#180329#
Our 38th monthsary clashes with my brother’s birthday. Our family already made plans for a Haidilao dinner together to celebrate his birthday on the actual day. So instead of the 29th, I brought forward our monthsary celebrations on the 24th March, Saturday instead. This time, I decided to bring Taenggu to Kombi Rocks, a vintage car themed cafe for a lunch date. I had already wanted to bring her to visit this cafe on valentine’s day back in 2016. Knowing that she is a car lover, I knew she would love this cafe. But on that vday, I reached the cafe only to be told that the whole restaurant was already fully booked for other couples for the day. It had been a regret to us ever since and I told her I would bring her back to the cafe another time. So finally this 38th monthsary became a chance for me to fulfil this promise of mine and a voice rejoiced, “I am healed!” (Sorry Taenggu-ya, I took so long to fulfil my promise after 2 years 😅)
During that week, my mood had been rather low and depressed, although I couldn’t actually explain why. I had a hunch that it was something related to Taenggu. Something unpleasant might have happened on Taenggu’s side that might have gotten me affected too. As to what exactly it was, I didn’t know, not in my consciousness. Those days, I would wake up unusually early, sometimes even as early as 4am, and I couldn’t really fall back to sleep again. The same happened on 24th March too. I woke up at around 6am. At a loss of what to do at such an early hour, I had a vision of someone putting on his cycling gloves. I thought it was a prompt from the universe that I could take my Unicorn Taeng (that’s the name of my new mountain bike I bought recently) out for a ride! By 8am, I got myself ready and told Taenggu that I would be taking a magical ride on my unicorn. Hahaha. I rode one round around my neighbourhood and was back home after 40 minutes. I took a shower and after that, feeling more energised, I spent quite some time to compile and write the content for my daily instagram post of the day.
I had already made an agreement with Taenggu the day before that I would leave the house for our lunch date at 12pm, but by the time I finished updating the above instagram post, I was already running late. But I took an unexpectedly long while getting dressed up too. I had a really hard time deciding what I should wear for the day. I thought I would go with something more casual like t-shirt and shorts. But I was afraid that the air-con at the cafe might be cold so I brought along a long cardigan too. Then I thought my hair look weird so I decided to wear a cap too. Even deciding which cap to wear was difficult. In the end, I decided to wear this precious old cap that had a very significant meaning to me. It was a cap I got during my trip to Fukuoka in 2013 when I was under depression. The words on it that say “Smile up!” was as if someone special like Taenggu was telling me to cheer up amidst those difficult times. So it was apt for me to wear it again on this day when I was experiencing a period of low mood to serve as a reminder and self-comfort.
While I was getting ready, a female voice said repeatedly in chinese, “有点急，有点急。。。(Kinda rush/in a hurry)” I wondered why. Then, Taenggu posted the following picture on her instagram.
It was Taenggu drinking coffee at a cafe with her dog Zero! Hehe I was delighted to see this because it seemed like she knew I was going to bring her to a cafe that day so reversely, she was doing the same thing with me too by also physically going to a cafe.
I originally wanted to take the public transport to the cafe. But when I was about to set off from my house, an idea prompted me to just call for a Uber cab instead. Why not, I thought. So minutes later, I was already on a car whisking me off directly to the cafe. It was a rather comfortable ride. The whole journey I was staring out of the window, enjoying the scenery outside. At one moment, I saw a car with the plate number ‘888’ and thought to myself what an auspicious number it was. And just a few seconds later, I saw another car with the plate number ‘8839’! Lol. The auspicious number ’88’ coupled with Taenggu’s magic number ’39’. 😍👍🏼
I soon arrived at the cafe at around 1pm.
I immediately felt awkward the moment I stepped inside the cafe. There are only big round tables and a few adjoining small rectangular tables. The diners there at the cafe were all in groups of 4 or more. There was even one large group of family sitting at a large round table celebrating someone’s 30th birthday. Apparently, it seemed to me that it was uncommon for people to come here alone. I felt kinda out of place.
The interiors of the cafe has a very vintage vibe, filled with pictures of The Beatles, a giant mannequin of The Hulk, many wall clocks and a corner with lots of miniature car models for sale.
The cafe serves a fusion of Thai Teochew dishes. (Fun fact: Teochew is also my father’s dialect ☺) It took me quite awhile before I decided to place my order for a plate of Thai curry chicken rice with pappadum and a cup of hot latte.
While waiting for my food to arrive, I saw another update from Taenggu on her instastory. It was a photo of what presumably was her lunch she was eating at the moment. It was a bowl of Mulbi (a combination of mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon).
I was again very elated to see this. Because she seldom posts pictures of her food, it became obvious that she was giving me a sign that she was eating lunch at the same moment with me. She was telling me that, “yes, I’m here for a lunch date with you to celebrate our 38th monthsary together”. 😍😍😍
My latte and food arrived some time later.
The food was not bad, though I found the chicken a little overcooked. But I really liked the crispy pappadum! After finishing the food, I spent some time chatting with Taenggu while slowly sipping away on my latte.
Some mandatory selfies for memory of our couple date.
When it was close to 2.45pm-3pm, the same chinese female voice came back to me again and said, “很急。。。很急 (very rush)” I finally took it as a signal that Taenggu was probably in a hurry to rush for some other schedules she might have later that day. So I decided it was also about time for me to make my leave.
Before I left, I bought a red Chevrolet car model as a gift for her. 🚗🎁
I got myself a Uber cab again to fetch me back home directly. And I spent the rest of my day at home making my ang baos.
Although our lunch date was short and simple, it was nothing less special and memorable than our other monthsary dates. Enjoying every moment that I get to spend with her, especially when I can see her also doing the same thing with me. Coz that’s how we ‘vroom vroom’ into each other’s hearts. 😆🚗💜
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