#HowIMetMyHusband

How I met my husband

Our first photo together in 2007.

Before we were even boyfriend and girlfriend!

😁

I used to be a fat girl and I'd never dated before (I met YZ) in my life. It's not a stereotype, it's true that fat girls don't get to date a lot. HAHAHAHA in fact I never thought I had ever been asked on a date before YZ, but looking back in hindsight, I realised that there were a couple of times that close guy friends had asked me out on "dates" but I always told myself "Nah, they're not interested in me."

But since this story is about how I met my husband I won't ruminate too much over my pre-YZ days. Just know that I was a fat girl who had just lost weight and never really experienced what it was like to have guys taking an interest in me before 😅

YZ and I actually met at The Ark Music Cafe (木船民歌餐厅) back in 2007. You know, those bubble tea and food cafes that had live mandarin music gigs? Back then, YZ was helping a friend out and part-time managing at the cafe, while I was quite involved in my pop music school, taking pop vocal lessons.

So what happened was that the music cafe organised a singing competition, which many of my music schoolmates took part in, and thus I ended up spending many evenings at the cafe to "support" my schoolmates.

I didn't take part in the competition by the way. Hahaa. According to YZ, he didn't notice me at first, until that fateful night that we bumped into each other at the same kopitiam: I was having supper with my schoolmates while he was having supper with some of the other staff from the cafe.

I did notice him a little though! If you've met YZ before, you'll know that he has a very outgoing personality and loves to make people laugh with his lame jokes lol.

So yeah, I remember noticing him one night while I was at The Ark while he was hopping around serving the tables and being his playful humorous self.

He doesn't remember that part so I guess I didn't leave a strong impression on him yet 🙊

We ended up having supper together in one big group one night! Then, YZ kind of just casually asked me if I had any feedback regarding how the competition was being organised and run, probably only out of politeness or perhaps for lack of a mutual topic, and I basically bombarded him with a thousand and one criticisms and feedback (me being extremely vocal and straightforward…) and I think he was quite taken aback. I mean, it being the first time we even had a conversation and all HAHAHA.

Of course he didn't say anything to me that night, but in his head, he was thinking like, 哇。。。这个女孩, 要小心!

We went out for supper very often in a big group, and I think YZ kind of slowly developed an interest in me because of my straight forward and outspoken personality… And he said he liked my looks too, but it was my personality that attracted him first.

I've always been a very independent kind of girl and I feel awkward whenever anyone attempts to "take care of me" or treat me special 😂

I remember a bunch of us all went out for supper at Lau Pa Sat and YZ ordered a bowl of dumplings to share, and then he attempted to feed me one, but I felt so awkward I just took the spoon from him instead cos it's so weird to have someone try to feed me I cannot handle 😂 Think he went a bit 💔 when I did that but I really didn't know how to deal with this kind of affection from the opposite sex yet 😥

Wah our first duet together at The Ark!! Where I ended up hanging out together very late after the cafe closed at night heh. Not just two of us lah still got some of my classmates or some of the other staff around (we were all young people in our teens and early twenties, every night 无所事事 hahaha)

We didn't know that each other could sing initially, I was pleasantly surprised one evening when he was "sabo-ed" on stage to sing and he sang Wang Lee Hom's 唯一 pretty well and impressed me 🙊

He also was pleasantly surprised (I hope) that I could sing too when a bunch of us went out for KTV one night and he heard me sing for the first time.

But singing aside I just thought that this guy was quite cute (although a bit ah-beng) and funny and had a really nice smile and dimples. And also YZ is a sweet-talker I think 我应该是被他的甜言蜜语骗过来的. 😂

This was way before I started blogging or running an online boutique by the way.

I had just graduated from poly not long ago and I was working as an illustrator/digital artist at a games/comic studio.

I remember losing about 10kg in 3 months or so (May-July) and I happened to know YZ around mid-July after which I had lost weight and was feeling a little more confident about myself.

From fattie to erm acceptable hahaha.

But I was still trying to lose weight when I met yz, so when we first started hanging out together, he kept teasing me about why I ate so little and always drank just a green tea or an oolong tea whilst the rest ate supper.

(in comparison to my voracious appetite now LOL I think he was very amused when he realised that I actually do eat a lot. But in my defense I wasn't putting on an act and trying to look like 小鸟🐦 I was really on a diet then)

Actually I believe most girls have a 6th sense when it comes to guys right hehehe I think it was pretty obvious when YZ first started showing interest in me cos he would look really happy whenever I appeared at the cafe and suddenly he would be a lot more smiley and chirpy.

