Drew hasn't texted me much since our return to Singapore and I am now in the midst of trying to process this to be the eventual end of whatever we had.
Anyways, I have decided to also just write a post detailing all our dates together because I realized I never wrote about them when they happened. And I guess this is also a way to help me process my feelings and try and remember the positive times we had.
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Drew and I had matched with one another after Zo called things off with me, and I would say we hit if off really well online, he was someone I was actively chatting with whilst I was on the cruise and we made plans to meet up the coming weekend after my trip was over.
21st September
He recommended we meet at this placed called Caracara because he had been meaning to try out their items.
I had asked if he wanted to meet at the MRT Station first so we can head over together, but he told me we could meet directly at the restaurant instead.
I remember he came quite early for this date, and spoke to the waiter beforehand about the food offerings they had, it was honestly a great start, and he was also really chatty, which really helped cut down the awkwardness that comes with every first date.
This was everything we ordered, and I was surprised at how much food we actually got for the two of us because when I go on dates, we would order a main for ourselves and a drink, this table had that as well as 3 sides.
The total bill came up to $200, I offered to pay for this meal and it was the first time I had to fork out so much money on a date. I remember thinking how unrealistic this was, because if every date was going to cost this much, there goes my plan of saving up for my renovation. I was also fresh out of my break up with Zo, so I couldn't help but compare the price difference between the dates that I go on with Zo, and the date I was currently on with Drew.
After we were done with our meal, we were supposed to drop by Kyo Teahouse for Matcha, Drew works at the building where Kyo Teahouse is located and told me it was closed on Sundays, this was according to the staff he had asked, so we made our way over to KADA instead. Drew was sweating so much during this walk it was actually insane, he was literally dripping sweat just mere minutes after walking out from the restaurant.
We explored KADA abit, took their old school lift in the building and went all the way up to the top floor before slowly descending down via the stairs to make sure we could explore every part of it.
We then settled for this Matcha joint on the first level and got 2 drinks, 1 Matcha and 1 Hojicha, I think. Drew paid for these. The cafe was really packed when we visited, but after we ordered our drinks, one table that was located at a quiet corner of the cafe freed up, so we took that and started chatting.
I remember he was telling me about how he had once gotten some muffins from Pretty Good Muffins, and was so disappointed because they were really dry, but decided to get a bunch for all his colleagues at work to try anyways, which I thought that was such a nice gesture, until he told me he had made them all PayNow him the money for those muffins. He had essentially gotten everyone dry muffins that none of them asked for, and then made them pay for it.
I was so tickled by this story I started tearing up from laughing because he said it in such a straight face, like it was completely justified. I think this was the moment when I started to get really comfortable around him because if you can make me laugh this hard, it means you are doing something right.
After this, he told me he was planning to get a new book at Kinokuniya, so I tagged along and went to Ngee Ann City with him where the both of us just started wandering around the bookstore, and he proceed to share more about himself and his love for dinosaurs, I was teasing him a lot and we just threw jabs at one another throughout our time there.
Walked over to ION after he was done getting his book and we headed over to Zara to look at clothes that he wanted to get for his upcoming Seoul trip. During our time in Zara, he would put clothes up to himself to see how they look in the mirror, and then pull me to his side and see how we looked together, he also kept teasing about how it is "our" Korean trip because he had told me how he will be spending the latter half of his trip solo as he couldn't find any of his friends to join him and that I could come join him. I wasn't too keen at that time since this was only our first date, and as well as it may have gone, it could all be a one off thing, so I didn't say yes yet.
This was also where I got my LV perfume dupe, which has really shitty longevity.
My mood was lifted tremendously after this. I have been meeting new people after Zo and I called things off, but those dates had been really awkward, so to have finally met someone and have such amazing chemistry and banter on the first date, that is so rare and I couldn't wait to see him more, so right before we parted at the MRT station, we made plans to meet again the next week and the thought of having plans with him next week just made my life feel like it had some kind of meaning again because it gave me something to look forward to.
28th September
Our second date was at AIR CCCC at Dempsey Road, this was another spot he had wanted to try and it was a really nice place.
I remember reaching the place a bit early, and ended up visiting some apparel store while Drew was still on the way and when he arrived, I headed to the restaurant to find him.
He was wearing a thick white sweat shirt then, which I thought was crazy because of how hot it was, but then he did eventually take it off to reveal a black singlet underneath.
We had ordered 2 set lunches, so it came with 2 appetizers and 2 mains, I can't remember what this were, but they were not bad.
Some chicken that he had picked.
And Kimchi Grilled Cheese that I picked and regretted a bit because of how cheesy and just filling it was.
We were sharing food, so the both of us tried everything we ordered and it wasn't as good as Caracara, but the place was really nice, he paid for the food this time around and it also came up to about $200. Again, crazy expensive dates that we are going on and I was also painfully aware that he has expensive taste.
I knew his family in Manilla was quite well off, so there was definitely pressure on me and I kept wondering if I could actually keep up with his lifestyle. He talked about his ex and how his ex had gotten him a $5000 designer handbag for him once, although to be fair, that was after he found out his ex had cheated on him, so that $5000 bag was his ex's apology.
Anyways, I digress.
For desert, we headed to Mr Bucket Chocolateries that was also in Dempsey, and had some BonBons as well as a drink.
It was a nice spot, I really enjoyed their chocolate drink. (Not pictured), when I get Chocolate Lattes at cafe, the one I got to drink at Mr Bucket is what I always expect, and when cafes give me milk with chocolate sauce, the disappointment is always immense.
Fun Fact : So I was still actively swiping and matching up with guys on on Hinge during this period of meeting Drew, and I actually matched with the Interior Designer who designed this space. It was such a coincidence, unfortunately, that match has since decided to unmatch with me on Hinge, unfollowed me on Instagram and also remove me from his follower list because he claims our chat had gotten weird after I told him I wasn't comfortable talking about my other Hinge dates with him.
