I actually stumbled upon the profile of the first woman that I was actually “in-love” with on Linkedin. I have stupidly sent a friend’s request and I’m curious where things will lead. A part of me thinks it will be good to have a “blast from the past” but the more cautious part tells me that I must be a masochist.
I met this girl back in my second year of university. We
seemed to click. She’s Malaysian and I’m Singaporean and since we were the only
people from our part of the world, I guess you could say that this gave us a
common bond. We hung out and things seemed to flow so naturally that when she
mentioned that she needed a place to stay – I invited her in. I was as they say,
a helpless romantic. Once she moved into the flat, I got “friend-Zoned.” However,
I kept telling myself that if I helped her through her troubles, she would see
that I was the one for her. I had this vision of living that scene in Pretty Woman
when Julia Roberts kisses Richard Gere on the lips after saying that this is
one thing she never does with clients.
You could say that I was young and helplessly in-love.
The time that we had spent had become such an invaluable part of my existence
that whenever she left my flat, I felt an unbearable loneliness. I was in my
early twenties and I had a flat in party central of the most prominent cities on
the planet and I dreaded being away from her. We partied regularly and once in
a while there were wonderful scenes of domestic bliss. The girl was a magician
in the kitchen, especially when it came to French food.
However, she was troubled and while she did honour her
two promises to me (This was back in the Asian Financial crisis and I lent her 2,000
GBP for her school fees and got her to promise that she would do well in her career.
In fairness, she paid back what she owed and if the profile I saw was really
her – she seems to have done well), she had some funny ideas of what friendship
meant.
It took me a while to get over her. Friends and family
urged me to resist calling her and to make her call me. Had a confrontation
with her in her school library and luckily I met a nicer, more mature Malaysian
girl when I served an internship in Citibank Singapore (also didn’t work out
but at least this girl is a pleasant human being and we still speak over WhatsApp
on occasion).
I’ve not seen this particular girl for 24-years. As a
reference, I adopted my Evil Young Adult, who was born around the same time I
was in London with this girl. My love life hasn’t been wildly successful since
then. However, the experience of being with this young lady, has gotten me
thinking.
I guess first thing to talk about is the dreaded “friend-zone”
that many “nice” guys find themselves in when it comes to the girl of their
dreams. There is entire industry devoted to telling guys how not to get placed
in the “friend-zone.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9C-So5S5hk
Having a friendship with a girl, especially a good
looking one, can help you. She can introduce you to her other friends and you
may meet the girl of your dreams. Your guy friends will value you more for
being friends with a hot, likeable chick.
The key to surviving the friend zone is to ensure that
there is “two-way-traffic.” Friends can become lovers. One of my best friends
is now married to girl he was friends with for the longest of times. Even if it
never goes beyond friendship, one can never have too little people caring about
you. A good girl friend can even assist you in being a better lover to women
(in my case, there’s Flesh-Ball).
However, if there’s no two-way-traffic, then you are
not in the friend-zone. You’re somewhere worse. You are in the feeding parasite
zone. Whilst parasites are initially fun to hang around, they end up draining
you and the sooner you remove them, the better it will be for your sanity.
The second point about my experiences in the “friend-zone”
with this girl, was the fact that I discovered family, or specifically my
sister, who got very protective of me, and did her best to keep me away from
unhealthy influences.
My sister was supported by friends and I’m glad to
report that I developed a healthy relationship with some of my best friends to
this very day.
So, while my personal history would probably disqualify
me from giving advice on “love,” I would say to guys who are being placed in
the “friend-zone,” that its not the end of the world. Friendships have value
but you got to ensure that these are friendships and an excuse to tolerate parasites.
There is hope of happiness in the friend-zone.
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What I’ve learnt from reading this is:
- you still think the same as you did as a young man
- you haven’t learned from experience
- you are a masochist asking for trouble (dare I say you enjoy it?)
One piece of advice: cancel the pending connection and stay away from her.
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