Hazia’s Reflections

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Oh boy! Another drama happened on Monday evening. And I learned something important about myself.

Mr Designer’s boss aka my friend wanted to have lunch with me but her car broke down so he had to fetch her and ended up accompanying us. It was damn awkward. I sat facing her, he was about to sit next to me when she asked him to sit next to her - so they both would face me, the client. She whispered to me (when he went out for a smoke) what transpired between them earlier that day. He confronted her and they thrashed out everything. So, he took my advice. She was really impressed with him, said that he handled it like a Mat Salleh.

After that, she went for prayers and left us alone, yeah, I asked her for some time with him. The moment she was gone, he moved to sit opposite of me. His body language changed completely, he became very relaxed. We arranged plans to go out on Friday and Saturday. I told him I was going back to my hometown for early Ramadan. He offered to send me to the airport; Man, at 4.00am? That would be nice. He said so that we could talk some more

However, the flow of event that evening threw me off. I was having dinner with an old friend at KLCC when he called. He said he just want to chat. Really? That’s surprising, since we’d just met up that day. I told him that I would call him when I get home. I did an hour later.

He just went straight to the point. Apparently, he wanted to ask me for a favour, yeap, in cash. He was going move into a new place end of the month and he needed cash for deposit and 3-month rent. He was expecting income starting from next month and could pay me back within 3 months. The worst part was that he wanted an answer the same night, he couldn’t even wait till the next morning. He needed to move to other options fast if I couldn’t help. I felt pressured. Naturally, I freaked out, totally. Was that why he was being so nice?

He sounded shocked that I didn’t react well to that. I said I’d wished he’d asked me in person, not over the phone. He picked up on that. Since I’d rather he did it in person, he would come over. Man! It was already past 11pm.

The amount was significant, but not substancial. I could easily give it to him, but… that was so not like me. When it comes to money, I’ve never been deceived before. And like him as I did, we’d only known each other for more than a week.

I called my friend. I said I knew what all my other friends would say. She questioned me that what made me think that she would say anything different. Man, the fact that I was even considering it was foolish. And she mentioned that giving a smaller portion is also a bad idea. It may trigger him to ask again in the future. He advice was clear-cut, try saying ‘No’ and see what happens. Yeah, I was prepared to lose him.

While waiting for him, I performed Solat Istiqarah once. He came and we took off to Bangsar, Jolly Green. Getting into his car didn’t make me feel good. My defense mechanism came on and he sensed it.

Well, to cut a long short, we talked. He reluctantly told me his problem, claiming that it was not as bad as I thought. He has exhausted other options before getting to me. He’d rather live on the street than burden his parents.

The house that he and his friends are renting belongs to his ex-fiance’s father. It is located next door to her family home, so he bumps into her often. He couldn’t take it anymore. Her father kept sweet-talking him into going back to her. The old man wanted him to work with him, he had several companies. He wasn’t trained for that, he is a creative guy. And he told him that his ex-fiance and him would probably end up killing each other. LOL!

Anyway, he admitted that he was totally unprepared by my reaction. He had no clue how badly I would be affected by his request. He knew I was already having bad ideas about him. That was why he insisted on meeting up immediately, to clear the air.

I told him that I’m normally the last person people come to for help, especially when it comes to money. And if you take emotion out the equation, the fact is I’d be giving pure cash to a guy I’ve just met. Can I be anymore foolish than that?

I think perhaps we come from different worlds, or he is just immature in some areas. Or perhaps he felt comfortable enough to ask me. He said when he was financially stable years ago, he used to help friends out all the time. While he doesn’t understand my principle, he respects it.

He finally asked me to drop the matter and change the conversation to other lighter topics. He said he shouldn’t have asked me in the first place. There was no point of losing me over a stack of cash. I told him that that didn’t mean that I would never help him; if we get serious, of course I would.

Interestingly, he said he learned 2 things about me: 1) I don’t trust people (which made him wonder what have I been through) and 2) I am airtight when it comes to sticking to my principles.

And I also learned 2 things about myself: 1) I could be damn COLD when I chose to, we’re talking about a guy I’m really fond of here and the cash amount is not even that big. 2) I’m no longer a hopeless romantic when it comes to love. I have turned into a pessimist. This guy seems to good to be true and I keep on thinking ‘what’s the catch?’ Well, none so far:)

And… sigh… I lost sleep again. It was already 3.00am when he sent me home. Nevertheless, I was really glad that he came over to talk:)

The night continued into the wee hours of the morning. I think it was already 4.00 am when I decided to ‘test’ him about his alleged fiance. Well, during our first date, I’ve already asked several questions on his availability status eg is he single, is he seeing anybody, etc. The answer was clear - there is nobody at the moment. So, you see how my friend’s statement bothered me.

