Should hypothetical situations always be written in the past tense?

Question

Example sentence:

I could follow her to find out what she does, but I risked coming off as a stalker.

I think I heard somewhere that hypothetical situations should always be written in the past tense.

Does this mean writing something like this is wrong?

I could follow her to find out what she does, but I risk coming off as a stalker.

Note: the speaker is speaking in the present tense.

Answer 1

Your tenses are not perfectly grammatical.

I could follow her now ... but I would risk coming off as a stalker.

I could have followed her then ... but I would have risked coming off as a stalker.

If I followed her now, I would risk coming off as a stalker.

If I follow her now, I risk ....

If I (had) followed her then, I (had) risked | would have risked coming off as a stalker.

Here without the condition:

I followed her then even though I risked coming off as a stalker.

I did follow her then even though I risked coming off as a stalker.

I am following her now, even though I risk coming off as a stalker.