Our first encounter

28 June, 2022

So...it all started from Mara(妈咪)'s invitation to travel with her in United Kingdom. I'm thinking to post the chat history with Mara...may be inappropriate. I'll just keep it short. To be concise, I turned down her invitation two times...of course in an enphemistic way, but I still wanna扇自己俩巴掌 for being a jerk, and almost missed out this precious opportunity. Then she invited me to have a dinner with them, it would be so impolite to turn it down this time, so I accepted for sure. I thought I was gonna have a dinner with just 妈咪 and 爹地, but your mom came. I was totally unprepared and had to join their conversation in the pub, the Shakespeare.

They were drinking beer while I was sipping...coke. When I met unfamiliar people, I preferred to listen to the conversation and just be an observer. And my conclusion was, your mom seemed to be a really nice woman. I was glad to meet her, though I barely talked to her. Finishing up our drinks/coke, we were heading to the Thai restaurant me and that witty Hong Kong girl first met. Wow, I had literally no idea my potential girlfriend was on her way. Something I could had never thought of, for real.

Well, this was where our story started, our very first encounter. I'm not gonna lie I didn't know you were coming until like 20 minutes before you actually arrived. You and your mom were completely unexpected to me that day. So why didn't 妈咪 and 爹地 tell me in advance?? Ohh, I get it. I guess if they told me I would not have come. During the time waiting for you to show up, I was both curious and kinda fidgeting, cuz I felt like you were like an elder sister who's definitely different from me. I had never been good at mingling with relatives. Do you know I even felt a bit pressured cuz I thought you were excellent in every way? I was gathering bits and pieces from their words to know more about you, which got me even more curious. And then you came, my first impression was 舒服得体, decent, giving me a comfy vibe. You were so talkative, I thought you guys were like 超级熟. I felt the conversation was super 热闹 though I couldn't understand a word. Cantonese, this wasn't like a Chinese dialect to me, it was more like an alien language. I tried so hard to focus and listen. I was like taking an IELTS listening test for hours with zero English knowledge.

Even so, I never picked up my cellphone for I couldn't understand or join your conversation, because number one, I was interested in getting to know more about Cantonese; number two, among all the people around the table, you were the only one who spoke Mandarin from time to time despite you were all from Hong Kong and you definitely didn't have to do this. I was moved tbh, for noticing me and trying to let me understand what was going on. Though after we got familiar with each other you said you deliberately did that cuz you wanted to make friends with me, I still thought you were nice, caring and a good observer. You got me lol. Plus, you were super 自来熟 and 超级热情主动地说服我跟你们一起旅游 for so many times, and promised to teach me Cantonese. I felt your intent. 如果一直拒绝就太不给面子了。So after I was back to my flat room in King's Cross, 我思索再三, and called my mom for her advice. I finally decided to join you guys. You were an important reason. Note that I had never gone to travel during time in London, that was the first time. Looking back at the moment I finally made a step forward to come with you guys, I'm so glad I didn't hold back as I had always been. It taught me a lesson to always open to opportunities especially ones outside your comfort zone. They are usually ones that surprise you most.

By the way, I was genuinely shocked by how terrible you were at handling spicy food. Hey come on, it's a Thai food restaurant, in London. How spicy can it be? 就一丢丢辣好咩，就这你也可以辣红脸辣到喘气呀，哈哈哈，真的好菜好逊呐🤣