I rambled about the jerks in my life who have come and gone (most especially on Wan who didn’t tell me that he was already engaged). I was brief, mind you, but being the sharp listener that he was, nothing escaped him. He asked me if I hated men. Quoting blogger Pugly, I told him ‘No. I don’t hate men, I just don’t think much of them.’

The tactic worked. On the way to send me home, he ‘cracked’. He told me actually he was engaged to a woman from a high-profile, scandalous family more than a year ago. Her family was so nice to him, especially her father. He broke it off because she wanted him to be dependent on her (financially) so that she could control him. At first, he didn’t want to tell me - that was past tense and we’d only known each other for a week. My dialogue made him feel guilty, that if I found out from other sources, I won’t think good of him. Hmm…

Before reaching the gate to my condo, he pulled the car to the side. Ehm, I thought we were done, it was already 6.30am. I was satisified with his explanation and was about to go down. That was when he really cracked, I could feel all sort of emotions coming out from him. Yeah, it was confusing, I was confused too. We were out for business  two days ago and before we knew it, we were on our second date. We enjoyed each other’s company a lot and definitely wanted to see more of each other. And he said he’d learned so much in the brief period that he knew me.

He cautioned me that what he wanted to say might sound silly in the morning but if he didn’t - he’d just keep his distance and I won’t know why, and I would hate him for it. So, he would rather make a fool out of himself for trying to let it out. He rambled for a while about how he feel about me and I kept waiting for the ‘BUT..’ at the end of his sentences, but it didn’t come:)Silly me:p.

What’s more confusing was my friend aka his boss’ motive. When she first mentioned her new designer to me, she said he was cute, a gentleman, ala Eurasian and inteligent. It sounded more like she was offering an escort service. She let him dealt with me without her presence, that was unusual for her. He was torn in between. At one point, he was angry at her for ‘pimping’ him to me to get more business, seemed like it. At another, he thought we should thank her for bringing us together. I told him that it was God who brought us together.

And I shared my plans on how to separate things - business and pleasure. It was miraculous that I’d managed to think of one within minutes. If we move further and become more than friends, I don’t want anything to get in the way. He was amazed on how clear my mind was, his was a wreck. Well, I told him, my priority was simple. There was no way I was going to let my job get in the way of my personal life. That got him worried. He told me he was not perfect, he might not be able to meet my expectation. I assured him that I didn’t think he was perfect, but I do think that he is very genuine. And I like that. I also appreciate his extremely long attention span. He could listen to me for hours, with full concentration and remember what I said too.

I had to reveal the fact that last year, I was ready to give up my career altogether (he wanted to know the details but I wasn’t ready to talk about it). So, I assured him that it was not his doing at all. He was relieved when I said we should just let nature run its course:)

We then adjourned to Devi’s Corner for an early breakfast and talked some more. He admited his worries with his boss aka my friend. That was when I realised how tough it was for an employee to handle her. He has his points. I asked him to be frank and be firm. He is such a soft spoken guy, if he turns firm, that would snap her attention.

Looking at the whole picture, even if my friend did set us up, how could two inteligent people fall into a situation like this? The whole affair was just so twistedly funny that I could not help laughing at the end. He warned me not to write about it though:p.

He finally dropped me off at 8.00am. It was the back gate, so he asked me to go in before he drove away, all the while turning back to look at me. He was off to babysit his 2 kids, his ex-wife had to attend a day course. He later text me that he had arrived safely and it was time for me to go to sleep. Funnily, when I got up to my condo unit, I realised that I forgot to tell my brother not to lock the door from the inside. However, by the time I got there, he had locked it the previous night and unlocked again that morning. LOL!

Alas, the bits on our super-long, dramatic date that lasted from 10pm on Friday until 8am on Saturday. Okay, let’s see, I’ll share as much as I can, as a source to refresh my memory in the future as well. However, there is quite a lot that I’d need to censor; things just got way too personal, complicated and emotionally-charged. This is pretty advanced for a 2nd date. Even if you give me 10 years, I don’t think I can ever come up with a plot like this for my short stories:)

When I mentioned to my friend aka his boss that I was going out again with him, she flipped. "You’re moving too fast! He’s already engaged, you know?" Whoa! She was rushing off, but I nailed her. I mean you don’t simply make a killer statement like that and then take off. Her thoughts were all jumbled up and she couldn’t remember who exactly told her that, in what context and whether she remembered it correctly or not. I was really pissed. I asked her to investigate but she had no time. She asked me to try testing him instead.

