Oh, it definitely got most of its traffic before it got yanked! And it probably helped that it remained in PSILY, which had enough of an avid following of its own, meaning that there were still eyeballs on it even without more general distribution. But in general, I think I just got really lucky. I mean, yes, I worked really hard on that piece — but I could say the same about other pieces I've written that didn't go viral. So luck has a lot to do with it.

My guess is that it was a perfect blend of factors: big pub; vibrant, non-abstract cover image (I actually cropped the image to make the models appear more prominent than they did in the dimensions of the original); relatable soci(ologic)al commentary; universally applicable life lesson about mental health (a lesson a lot of people struggle with, tbh); honest and unambiguous title (despite the "clickbait" accusations); universally applicable life lesson for any kind of relationship (not just dating/sex), long-game character arcs... and, again, luck. ;)

One more thing: come to think of it, I also remember crying sappy tears at some point while writing that story. Weirdly, there are a few Medium stories that I cried while writing, and all of those got relatively popular here. So it seems that crying is the magic; it's a sign that you're really digging down deep and are probably onto something. (Or maybe I'm just extra-sappy, ha!)

I hope that helps, and thanks for your supportive words! 💜