"I dated a 40-year-old married sugar daddy when I was 18"

Neon lights blurred behind Lilah's* mascara-rimmed eyes as she scrolled through endless part-time job options on her phone. 

School fees were due, her ramen budget was dwindling, and the meagre $8-$10/hour from her job felt more like a cruel joke than a living wage. 

Asking her own struggling family for financial help wasn't an option either. 

“We did not have enough money. My family is financially unstable and I could not bring myself to ask them for more,” the now 19-year-old said. 

This left Lilah searching for unconventional solutions. 

With desperation gnawing at her, Lilah turned to a trusted friend. The answer came in the form of a whisper: "Get a sugar daddy”. 

Now, this wasn't the answer she was expecting — but at that point, she realised she would do anything that would give her quick and easy cash. 

With a click and a swipe on an app, Lilah plunged into the unknown world of sugar daddies that seemed to promise a solution to her financial woes. 

The first meeting 

Due to her barely legal age and innocent looks, Lilah quickly found many men interested in her. 

According to her, the most common type of men that swiped right on her were married men between the age of 30 to 50. 

After chatting with multiple guys (to determine their spending power), Lilah decided to meet up with one suitor a few days later. 

He picked her up at her place, drove her around in his luxury car, and got to know each other. 

“He revealed to me that he has a wife, but she does not bother spending time with him. All the romance and spark had fizzled out less than a year into their marriage, and they haven’t had sex in ages. He was lonely and on the site looking for companionship, rather than just sex,” Lilah said. 

“I was thousands of dollars in debt due to school fees and my lifestyle, but during our first meet up, my sugar daddy immediately passed me a wad of cold, hard cash. At that moment, I knew he was the one I was looking for.”

Companionship and sex

Lilah's sugar daddy didn't fit the stereotypical impression of a lecherous older man. Interestingly, their encounters were more like stolen lunches amidst his work schedule. 

"When he said lunch, I thought it meant quickies," Lilah recalled with surprise, "Turns out, he really just wanted company."

Their busy lives also rarely allow for elaborate dates so when they do meet for sex, it's usually at a discreet hotel room. 

“Inclusive of foreplay, intimacy, and post-sex cuddles, each session lasted for around three hours,” Lilah revealed. Sometimes, they would also have sex in the backseat of his car in secluded car parks.

Brought her on an overseas work trip 

Lilah recalls one extravagant escape.

“I once accompanied him on a work trip abroad. Business class flights, with all expenses paid. I could do whatever I want, and spend on anything I wanted to with his credit card. All I had to do was be there for him and get ready in the hotel after he finished work. It was a glorious four days," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Yet, unlike other sugar baby stories one might hear, Lilah emphasised his respectful nature when it came to experimenting new kinks.

With a laugh, Lilah admitted, "He has this, um, quirk. He enjoyed shaving my nether regions while I laid down, watched TV and snacked on chips."  

"He always asks first. If I say no, it's never an issue.”

No personal information 

Their encounters are shrouded in a curious anonymity. Besides the fact that he is married and a 40-year-old, Lilah admits not knowing much else about him. 

Conversations may dance around current events and work, but both parties do not talk about their personal lives. In fact, she doesn't even know what his real name is.

“There’s no reason to get personal. We don’t need to know, and aside from being sugar daddy and sugar baby, we have nothing to do with each other,” Lilah states matter-of-factly. “To put it bluntly, I am in it just for the money – nothing else. It is strictly business for me. Although unconventional, it is still a job with consent from both sides.”

How much money she’s made 

Her sugar daddy’s weekly allowance, readily replenished whenever needed, had put over $30,000 in her pocket over the course of one year.

Beyond that, he also paid for her travels by footing the bill for flights, hotels, and even all her luxury goods and electronic gadgets. Every now and then, Lilah doesn't shy away from requesting a little extra cash for a splurge.

Wait… What about the wife? 

“I do pity his wife, but if it’s not me, he’s bound to find someone else. You’ve got to be selfish in order to survive in this world,” Lilah shrugged. “I understand that there will always be people who look down on sugar babies and hate us, but I don’t really care. I’m making more money than other people my age. And the best thing is — you don’t need any sort of qualifications to do that.”