Tl:dr Discovered I have a phobia for sleight-of-hand magicians and it ruined the most romantic opportunity of my life.

I booked an expensive, bougie hotel room for me and my (at the time) boyfriend, and we were planning on a wild night. He asked me to leave the room for an hour for him to prepare, so I went to the hotel bar for a drink. A guy approached me to bum a cig and began doing random magic tricks - pulling cards out of nowhere, making things appear in my pocket, and making ashes appear in my palm. I’m not sure why, but I absolutely panicked - it felt so violating to think that he was in my pockets and making things happen to my body without my knowledge or consent.

I ended up in a full blown panic attack and rushed back to the room. My partner was fully ready for an amazing romantic encounter, with rose petals and champagne and everything. I ended up just hyperventilating and ranting about scary magicians then fell asleep. I felt so bad that I ruined the night. I still get anxiety when I see magic tricks.