The emails Ivan and I had exchanged, which had felt like something new we had invented, now seemed to have been following some kind of playbook. The seducer explained the importance of alternating between anguished or ambiguous love letters and ironic in-person meetings. In person, you could never explicitly mention the letters, or say, “Did you get my letter,” but you had to always be alluding to them, reinforcing or undercutting their message. The reason he had such good techniques, the seducer explained, was because he had learned them from the best teachers: young girls themselves. The
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