I woke up early because I had a lot on my mind.

If he’s your papa (a male supporter), he’ll probably come back. It’s best not to worry about it too much. If he were your boyfriend, though, I think there’s a good chance he’d lose interest or end the relationship as soon as he found out you were registered.

Women usually don’t go back once their feelings have cooled, do they? I think he still has feelings for you, even after finding out that you used a dating club. But he’s conflicted. So if you truly don’t want to lose him, I think all you can do from here is sincerely work to regain his trust. Even so, the memory will probably come back to him from time to time. If you really feel that he’s the only one for you, do your best. Another option would be to start a fresh relationship with someone new who knows nothing about your dating-club activities. If you do, be sure not to tell him anything you absolutely don’t want him to know. Marika

Can feelings that have cooled off once come back? That’s a difficult question. If the uncertainty is too painful, you should probably let it go. But if you’re prepared to accept whatever happens, then give it your best shot! That would be my answer. Because: 1. It depends on the man’s personality and individual differences. 2. Whether those cooled-off feelings return is influenced more by emotions than by logic. So there’s really no way to predict it. People say that “men tend to act more rationally than women,” but I think men’s actions can also change depending on the situation, the words exchanged, and their emotional state. Trust your instincts and decide for yourself. I’m rooting for you! It’s Me

First of all, what does “liking” someone really mean? There are many different kinds of “like”: liking someone as a friend, as a boyfriend (not in an allowance-based relationship), as a friend with benefits, as a spouse, as a client, or as a papa (a male supporter). And even when you say you like someone “as ___,” what that actually means varies from person to person and depends on the individual. Perhaps your feelings aren’t being conveyed accurately because you communicate while glossing over them by simplifying everything to “like.” When you say he found out you were still registered with Universe, do you mean he discovered that you had lied about withdrawing? Since I don’t know what you cooled off toward or why, I couldn’t imagine how I would feel in your position. If you’re going to talk things over with him, I recommend speaking with the intention of communicating your feelings to him as accurately as possible.

“How skillfully she treated him—so skillfully that it made him wonder whether she genuinely liked him.” The question is how much you can read into those words. Without realizing it, people often use the person in front of them as a mirror and project themselves onto that person. He, too, was “serving” the questioner in a sense. Otherwise, he could never have come up with a line like that. I may not seem like it, but I’m the type who takes the other person’s words and attitude at face value. If someone shows me affection, I simply take it as affection and feel happy about it. That’s because I don’t lie much myself. In the situation described in the question, I would simply think, “Maybe she forgot she was still registered,” and regarding her past relationships, I’d think, “Well, of course she’s had some.” I wouldn’t read too much into it and conclude that I had been “getting customer service.” However, when it comes to how tolerant he and I would be of a woman’s lies, that’s a different story. Since I don’t lie myself, I have no immunity to lies. Once I feel that someone has lied to me, I become extremely anxious. I start feeling as though everything she says and does might be a lie. I can’t tell what’s real. So if I found out about a much bigger lie—not something as trivial as this—I wouldn’t be able to continue the relationship, no matter how much we tried to smooth things over. On the other hand, a man who lies himself is used to lies, so he may be better at seeing through them and accepting them. Another possibility is that the man’s feelings had already cooled off long ago, and he’s using this as an excuse to cut things off. Maybe he’s saying, “Let’s compare notes one last time and see what the truth was for both of us.” This may be a confusing answer, but if the relationship continues, what I’m saying is that he is “serving” the questioner, and that his kindness isn’t genuine, so she shouldn’t get too deeply involved. You might wonder, “What do you mean by ‘customer service’ when he’s the one paying?” But that’s essentially what a simulated romance is: simply enjoying the atmosphere. From that perspective, “You treated me so skillfully that you made me think you genuinely liked me” might actually be a request saying, “Make me believe you’re completely in love with me. Why did you confess the truth so honestly? Just keep a straight face and lie to me all the way!” It’s a sort of lying role-play.

An old man’s emotional instability is seriously gross. Just keep providing the perfect customer service you always have, and you’ll be fine. Time will sort it out. Still, I do wonder if there are no mirrors in your papa’s house.

There are definitely papas who say things like that. They find all sorts of watered-down ways to communicate, “I don’t think you’ll ever get serious about me.” It may be better than them falling genuinely in love and turning into a stalker, but it’s still complicated, unrequited love, so they can be difficult to deal with. You just want to tell him to acknowledge his own feelings, but judging by that, I think your papa still has feelings for you. I struggled with this a lot too, but in the end, I feel the best approach was to keep talking patiently and explain how I truly felt deep down. In my case, I have a clear story in my mind: because of things I experienced in past relationships, I have certain traumas, and I need men to behave a certain way. Otherwise, I can’t feel loved or trust them. When I explain that, they often understand the reasons behind my seemingly inexplicable behavior, and the situation improves. This may not necessarily apply to your situation, but I hope you’re able to have a productive conversation.