So, Friday night, he picked me up from my place and drove off to Bangsar Baru. He suggested that we try a new place (where the old Ms Read was). He parked and we got out only to find the place closing down, perhaps for good. Then he suggested PJ Hilton, yeah we need some place we can hang out all night, so that we won’t get thrown out. LOL!

Okay, to cut a long story short. PJ Hilton was okay. He started talking about business but told me to feel free to ask him to stop and change to personal topics if I didn’t like it. That was fine, he shared stuff he designed for his clients. His designs are good, distinct & classy, I’d have to say that. He also brought along his laptop and showed me photos of his portrait sketches. I showed him my latest ‘The Kebaya King’ draft. He started reading and liked it a lot. We talked some more, each wishing that we have the other’s talent ie he could write and I could design.

I asked him about his first girlfriend. Apparently, he was Captain of the football team in school and it wasn’t cool to have a girlfriend then. He remembered tearing off a card a girl gave him in public and throwing it away. Interestingly, his first girlfriend during his A-level year in the UK was a German girl. The second one was Irish. The next one was Spanish - this one was pretty serious and they wanted to get married at 22. Apparently parents on both sides didn’t agree due to different religions. 3 Caucasian girlfriends? I guess that explained his advanced dating skills, especially for a seemingly nerdy guy:)

Next was his violent ways in dealing with gay sexual advances. One was during the filming of a foreign movie. An older business acquaintance tried while he was asleep. He woke up just on time and punched the guy’s face. He refused to talk to him for years but glad that he did only recently; the guy passed away a week later. He also pushed and lifted a gay guy at work against a tall book rack. It shook and all the books fell down. The guy was rubbing against him. Unfortunately, he dared not react during his varsity days. The Caucasion gays approaching him were huge and muscular. But he said at least they respected him and backed off when he told them that he was straight.

(to be continued)

Mr Designer dropped by at my office the afternoon after our date. He was 4 hours late. The printer gave his slot to someone else and he was delayed..

We met up for a drink at the cafe downstairs. Under normal circumstances, I would have been mad. But I had to consider the fact that he took the trouble to create several high quality mock-ups of his card designs and personally brought them over to me. He took great pride in his creations, full conceptualisation. I mean who would have thought of using naif painting images for local festive greeting cards?

Other agencies simply emailed their design to me. I had to colour-print them myself, I even had trouble opening their attachments - that caused a lot of my time. Not too mention, their designs were so dated & common, and the cost wasn’t exactly lower either. So, you see the advantages that Mr Designer has above other Bumiputera suppliers. He later highlighted the areas of services that he specialised in, I was surprised by the wide range of his expertise.

Alas, I was damn curious about the after-effects of our date, would the magic disappear the afternoon after? Interestingly, after we were done talking business, he just picked up where we left off.

He was more open this time, he shared quite a bit of personal stuff without me even asking. He said when they first got married, his ex-wife was a lot of fun. They would party together, even after the first child was born. A few years later, she changed, mellowed and also became close to the religion. She started wearing the tudung. At first, he tried being more observant to the religion too, but it didn’t last.

Sadly, they got hit pretty badly in 1998 - they lost their money in his the stock market - RM300k. They had to sell their house and their car. He hadn’t gone overseas for holiday or anything since 2000. That long!

They used to have a lot of money. They won’t hesitate to just fly to Singapore for the day to catch a movie. He said that’s why he needs to work hard. Age is catching up and he also wants to provide for his kids. Right now, his ex-wife takes care of them quite well and she wasn’t expecting any nafkah from him. But he thinks that he should still contribute to their upbringing.

And yeah, his ex-wife treats him more like a younger brother than anything else. She prefers that he visits their children at her house, rather than take them out. He would spend time playing Playstation and other computer games with them while their mother goes out and run errands, etc. I couldn’t imagine, sometimes he is like a kid himself:)

Actually, I was starting to get tired from lack of sleep when he arrived. But somehow, conversation with him always does one thing - I became less & less tired and more & more refreshed. I even went back to work that night after chatting with him for 3 hours:)

Wow, it’s tricky trying to finish off the 3rd part of this entry. I’ve had another smashing date with him on Friday night, a very long one too, and it’s quite tough to recap what happened up to Wednesday night only, my timing is a jumble now:)

Okay, so it was after 11pm when we stepped into the village-themed Thai Bar & Restaurant at Telawi Street, his choice. The green plants were refreshing. We settled at a cosy corner, I sat on a high sofa while he sat on a high stool. We both ordered Thai white coffee, it came with a Pandan leave stirer, it was good.

