Ladies, He’s Not Jason – Why the Chase Only Lasts So Long

Image Credit, kỳ Phạm

Ladies, if you’re out here canceling dates and leaving texts to marinate for three to five business days because you “want to be chased,” let me kindly inform you—this isn’t Friday the 13th, and that man is not Jason. Chases are fun for about five minutes until someone pulls a hamstring and realizes that Netflix and their dog provide all the emotional support they need.

At first, sure, the whole “I’m mysterious and unpredictable” vibe feels like a fun little game. He’s intrigued. Maybe even impressed. “Ooo, she’s got layers.” But after you cancel the third date or respond to his “How was your day?” with a casual “sorry just saw this” a week later, you’re not hard to get—you’re on a different plane of existence.

I get it. A little bit of mystery can be cute. But if you ghost him long enough to be declared legally missing, you’re playing hard to locate, not hard to get. Imagine if the roles were reversed, and you finally found a guy you actually liked, only for him to disappear like Houdini for seven days and pop back up with a “sup?” You’d be on the phone with your friends dissecting that man’s audacity like it’s a true crime podcast.

Dating apps are not endurance sports. There are no trophies for the longest game of emotional hide and seek. If you vibe with someone, just go on the date! Worst-case scenario, you spend an hour debating whether pineapple belongs on pizza. Best case, you actually like the guy and stop doom-scrolling through 97 profiles of men holding fish.

Don’t let yourself become the digital equivalent of a haunted house—everyone’s curious, but no one’s brave enough to stick around. Go outside, flirt a little, and for the love of Bumble, return a text within a reasonable timeframe. Otherwise, the only chasing happening will be you, sprinting toward the realization that Jason doesn’t chase people who stop responding.