out with Sarah didn't matter.

He responded that Sarah had a daughter and that he wouldn't date someone who had children, which he thought Lily probably already knew was a dealbreaker for him.

Lily didn't look surprised and started talking about something different instead of asking him any further questions.

Now, he's angry with Lily because he thinks she was the reason Sarah might have thought he was a jerk.

If he'd known ahead of time that Sarah was a single mom, he could have developed a friendship with her and networked with her.

What advice would you give him?

You can read the original post on Reddit here.

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