The place couldn’t have played a more appropriate song at that moment…

Such a feelin’s comin’ over me
There is wonder in most everything I see
Not a cloud in the sky
Got the sun in my eyes
And I won’t be surprised if it’s a dream

Everything I want the world to be
Is now coming true especially for me
And the reason is clear
It’s because you are here
You’re the nearest thing to heaven that I’ve seen

I’m on the top of the world lookin’ down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I’ve found ever since you’ve been around
Your love’s put me at the top of the world
Song: Top of the World
Artist: The Carpenters

This time he became more talkative. He revealed his interest in flying. At the moment, he was trying to finish off another 15 hours of his course where he can fly microlight aircrafts. He will be allowed to bring one passenger:)

He also shared his latest project - coffeetable book for a royalty’s favourite sport -where he would have to go outstation from time to time. He’s expecting a significant income from that in December.

His art specialty is in portrait pencil sketch. In order to sketch me, he’d need to take a 3-dimensional photo of me first. He said he’ll direct me how to pose for him (I’m so lousy at that, so unphotogenic too).

When he first started his art degree course in North Ireland, he suffered serious culture shock. He couldn’t mingle with anybody for the first 3 months. The nude-painting class was another shocker. The 1st model was a muscular and skinny man, the 2nd was a round overweight woman and the 3rd - whom he and his few straight male colleagues have trouble sketching - was a pretty blue-eyed blond girl. LOL!

I on the other hand, shared a lot about myself too. I told him about my medical condition since childhood and my experience of being under observation at the hospital for 2 weeks when I was 14. He pointed out that in my old family photo on my book cover, my 2-year old self wasn’t obese.

I also spoke about my late best friend who passed away from colon cancer at the age of 28. I mentioned the story that I was writing (from her ghost’s point of view). It was inspired by the incidence during the last few months of her life when we weren’t even on talking terms.

We talked about a lot more. He said everything I said that night had been interesting. Man, can he be any more flattering than that?;) And guess what, we got thrown out of the restaurant too, it was late. LOL! We finally proceeded to the Jolly Green food court for our third and last round of conversation. It was already 1.30am when he sent me back. I had to get to work by 8.30am the next morning. Otherwise, we would have kept going.

Phew! I’m done with this entry. I’ll update on our business meeting on Thursday afternoon and our dramatic super-long date (10pm to 8am) on Friday.

So, we sat facing each other…

At first, he scared me by saying that he is not adventurous when it comes to food. Turned out that he meant he didn’t like caviar, escargots and sushi, that’s all. We spent quite some time deciding what to order. I think we ended up with every animal there is. LOL! Let’s see if I can recall…

Appetisers were green mango salad with duck meat, prawns wrapped around sugar cane sticks & salad and duck meat in crispy rolls. Main dishes - black pepper prime beef, grilled lamb and sticky rice. The waiter suggested that we order green curry duck or something else instead, everything was dry, no gravy at all. No, we were good, we loved everything served:)

He was sweet and attentive alright but it was still tough getting him to talk about himself. He was so hooked in getting to know more and more about me. Since he is the creative, fun-loving type, I found the 3-question quiz a useful tool. So, I asked him to describe 1) his ideal cube, 2) his kind of horse and 3) imagine himself in the desert. I shared my answers when I first tried it out too. So, I discovered - he is a down to earth guy, unique, he likes strong and resilient women and - this is the most interesting - he is at a major cross road in his life ie he is suffering a mid-life crisis at 40. He said this quiz was dangerous as he found himself spilling so much and the interpretations were pretty accurate too. LOL!

He was married till 3 years ago, for 7 years and he has a 10- year old daughter and an 8 year-old son who live with their mother nearby. His ex-wife is 3 years older, they still have a good relationship and he values her advice. She lets him see the children anytime he wants. She is engaged and getting married soon though. He just said that they separated simply because the ‘magic’ was no longer there. When they first got married, they had a lot of fun. However, after 2,3 years, she grew up but he didn’t. Marriage was quite a bad experience for him and it would take some time until he dares go down that road again.

