In her new job, Nia was right at home. Her reputation was well known. Everyone at the bank knew of her achievements at the brokerage firm but asked why she left such a lucrative position to come work for a bank.
She would just say, "The mounting pressures of working for a large investment institution were just too much. I needed more balance in my life and decided to leave the company, do some traveling and find a position that was less demanding."
That was it. She learned not to broadcast all of personal business to her co-workers.
It was now the first anniversary of Nia's employment. She accrued quite a bit of money and decided it was time to look for a place of her own. She found an affordable one-bedroom apartment not too far from work, signed a two-year lease and moved in.
Bit by bit, she added furniture, decorative ornaments, and works of art to make the place more relaxing and welcoming.
Between working at the bank and decorating the apartment, Nia was busy and had very little time to date or entertain. She often thought about Toto and wondered if he was back to posting his profile on the dating site.
She decided it was time to get back into the dating scene and went on-line to check out some sites but was determined not to make the same mistakes as she did with Toto.
If she did meet someone on the Internet, she would not jump into a relationship so hastily.
Nia joined another dating service and uploaded her profile and photo. This time, she was going to wait and let the person of interest contact her.
Several days later, she received an e-mail with an attached photo from a man living in Dallas, Texas.
His message was very enchanting.
He was a 36-year-old physically fit single male who was seeking a motivated, smart, and independent single woman for a relationship leading to marriage. He operated a real estate investment company, owned his own home and traveled often. He received his MBA Degree from an esteemed university in Boston, dabbled in on-line trading and made some money buying and selling stocks. He was impressed with her profile and striking beauty.
Because he felt they both had so much in common, he wanted to form an on-line friendship and eventually meet her in person.
His name was Dan.
After reading Dan's e-mail, Nia thought long and hard before answering him. She did not want to come over as being anxious and made a decision to wait a little longer before contacting him. If he did not respond, then he was just looking for a roll in the hay or simply playing her.