Also there was a big full-length mirror right outside the toilets at the cafe and I remember catching him a couple of times taking forever to primp up his hair and check out his reflection to see if he was looking suave 😂

I also secretly looked forward to going down to the cafe whenever my classmates had their singing competition and I even went down on a couple of occasions just for fun, and because I wanted to see more of YZ 😁

But even then I was still quite standoff-ish lah because I wasn't very used to flirting or getting to know boys better.

There was once, my classmate and I decided to go down to the cafe for fun and YZ was so happy to see us and asked us why we didn't let him know we were going down to the cafe so that he could help us waive off the cover charge (which was $15 IIRC) and in my usual fit of awkwardness (I tend to sprout off "rude" words when I'm feeling paiseh or awkward LOL) I said something along the lines of "Aiya it's ok lah we come down is none of your business mah!"

Wah he immediately 💔💔💔 his whole face fell!

I'm such a terrible person really. Don't know how to reciprocate to people's interest still shoot off my mouth all the time and say things that I didn't mean to say 😂

YZ was so sad that day after I was unintentionally mean to him and I think he was so upset he even had a little talk with Elaine who comforted him and told him not to take it to heart 😅 I actually didn't mean it lah. I just meant, like, it's okay for us to pay the cover charge because you don't have to make an exception for us?

Just my stupid tendency of shooting off my mouth whenever I don't know how to express my feelings or when I'm feeling awkward hurhur.

That was also when I realized that my words mattered to him a lot hehehe and he cared so much about what I said and what I thought of him 🙊

During those first few weeks of getting to know each other, we spent a lot of time in the company of other friends, usually in a group of 4-5 people. I could sense that he treated me a little more special than the rest somehow but I played it cool and tried to treat him normally on the outside.

Though on the inside, whenever we were in the same space, he was always on the peripherals of my vision and I was always extra aware of where he was and what he was doing and stuff like that.

I think he got my contact from Elaine one day and he texted me out of the blue with something random.. I can't remember exactly what it is, but we started chatting via SMS (last time no whatsapp, all you lucky young folks now ah don't know the pain) and my heart did a little skip whenever I saw "Message received from Yongzhuan" 😻

Remember how each SMS is only limited to a couple hundred letters? YZ always sent me damn long msgs that were 12 SMS-es long and took FOREVER to load one by one!

So I'd be lying in bed or on my sofa, holding my little crappy phone and eagerly waiting for the SMS-es to finish loading (1/12, 2/12, 3/12, 4/12….. 12/12) until I could read the entire message in its entirety hahaha such torture!

As I mentioned, I first met YZ around mid-July, and one day that is clearly etched in my memory is that of my 20th birthday, which was on 3 August.

A special birthday

It was the evening before my birthday (which would be 2nd Aug) and I happened to be free that evening, so I asked Elaine if she wanted to head down to The Ark to hang out and listen to the live band. Of course it was half an excuse because really I wanted to go down to see YZ and that day felt extra special because it would be my birthday after midnight passed 😂

I didn't tell him about my birthday though I secretly hoped he would find out about it LOL 一个犯贱 🙄

Of course, YZ found out from my classmate about it being my birthday, and he last minute-ly managed to surprise me with a slice of mango cheesecake from Coffee Bean that night!

I only heard about how he ran all over the place to look for a birthday candle for me that night after we got together, cuz apparently Coffee Bean didn't have any candles and he had to run back to the cafe to find candles so that he could surprise me with 🎂✨!

Obviously, I was very very happy about it 😁

That night, all of us headed to KTV at Cineleisure til 6am to celebrate my birthday, after which I went straight to work. I remember YZ taking the bus with me together to East Coast Road (my work place) and then alighting with me and accompanying me for breakfast at the Hong Kong Cafe 茶餐厅 that used to be next to Katong Mall before I started work.

I didn't expect YZ to alight with me because he had taken the same bus as I did on the pretext of taking that bus home (to Bedok) but I was super happy when he did so 💕

Cannot quite remember but I think I was sabo-ing myself again and when I saw YZ coming off the bus I probably asked him "Eh why you coming off also?? Aren't you going back home to Bedok?" LOL something like that 明明人家就是要陪我嘛还问到酱清楚

We had a nice breakfast together before he walked me to office and left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling in my tummy that sustained me through the day 😂 Back in those days hor, really don't need sleep one leh can hang out until the wee hours of the morning and go work straight away wtf really high on adrenaline and stage 1 romance hahaha!

That dramatic Monday

Actually, I was going through a pretty vulnerable patch right around the time that I met YZ. There were some issues going on at work and one of my bosses wasn't very happy with my performance then, due to a multitude of factors that I shan't explain here.

