Briefly during my younger years, I entertained the idea of finding ‘The One’ via online dating. I figured I’d significantly improve my chances if I cast my net on the World Wide Web.
Turns out, it took only one man to shut down online dating for me for good.
My first (and last) online boyfriend was a guy I met on Friendster. At the time, I was waiting for my university application to be approved, so I had time on my hands. It was then that I met Suresh. We bonded over Aerosmith and My Chemical Romance, and we coincidentally went to the same National Service camp together.
I thought he was sweet and charming. We started chatting on Friendster, before texting on our phones. Our chats became friendly and more frequent. After a month or two of getting to know him, we decided to meet.
We agreed to catch up for lunch. Since it was my first time meeting someone online, I decided to meet him at the mall.
I was anxious that he’d look different from his pictures. Thankfully, he didn’t look too far off. With his sleeked-up hair and frameless glasses, he was surprisingly taller than described.
After going back and forth about where to go for lunch, we decided to hang out at a fast food restaurant. We were queuing to place an order when he said, “I’m going to wait at the table. Can you order a Big Mac for me?”
Wow, I thought. He didn’t offer to queue! And I agreed!
Off he went, sitting in the middle of the restaurant and playing with his smartphone while I stood in line at the lunch-hour queue.
We sat through the most awkward lunch. Every time I asked a question, he gave short replies. It felt strange because he was really chatty in our texts. To break the awful silence, I recommended we catch a movie. He obliged and picked Amityville Horror because he heard it was good.
When we queued for popcorn and Coke, he checked his wallet. Right on cue, he said he forgot to bring cash. Popcorns on me again.
If it weren’t for the movie, it would have been another round of awful silence. Every part of me regretted prolonging this agony. I could have driven off after lunch, but heck, I was too nice.
He kept signalling me to come closer. And by ‘signal’ I meant reaching out for my hand and whispering in my ear. It annoyed me even more.
After surviving the awful lunch date, we exchanged awkward hugs and parted ways. That was the last time I saw Suresh. What an embarrassing date. The experience really drew the line when it comes to online dating.
Here’s the twist.
A few months later, I shared this story with a group of friends over lunch. As I was telling them about the movie date, my friend Melissa asked out of the blue.
“Wait, this guy you went out with. Is his name Suresh?”
Apparently, my poor friend also went out with the same guy a few weeks ago. They met over lunch, and he had the same modus operandi – “I forgot to bring extra cash in my wallet. Do you mind paying?”
Funnily enough, Suresh didn’t just ruin online dating for me.
Do you have any horror dating stories? Let us know in the comments below!
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