Since he is quite Westernise in his ways, asking him direct questions seems natural. I didn’t have to beat around the bush. He has been dating but is not seeing anybody at the time being. He has no qualms about women asking him out.

Okay, all that didn’t change the fact that I was doing a lot of the talking. He wanted to know everything about me. He was a damn good listener and he was genuinely interested. Funnily, he said listening to my ‘working life nightmares’ over the last 12 years was similar to watching a horror movie. It was scary but you still want to watch it. LOL! He said contrary to what I think, the ones suffering from culture shock wasn’t me, it was the people around me. And he felt like ‘chicken shit’ next to me. That was quite an experience and no wonder, I was burning out real quickly. LOL!

We talked some more until the waitress brought us the bill around 11pm, without us asking for it. Ehm, closing time, it was time to leave. So, we got into his car and adjourned to Bangsar. The conversation then got more interesting, and intimate:)

- to be continued - (I’ve got to go. I met him again yesterday and we’re going out again tonight:))

Now, this is going to be quite an entry. Man, I don’t even know where to begin. This one is definitely for the record!

Last night I went out on the best date of my life, on a weekday too. It was already 1.30am when Mr Designer sent me home. Had I not been working the next day, perhaps we would have kept going till dawn. Gosh, neither of us yawned, not even once. I went to bed at 2.00am and amazingly, this morning got up and left for work 20 minutes earlier than usual. Actually, I’m feeling kind of energetic. And I’d thought that I’d get a warning letter today for being 1 or 2 minutes late. LOL!)

Okay, my credit card claims and allowances for the Cairo trip 2 months ago was finally cleared and I got my cheque worth RM6k+. So, I told my friend aka Mr Designer’s business partner that I’d treat her to lunch. I also wanted to treat him to lunch, but separately. She said if I want to spend more time with him, why not go for an early dinner instead. During the daytime, he had to rush out some jobs. Hmm… the reason I proposed lunch is because I wanted to keep it professional to a certain extent. Dinner means things can really go off tangen. Oh, what the heck! I’m single, I can do whatever I want. LOL!

After careful consideration on what to wear, I decided that the best attire would be jeans and t-shirt, ponytail too. The only accessory I had on were my peach swimming fishes earrings. Yeah, I can just be myself and be comfortable with this guy. It was raining when he picked me up from my office. The earlier plan was to have a simple dinner in Bangsar. But my friend invited us to a fashion show at the Asian Herritage Row at 10pm so we decided to go there straight.

The rain has slowed down to a drizzle. We walked along the whole stretch and back, before finally deciding on an elegant Balinese- themed outlet - plants, pots, flowing water, it was inviting. The waitress ushered us upstairs and showed us to a cosy corner next to a glass wall overlooking the bar downstairs. Yeah, we ended up dining lavishly at CoChine Lounge and Restaurant. The Indochinese cuisine was out of this world.

(to be continued)

Last week, my uncle called me several times, at work too. He was trying to arrange social activities that would increase the opportunities for me to meet guys, even indirectly. A branch of his club has a gathering every Monday evenings, 7.30pm. Hmm… Mondays? Maghrib time too. I don’t think I can do that, furthermore with my unpredictable work schedule.

Anyway, he was firm, nailed me to attend the next one. Attendance is by invitation only and he had spoken to a senior member of the branch. She was expecting me. Hence, yesterday evening I clocked out at 5.39pm. Since I started work 7 months ago, that was actually the first time I punched out before 5.45pm. LOL!

I arrived way too early, 6.10pm only to discover that all the F&B outlets were opened to members only. The sign said the gathering would start at 7pm, not 7.30pm. So, I walked out to an open-air food court nearby. Foreseeing a late dinner coming, I reckoned that I should get something to eat.

At 7pm, I walked back and entered the hall. A group of people were in the middle of a meeting, probably the board members. I quietly walked in to the back of the hall and sat facing the large glass windows, nice view. It was the time of the month, so I didn’t have to go and look for a surau. But man, I was bored, damn bored. I wish I could just go home and chill.

Only 30 minutes later that my uncle called and asked where I was. He didn’t give me the senior member’s number and she saved my number incorrectly. So, she was concerned that I didn’t reply her 5 sms. Nevertheless, we found each other and she introduced me to everybody. Quite a wide age range, they have outstation and overseas members visiting too. Most of the members are Indians, there were a few Chinese, I was the only Malay.

