Step 1. Istikharah. Step 2. "Will you marry me?" Step 3. "No." Is this how it's meant to work?

After my first attempt at istikharah , I feel like it perhaps didn't go how it's meant to. Basically, this is what happened: 1. I tried to perform istikharah (but I did it quite clumsily). 2. I asked a good Muslim man if he'd be interested in marriage. 3. He basically said no (although he was rather nice about it). **Question**: Is this how istikharah is meant to work? I certainly got an answer to my question, and it allows me to move on without uncertainty. Indeed, part of the dua is: > But if in Your Knowledge, this matter be bad for my faith (Deen), for my livelihood, and for the consequences of my affairs, then turn it away from me, and turn me away therefrom. So I literally asked Allah for this (and trust Allah will help me find something better suited in the future). Indeed, I like the style of asking about marriage early, before there's significant investment in the relationship. But there weren't any dreams involved, nor anything apparently supernatural. It seemed very direct.