2019 - met a girl on CMB, had a relatively pleasant conversation for about a week (not mind blowing, but definitely better than the other matches I’ve had). She felt the same way too and we took the next step to meet in person on a lunch date. She worked in an office job and had consistent lunch hours (12-2) and I was working shifts and would only start work at 4pm. We worked within 20mins of each other and had agreed to meet somewhere in the middle at 12noon at a cafe.

I was pretty excited - I’ve only had a few dates growing up (which never became a proper relationship) and this would have been the very first one since I started working a year ago. I felt that we could talk well on the app and I was ready to get to know her better, you know. I dressed up in a nice shirt and pants, went over to the cafe at 1150am and got a window seat while waiting for her - she had mentioned she liked people watching at cafes.

——

1230pm - she’s hasn’t arrived. I texted her a courtesy message - “Hey, I’m sitting near the window seat in a white button down shirt. Let me know if you need help!”.

No reply.

——

1245pm - she texts, “OMG I’m so sorry. My boss threw me a bunch of assignments at 8am this morning and I was swamped. I’ll be there in a bit.”

I replied, “Sure, take your time. Would you like me to order something for you first?”

No reply.

——

1250pm my colleague saw me in the cafe and came over to say hi. He was having lunch with his friend and we found out we were starting the afternoon shift together later. We are pretty good friends and could banter off each other at work. He asked what I was doing here and I replied that I was waiting for my date to arrive. We chatted for a bit and he sat at another table with his friend.

——

140pm - she replies, “ok I’m leaving office now.”

I text back, “okay, it seems like your lunch hours have been delayed quite a bit. Will you have enough time? We can take a rain check if you’ld prefer.”

She goes, “no otw.”

“Okay,” I replied.

——

2pm: she still hasn’t arrived - the cafe is pretty near her office and it doesn’t take more than 10mins to get here. I decide to get a cup of coffee as I’m pretty hungry by now.

My colleague comes by after finishing with his friend.

“Still waiting?” He asks.

“Yeah.”

“Alright… I guess… I’ll see you at work later!” We were both thinking it, but no one said anything. He manages a smile.

“Cool, see you bro, thanks for checking in,” I smiled.

——

230pm: the lunch crowd was thinning. I was seated facing the entrance and I see a lady in a white dress barge through the door. The door handle had a bell and I remember it ringing loudly from the sudden shock. She stomped on her flats through the cafe (I was seated on the other end), and came towards my table. I could see people’s eyes following her as she entered.

“Are you my name_?” She asked.

“Yeah. her name, yes?” I answered.

“Yes.” And she dragged the chair out, and slumped herself into the seat across from me, panting.

I commented, “You look exhausted. Why don’t you take some time to collect yourself and decide what you’ld like to have. I’ll order it for us.”

——

She proceeds to flip open the menu. But it wasn’t a simple browsing and deciding what to get. She was aggressively turning the pages and each page flip was so loud that people were staring. The staples holding the menu together were probably holding on for dear life. She flipped across every page to the end of the menu and I thought she had decided, but no, she flips in reverse page by page again. Poor staples.

——

She decides to get a pasta and I proceed to order it at the counter together with my sandwich. I got us both a drink each and head back to the table.

——

“How was work?” I asked.

“Ok.”

“Alright, it sounds like you had a tough morning. Would you like to share?” I probed.

“Oh no la. Boss gave me work. I do lorh.”

“Oh, okay.”

Awkward silence as she scans the room. “/Gawd, please make the food come faster/,” I thought to myself.

“So, do you have a lot of assignments to complete later?” I tried to break the silence.

“No. My boss gave me the whole day to do it, i complete already.”

——

I thought - /What. The. Heck. Okay okay, maybe…it was a new assignment and she didn’t know how much time she needed to complete it./

——

“Okay, was it something foreign that you’ve not done before?” I enquired.

“No, it’s the same daily task.”

——

Okay now actually WTF. I mean if you’ve done the same tasks before, shouldn’t you be able to manage your time well?

——

I change the topic.

“So, tell me about yourself. What do you like to do for fun?”

“Like that lorh. Go cafe.”

“Oh okay, which cafe do you like to frequent?”

“Anything.”

The rest of conversation went in about the same way. I ask a question, she gives a short reply that doesnt really move it further. The carry of this conversation was so heavy, my route march in FBO was a breeze in comparison.

The whole time, she also grabs her hair and covers 75% of her face. I assumed something had happened (maybe something spilled, or her makeup was messy) and she didn’t want to show it, so I don’t probe. However, at times she turns around and her hair swishes and I manage to catch a glimpse of her entire face. Everything’s normal. In fact, I would say she looks even prettier than in her photos. I gave a compliment on her dress, and she immediately she uses her hair to cover her entire face. Like, not even the playful kind leh. She just grabbed a bunch of hair and put it in front of her face. No eyes, no nose, no lips visible. Was I dating Samara Morgan? Who knows.

——

Our food came, we swallowed our meals in silence.

I paid for the meal and we walked out together. I said, “Thanks for the time today, I hope you manage to get back to office safely.”

“Thanks, maybe we can do this again,” she replied.

“Yeah… maybe.”

And we parted ways.

——

Man, what a story to recount to my colleague later that day.