I don't believe in soul mates. But then again I also don't believe in souls.

There's no "one" person out there for everyone. It's not like people in relationships found the only person out of the 7 billion on Earth who they could be with. We'd certainly have gone extinct by now if that's how it worked. And it's silly to think that. After my mom got engaged she told me she thought he was "the one." I had to clench my jaw and fight the instinct to day "the third one?" back to her. You'd think she might have learned from all that experience, wouldn't you? But I digress...

Anyway, playing hard to get is tough to manage well. I get annoyed if I feel like I'm being blown off repeatedly when trying to make plans. I'll stop trying and wait for the other person to make a suggestion. Or I might take it as a rejection and feel bad about myself and then try to move on. On the other hand, being over eager can be off putting, too. I don't need someone to follow me around everywhere. I have dogs for that. And it can smack of desperation.

I think it's totally acceptable to reject a proposed date because you're "busy." Makes you seem like you've got a lot going on. But if you're going to go that route, I recommend suggesting an alternative so the person still knows you're interested, and you aren't making up excuses to avoid him/her. And you don't have to have concrete plans. You can just go with something vague like, how about the weekend of the 26th?