SECOND MEETING

[this event happened in end July 2022]

]Remember my friend setting me up with their friend?

Remember the first meeting was, okay? Remember when he sent me home?

Because 2 weeks later, there’s a SECOND OUTING.

Agenda:

- My bestie and her boyfriend wanted to shop for clothes for me

- Her boyfriend’s friend wants to shop for his clothes as well

- We all wanted to eat together

- My bestie and her boyfriend wanted me to get closer to his best friend

But things escalated so fast that there are some funny and sweet moments happening – from him being a gentleman to my bestie crying at the VR place to all of us experiencing food coma towards the end of the outing.

Okay since it’s confusing to refer my bestie’s boyfriend and her bestie’s boyfriend’s friend, let’s call them N and H respectively. N is my bestie’s boyfriend while H is his best friend. Simple.

Meeting time was different for each of us. Since I’m not at my brother’s house, they will have to fetch me last. I woke up on time but I anyhow style my hijab so it looks messy by the time I was ready. This time I didn’t put on any face make up because I have bad breakouts – only put on eyeliner, eyebrow gel and mascara.

I sat in front, beside H again. I was praying that it will be less awkward, but I did not know why I was lazy to entertain his bubbly energy early in the morning. It’s 10am, on a Sunday, who wants to go out on a Sunday when there’s work the next day? Maybe it’s just my mindset because Sunday is my rest day.

First stop was at VIVO CITY – boat noodle. We reached a tad too early so we walked around the shopping mall till the boat noodle’s opening time. H asked me if I have any plans to buy any clothes today, but I told him it’s up to my bestie and N to decide because they are the ones who wanted to shop for my outfit. The number of times they described my outfit as grandma’s outfit….

I never tried boat noodle before, nor do I want to because I don’t like rice noodle. And I assumed since it’s Thai food, it’s a no from me since I dislike Thai cuisine (the vegetable smell). But I gave in, tried the noodles, and gave myself a 5/10. I originally wanted 3 bowls but the rest of them ate 6-8 bowls, so I challenged myself by ordering 4 bowls. I made a mistake of choosing rice noodle instead of maggie noodle because I gagged so bad when I couldn’t swallow the rice noodle. But hey! I survived. When I couldn’t finish, H was telling me to chill, eat slowly, drink water first, then continue. It’s like having a personal cheerleader by my side cheering on me to finish my food relay. After completing the main course, there comes dessert – kaya paste with cube shaped breads. I was hesitant on eating the dessert as I’m still chewing on my noodles. H asked, “you don’t want to eat?” and I said later. He almost wanted to feed me when he took my fork and smirked, so I snatched the fork from him and took a bite of the bread.

Next stop – DECATHLON. Before going there, we walked around Vivo for a while for toilet breaks and digest our first meal of the day. When he gets too close to my liking, I started sped walking. Poor guy have to walk a bit faster to catch up to my pace. He mentioned to my friend that they need to buy a leash for me so I wouldn’t run away or walk too fast. The nerve of this guy.

At Decathlon, as usual, I roamed around on my own.

Afterwards, I wanted to visit the food bazaar at Suntec City. We split into 2 groups – bestie and N, me and H. He accompanied me when we walked through the crowds.

This is the exciting part. [last typed on 19 Aug 2022, continue from 16 Mar 2023] H's attention was towards a particular shop selling watches. To be specific, islamic watch. He asked the vendor how does it work, how to care for it, how much etc. He asked for a pair of watch for male and female. The vendor's response was "I'm assuming it's for you and your wife?". Luckily I wasn't standing too close to them or else I would've choked on my drink. I turned awkward after that remarks so I waited one corner of the shop while he took his time to inspect the watch and pay for it. In the meantime, my bestie and N are talking to different wedding vendors. When H is done with his purchase, we decided to walk around and search for food. Managed to buy otak-otak, dendeng and pretty much that's it because we had boat noodle for breakfast/lunch. Since the place is super packed with all these visitors, we managed to find a spot outside the hall and its on a carpeted floor = comfortable. Since I am typing this months later, don't blame me for having memory loss. We were eating, suddenly H said "here, you like the fatty parts of the meat right?" and he proceeds to dip the meat into a sauce and fed me. He also fed me otak-otak out of the random act of kindness and I can feel my bestie and N giggling about it. [October 2023]

I almost forgot to update the leftover events, but let's just keep it here. Will update when I have the time. Thanks for reading <3