But back to Drew.
We visited a few art galleries after this, or maybe it was before I cannot remember, and being the two uncultured individuals that we were, we started making random comments about the art pieces because we are idiots. I found myself getting into another laughing fit there because of some random and out of pocket comment he had made.
I just felt like he was such a keeper if he could make me laugh this hard, two dates in a row.
We walked around Dempsey a bit more, visited a pet supply store and also a furniture store before making our way over to Golden Mile Plaza to get some Matcha that Zo had brought me to on my first date with him, and I really wanted Drew to have a taste of it for himself.
Drew started asking me about my love life in the cab on the way over to Golden Mile, and I was sharing with him my past relationship with Zo and also how I had gone through Limerence with someone else before Zo, but I also remembered how uncomfortable I was talking about my relationship stuff with other guys, in front of a middle age uncle who was definitely listening in on us, so I didn't really share too much in the end.
Got to Golden Mile and headed over to Rookie and Huas, we got Strawberry Matcha and Taro Matcha. I had wanted him to try the Banana Pudding one, but sadly, that was sold out, so this was what we had instead.
The way Drew's eye lit up when he took the first sip, I felt like I had accomplished something amazing because he was so impressed, he claimed it was the best Matcha he had ever had in Singapore and I was so proud to have actually introduced him, a foodie, to it. Although to be fair, it was another foodie who introduced me to it.
We had good seats, so again, we just started talking, mostly him sharing about his life. Then we made plans for our next date the following week, I recommended we just hang out at his place, since he lives alone, and we can just watch Dinosaur movies.
It was after this date did I decide I was going to join him on his Seoul trip. If the first 2 dates were already so good, the thought of us just hanging out together in Seoul on a 5 day date, it would be amazing! (I thought, but as we know, Seoul is a little under 2 months away from this date, so I also had my concerns way back then that things could change between us)
5th October
I didn't want to go to Drew's house empty handed, so I made a trip down to Haus, right before they open, to get us Matcha and Banana Pudding. The store did not open on time and I remember being the first there, only to have my queue be cut by this old Aunty because they are all really shameless like that.
2 cups of Matcha and 2 cups of Banana Pudding, Drew was so happy when he was me carrying this.
We also ordered Fried Chicken from Grab Food.
I had shared with Drew about my decision to visit Seoul with him before meeting up, so during our time at his place, I had wanted to discuss about the trip in a bit more detail to try and firm up places we could visit together. I shared with him how I was going to be staying at Myeongdong and he told me he would be staying there as well, it was all really exciting because our hotels were walking distance from one another.
I thought about how easy it would be for us to meet up, for us to hang out the entire day, for us to be able to come back to Myeongdong together and still have our own personal spaces in our separate hotel. Little did I know how much disappointed I was setting myself up for by having those wishful thoughts.
We pretty much just Netflix and Chilled the entire day.
I went to my brother's place after this to see my nephew, and I just remembered of good of a mood I was in the entire evening because of Drew. I felt so happy.
No future plans were made at the end of this date, so we did not end up meeting the next week since his Mum was going to visit him then.
19th October
We made plans to meet again on 19th October when his Mum went back to Manilla.
I told him to introduce me to some Filipino food since he is half Filipino himself and we ended up coming to this place at Cuppage Plaza. He had visited this place before and said the food was good, when I went there, it was crowded and there were a bunch of Pinoys singing Karaoke and being really really bad at it.
He had visited this place before and said the food was good, when I went there, it was crowded and there were a bunch of Pinoys singing Karaoke and being really really bad at it, like singing off key and completely butchering the songs, one of them was even singing a kid's nursery rhyme, it was the so fucking hilarious I once again found myself in another laughing fit and I felt so bad because I was literally crying laughing in front of the people who were singing the song because of how bad they were at it.
I had such a good time there because of that. Drew did apologize to me as were leaving the place because he didn't expect it to be so crowded, when he came it was always really nice and quiet, but I told him it was fine and I had fun because of the good laugh I had from it.
We then made our way to Kyo Teahouse, so the thing is this shop is actually opened on Sunday as well , the staff had given him the wrong information previously, that's why we went to KADA for Matcha duringour first date. So for a while, we had a running joke that the next time when we visit this place, we will both give the staff a piece of our mind.
Drew recommended to get the drink with a scoop of Ice Cream, so I got my Hojicha with a scoop of Ice Cream. I didn't like it.
Again, we got down to chatting and I think it was during this meet up when I first started to notice that maybe we weren't as compatible as I had thought we were because our conversations that we were having were mainly about him and his work, his family, his exes, his friends, and I don't mean that in a selfish, talking about himself way, but I just don't find myself being very willing to open up and sharing much about myself with him.
Our conversations felt really surface level, they were fun, but it didn't hit deep.
This was our very last date that we had in Singapore, we still kept in constant contact with each other via Instagram, but when I tried to initiate a meet up before his trip to Seoul, he would always come up with excuses, like he was sick or he had work, so we did not meet again until 12 Nov, almost 3 weeks later.
That lack of desire to want to meet before his trip to Seoul was also what made me anticipate Seoul to be the be all end all of our relationship, it would either elevate us to the next level or be the end of everything, and sadly, it proved to be the latter.
We went on a total of 4 dates in Singapore and 2 proper ones in Seoul. He is super fun to be around and I will definitely miss that about him, but the way
he acted in Korea has made it very clear that he is not going to be a good partner material, and with that, comes the end of our chapter together.
I have been using ChatGPT to try and craft a "break up" text of sorts, it is surprisingly useful! Anyways, on the the next match on Hinge!
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