It was one fine Monday that I stepped into the studio and was told apologetically by the HR/admin that the bosses had requested for me to go on two days of unpaid leave starting that day whilst they held an internal meeting about me wtf 😥

I was absolutely devastated at that point of time because this was my first full-time job ever, and suddenly I faced the prospect of finding myself potentially out of a job when the two days of leave were over.

I was at a loss as to what to do, but I knew I definitely wasn't going to return back home to face questions from my parents about why I wasn't at work on a Monday.

In my lost and confused state of mind, the first place I could think of was Changi Airport.

So this emo 20-year-old me hopped onto the first bus to the airport and I remember feeling very shocked and numb at the same time and not knowing what to do.

Surprise, surprise, the first person I thought of for comfort was none other than YZ, but we weren't that close yet (at that point of time) and I didn't really want to intrude upon him, so my first sms to him was probably something like "Hey, are you busy..?" Or somewhere along those lines.

AND THIS BUGGER NEVER REPLY ME WTF 😡

All the way until evening time seriously #flipstable

And there I was, this poor 20-year-old girl at Changi Airport just spacing out and watching the airplanes go by and wondering what would happen in two days time and whether I would be out of a job and also why my crush never reply me 💔 Apparently, he was busy and didn't see my SMS or something lor don't know real one or not or he 吊高来卖 🙄

When YZ finally replied me, it was pretty late already and I think he realized that something was up and asked me to head down to the Ark to look for him at work. Wah my feelings were confused and happy at the same time cos although I was worried about what would become of my job, I couldn't help feeling excited about getting to spend more time with YZ at the same time 😆

Off I went down to the Ark, and I hung out with Elaine there and three of us had supper together after the cafe was closed for the day.

I didn't want to return home yet so YZ and I decided to go over to Boat Quay and ended up sitting by the river (拍戏 sia) while he lent me a listening ear and I shared about my issues at work.

The confession

Of course the mood and topic gradually shifted and eventually we started talking about other stuff in that kind of early romance manner. I think YZ was probably looking at me with adoring puppy eyes or something and then suddenly we were onto the first important conversation of our lives 😳

It's been almost 9 years so you'll forgive me for not remembering exactly how the conversation went, but that was the night that YZ "confessed" to me that he had feelings for me and how I was special to him.

I actually kept private blog entries back then and I went to look for my blog entries because I listed down in chronological order every single date that we met and how we got together 😂😂😂 Which I'm glad I did because it's been so long that I can't remember the details exactly anymore but my blog entries help me recall those times!

WTS hahaha so the birthday part supposed to be after the confession part #cantrememberthedatesanymore

According to my blog entry, YZ confessed to me that night and also accompanied me home on the bus, awwww.

Long romantic bus rides are the best, right? Except that I'd usually pretend to be asleep HAHAHA and even when we started "dating", I would pretend to be asleep on our bus rides too so that I could sneakily rest my head on his shoulder and feel "protected" and secure in his embrace 😁

Our first date

Our first date happened just a few days after my birthday, because YZ won a pair of movie tickets and it was the perfect excuse to date me out for a movie hahaha 😂

My most vivid impression of this first date was that I saw YZ wearing a shirt and tie for the first time and I had that "哇,有帅到!" 的感觉 🙊 It was a pretty nice striped blue tie and he looked good.

I suspect he purposely dressed up to impress me one cos actually I don't think he NEEDS to dress like that to work tho he did it at times.

But I think the more exciting part of that first date happened after the movie, which was a pretty average show and wasn't particularly memorable.

After our movie ended, we wanted to hang out more and we decided to go down to East Coast Park to enjoy the sea breeze and chill 😅 (Last time paktor is go East Coast Park one don't judge ok all you youngsters)

And so we sat on one of the tide-breakers, just chatting occasionally and feeling the wind in our faces and hearing the quiet whooshing of the tide rushing in and out.

I think we stopped talking for a bit and we were just silently sitting there when my phone suddenly beeped.

✨ "Message from Yongzhuan" ✨

Eh? Hahaha how come YZ texted me when he was sitting just two feet away from me?

I threw him a half-amused-half-confused glance and picked up my phone to open up the text message.

It said…

Can I hold your hand?

I really didn't know how to react, so I just looked at him, laughed and asked him what I was supposed to say to that, LOL awkward words again right wtf. Inside is like YES LAH JUST HOLD LA but on the outside paiseh leh! 女人要有矜持!

So YZ just looked intently into my eyes and then did a very brave thing. He wordlessly grabbed hold of my hand tightly and didn't let go for a very long time (probably 暗爽-ed and did a victory dance inside. *fist pump*) LOL 拍偶像剧 sia!