I got a jist of what they do, I think I like the CSR bit, something like what I did in the international students association that I joined while in varsity. The annual contribution for charity that they expect from each member is USD100, which is not bad actually.

She was very particular about ‘my movements’ too, that she should accompany me throughout. She even arranged for me to sit between a Chinese girl in her early 30s and herself at dinner. She was called to join the next table, but she made it clear to the girl that she was to take care of me. I could see why she assigned the girl, she was in Marketing and yeah, she took her assignment seriously. Topics of conversation around the table was okay, light, without anybody dominating.

Later on, the senior member insisted on sending me off herself to the cab downstairs. She asked if I could join their next meeting, even saying that I could talk to the 2 Muslim members on how they adjust their schedules during Ramadan. She even offered to take me to another branch meeting on a different day (may suits me better than Mondays). She kind of reminds me of my uncle, nail things to the butt.

An interesting question that she asked me - ‘Why on earth did you move from an MNI to a government agency?’ I’d be damn if I could answer that question nowadays. I just told her that ‘I want to see things from a different perspective.’ Well, it’s just a sophisticated way of saying ‘I’m crazy!’ okay.

I woke up this morning feeling tired, it was almost 11pm when I got back last night. Anyway, I think the change was good.

Wow! This is my third entry for the day, I haven’t been this productive for quite some time already:)

Yesterday, God must have really pitied me because before the work-day ended, my 4pm appointment turned out to be ‘heaven-sent’. Yeah, Mr Designer came to present 3 samples of the festive greeting cards that he created. Just the two of us this time, he was very attentive, a real gentleman. He politely offered to get me my drink, encouraged that I eat something, etc - everything further enhanced by his soft-spoken ways. His timidness was gone. I even texted my friend cum his boss -  ‘Hey, apahal si xxx ni charming terlebih pulak dah?’ She replied immediately - ‘Well, this is your chance, use him to make Abang I jealous’. LOL!

I could tell what a meticulous artist he is from his designs. He paid attention to details, from the paper texture and card shape to the subject and background. We got that out of the way quickly though.

Before I knew it, I started to complain about my frustration with my job (like I did on Wednesday) when I stopped myself short. "Why is it that everytime I see you, I started to complain?’ He smiled, ‘It’s ok, maybe I can come up with a creative way to solve your problems.’ Naah, I changed the topic and Voila, we embarked on a very long and entertaining conversation. He wanted to know everything about me.

I told him about my Cairo trip - my experience of going through the passageway of the Pyramid and dining by the River Nile, holidaying alone at a backpackers’ hostel in Bangkok, how I would love to go back to Edinburg and Innsbruck - he likes it too, why I don’t like Paris and the fact that I’ve never been to Bali. He was interested in my memorable past work experiences - brands & projects that I’ve worked on that I’m proud off until now, my enriching hotelier life, my colourful friends & ex-colleagues which inspired the characters of my stories and finally, my lunch-hour shopping… man, we even talked in-depth about fashion! Yeah, my least favourite topic.

He in turn told me about his previous job with a department store, his 90% he-she colleagues and insisting that he’s not one of them and his he-she close friend who bought a pair of a pink bikini. Like me, he is the 2nd of 4 siblings - his older sister has a restaurant in Edinburg, his younger sister is a fashion designer with a well-known VIP fashion group in the city while his youngest brother is still studying in the UK. He himself graduated in Arts from a university in North Ireland.

My friend was telling me that the other day, the Designer save her day - they met her big client who happened to be a naif artist, Mr Designer understood and sincerely appreciated his work. He was very pleased. Similarly, when we met on Wednesday, Mr Designer took my book from my friend and started reading it there and then. I could tell that he was an avid reader. He was really impressed, it was flattering. He likes Sambal and Salsa:)

This guy is cultured but not in the glamorous way, he is more of a like a free spirit - you know, enjoying his company is like ‘experiencing fine dining in the jungle’. He is what I would call a great conversationalist -  he’s a good listener and he’s genuinely interested in everything I have to say. Yeah, damn flattering, isn’t it? It helped me release my tension and wind down for the upcoming weekend. I was already very relaxed when we parted ways at 6pm.

Looking back, I know I fall easily for art guys - right brainers, but I think I’ve learned my lesson. While we have a lot in common and we are passionate about things, that is where the similarities end. I still hold a real job and live in the real world. But then again, I won’t be so quick to generalise. This guy is slightly different, mind you, he was married before and he has kids.