It was just another Tuesday when a consult request popped up from a new client. A guy this time. "Hi there, how can I help you?" I typed back. "Hey. Got a problem. I don't think my girlfriend loves me at all." So, a little about me: I'm a relationship counselor, got a bit of a reputation around town, especially with women. My inbox is constantly flooded with emails and messages, mostly from young women tangled up in relationship drama. I started this gig thinking I could be this rational, objective voice, helping people sort through the messiness of love and marriage, maybe even patching things up. But honestly? Nowadays, my main job feels like pulling girls back from the brink of being completely lovesick and losing themselves. Thanks to this job, I have zero illusions about romance. Zilch. All I feel is this bone-deep frustration for all the smart women who get stuck in crappy relationships and just refuse to wake up. It’s been ages since I had a male client. Not sure if my rep is just bigger in female circles or if guys these days genuinely don't sweat this stuff. Anyway, I was planning on clocking out early today. The team and I had plans for dinner – K-BBQ night. I was just about to shut down my laptop when the notification pinged. New client. Male. Okay, that piqued my interest a little. I fired off a quick reply. "Hi there, how can I help you?" "Hey. Got a problem. I don't think my girlfriend loves me at all." A small smile played on my lips. You don’t hear guys say that too often. Based on experience, these types usually fall into two camps: either they're not exactly God's gift to women, maybe the persistent 'nice guy' who finally wore her down, and now she's just keeping him around as a placeholder until someone better comes along. Or, they're just testing the waters, and they'll bail the second they see my rates. "Can you tell me more about the situation?" I asked. Just then, my assistant, bless her heart, poked her head in. "Annie? You ready? We got the reservation at the K-BBQ place." "Coming!" I called back, shutting down the computer, grabbing my jacket, and heading out with the crew. Once I hopped in the car, I logged into my work account on my phone. The new guy had sent a wall of text. "She never texts or calls me first. When I reach out, she's totally hot and cold." "Her job seems super demanding, but even when she's free, she's always grabbing dinner with colleagues or her girlfriends. Hardly ever with me." "We've been together six months, and she hasn't made us official – like, nothing on social media, hasn't introduced me to her friends or family. I try to bring her around my friends, but she always says it's too much hassle and bails. Meeting my family? Forget about it." "We only see each other maybe four or five times a month. And if it's her time of the month, she won't see me then either. I'm starting to suspect... she's just using me for sex..." 2 Reading that last part, I had to stifle a laugh. Hearing that come out of a guy's mouth was definitely… interesting. He’d sent all that and then gone quiet, probably because I hadn't responded yet. "Sorry," I typed quickly, "Just got stuck in the elevator for a sec. Please, continue." He replied instantly: "Why were you in an elevator? Are you off work?" Not exactly a typical client question, but maybe he'd just been staring at his screen waiting, and it slipped out. I was in a pretty good mood, and honestly, kind of curious about this rare male client. "Yeah, clocked out. Guess I'm working overtime taking your consult now." "Are you going to dinner?" "Yep." "With colleagues?" "Yep." "What are you eating?" "K-BBQ." Okay, hold up. This conversation was getting way too casual. Super unprofessional of me to just chat like this. I sat up a little straighter in the car seat. Even off the clock, gotta stay professional. "Sir, perhaps we can get back to the main issue?" "Right. Basically, I just feel really insecure in this relationship." Everything he was describing – these were usually the complaints I heard from women. Classic case of one person being way more into it than the other, maybe even emotional neglect, but nobody wants to pull the plug, so the relationship just hangs there in limbo. If there wasn't any major abuse or crazy drama involved, I usually classified these as lower-tier emotional issues. The simplest solution? Tell them to break up. And don't think that's easy. Convincing some lovesick girl to ditch a relationship she's poured her heart into? Seriously tough. Guys, though? They tend to be more pragmatic. Which is why, honestly, they're not the most lucrative clients in the relationship counseling biz. 3 Just then, my phone pinged again. A notification showing a hefty payment. This guy had just signed up for my premium annual package. Wow. Okay, maybe he wasn't just kicking tires. "We're here," my colleague driving announced. "Okay, you go eat first. We can talk after you're done," Liam typed. Huh. Pretty considerate. I'd been bracing myself to juggle work messages throughout dinner. My initial assessment started to shift. This Liam guy didn't seem like some clueless dude-bro with zero emotional intelligence. And dropping that kind of cash suggested he wasn't broke either. So, what was the issue? Was he… really unattractive? Too bad I couldn't just ask for a picture unless the client offered. Professional boundaries and all that. Still, I really wanted to know what this guy looked like. It was weird. I'd become so numb to this job, running on autopilot most days. It had been a long time since a client actually made me genuinely curious. During dinner, I shared the news about the big client win with my team. As we raised our glasses to celebrate, my phone buzzed. I glanced down. It was Liam again. "Don't drink too much." My eyebrows furrowed slightly. Okay, that felt… a little over the line. Maybe it was the occupational hazard kicking in, but my immediate thought was that a guy with a girlfriend showing that kind of concern for another woman felt like a red flag. Kind of player-ish. If a female client told me her boyfriend did that? My advice would be: Dump him. Mr. Friendly, maybe? Was his girlfriend maybe turned off because he was too nice to everyone? And maybe he hadn't realized that was the problem, just assuming she wasn't into him? I picked at my food, my mind racing, trying to piece together Liam and his girlfriend's story. God, I’m too dedicated to this job, I thought. After dinner, a colleague dropped me home. On the way, I opened my work chat again, clicking on the conversation with my newly minted, very important VIP annual client. "Liam, I'm done with dinner. Shall we continue?" He replied instantly: "Okay." "I was thinking about it earlier," I typed, deciding to test my theory. "Liam, would you say you sometimes lack clear boundaries with other women? I mean, while having a girlfriend, do you still show maybe a bit too much concern or friendliness to other females?" "Absolutely not! Besides my girlfriend, I don't exchange unnecessary words with any woman. I'd steer clear of a female mosquito!"
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