And that night, YZ and I walked the length of East Coast Park, hand-in-hand.. Him in his shirt and pants, carrying his briefcase with a heavy laptop inside but I think he didn't feel the weight at all cos he was too elated to have my hand in his hahaha 👫

So that's the story of how we held hands for the first time I guess it became sort of official that night but we still hadn't wrapped our head around the idea of being in a relationship (especially me).

Can't remember if this was taken before or after we got together, but it was somewhere around that period!

Cannot believe I spent a whole night writing this and I'm only at the hold hands part haven't even reach our first kiss yet HAHA tired liao

A few days later, our first kiss happened on National Day (LOL cue fireworks in background and patriotic national songs as we kissed KIDDINGGGG) and it started innocently as a group gathering out to Clark Quay Central for dinner.

I remember YZ was wearing a very horrible pink shirt (still in existence right now somewhere in his wardrobe) and back then he thought it was very cool to leave the top three buttons open but it was seriously damn ah-beng really HAHA this proves that love is blind 🙄

See what I mean. 🙄

This is that exact pink shirt I was talking about (but this photo was taken at a different time)!

It's 一个 beng until 不行.

The first kiss 💋

Our National Day group gathering ended and all of us parted ways to go back home. Of course, YZ accompanied me and the two of us took the bus back home to my place.

We were still at that very fresh and exciting honeymoon stage of courtship/dating and both of us were still quite shy with each other. I hadn't brought him back home yet or told my parents I was dating yet hahaha.

There's a small park right across my house with a swing and some benches, and it's a quiet and peaceful place. That's where YZ and I went after we alighted from the bus stop outside my place.

It was like we cannot get enough of each other's company HAHA and I was quite doubtful about his affection for me and I told him he probably only felt this way because of the "新鲜感".

Nonetheless, those early days of courtship were very sweet as we spent a lot of time together to get to know and understand each other better, and we really just chatted for hours, talking about everything under the sun.

I think I started to get a little sleepy/tired after some time at the park and so YZ asked me if I wanted to take a little rest on the park bench and offered me his thighs as a pillow hahaha so I said okay and just lay down on the bench with YZ's legs as my head rest 😅

Something like this but I wasn't wearing anything so revealing or showing cleavage ok it was a completely innocent scene hahaha!

I kept my eyes closed and was just sort of enjoying the feeling of "投入爱人的怀抱" when I received a soft kiss on my forehead from YZ 😚

I wasn't really sleeping lah just resting with my eyes closed but I didn't know how to react to his peck on my forehead!! So I just kept my eyes closed though my heart started beating a little faster when I felt his warm lips pressed against my forehead.

(Actually I really hadn't thought about when we would kiss for the first time. But I was open to the possibility of course and when it happened, it felt quite natural)

我的初吻 leh!!

After that first peck on my forehead, YZ carried on with a little kiss on my nose, and of course the next kiss landed on my lips 😂 But it was a very gentlemanly sort of kiss, you know, just brief and gentle 😆

At which point I stopped feigning sleep and opened my eyes to tell YZ off for being so cheeky lol but his eyes were dancing with merriment and he was looking very pleased with himself.

According to YZ, he had a very difficult time bending over to reach my lips because of
1. His tight pink shirt.
2. Our awkward position since my head was on his lap, and his tummy was in the way of him bending down.

#missionaccomplished

Bwahahaha joke.

And that was our first kiss!!! 💋 After which he sent me a very long and corny SMS that was another 8/8 SMS that took forever to load and this stupid SMS even got truncated so I never found out what the end of it was.

📱💬 Na na, want to tell u that although my love for you is deep and crazy, my actions for you are not. i am still rational. logical, and not drunk last night. i know what im doing, its not out of being rash, impulsive or trying to take advantage of you. just do it so naturally. kissing u is like kissing an angel. i'm just on cloud nine althought i cant show u how excited, happy i feel. You have emerged as a real motivation to me and i wanna say u are now part of my life.

Oh ya YZ used to call me Nana hahaha. This is the only SMS from YZ that I saved from then… ☹️ Stupid phone storage, had to delete so many of his mega-long SMSes cos there wasn't enough space in my inbox for them!

Ah well.

Very dramatic hor, YZ. All this 甜言蜜语, 什么 "Kissing you is like kissing an angel" hahahaha!

That first kiss sealed our relationship and made it official! But when we were deciding on an anniversary date, I chose 6th August, which is the day we first held hands at ECP.

End of "Sleepless in Singapore" – Episode 1

This entry really too too long already I'll carry on with more courtship stories another day okay? 😁

Share your own #howimetmyhusband stories too!! #HIMMH