“Sometimes things just happen when you least expect it”… This has seemed to be a running theme recently in my otherwise normal and mundane life as a working professional in Singapore. If you have read my recently concluded tale of my Shanghai escapade haha), you will catch my drift.
The following is, again a true story with some subtle adjustments for continuity and anonymity. I shall leave the fictitious storytelling to the more masterful bros among us.
***
I have been earning extra pocket money via Grabhitch since the middle of the year. To me, it’s just a great way to fund my parking/fuel/ERP costs while meeting new people and having some company on the way to work and home. Over the past few months, I’ve met some interesting (both in good and bad ways) folks along the way – some of whom were really attractive and I have loosely kept in touch with, but mostly just to see if I can pick them up in subsequent journeys.
So it was with my usual filtering that I accepted a Hitch request from a lady called “Miss Lim” on the Grab app one Sunday evening in late September, just after I came back from my Shanghai biz trip. Her pickup and drop-off locations were less than 2km from my home and office - the perfect pickup sort of. So I accepted the request and texted her to confirm the ride. She replied a few minutes later with a “Thank you for picking up my request! See you tomorrow
"
The next day was a Monday, and I got ready for work as per normal. Inputting her address into my trusty GPS, I set off and arrived at the pickup point of her condo a few minutes early. I turned off the engine texted her that I had arrived, and fiddled with my phone abit while waiting…
The passenger door opened and a sweet female voice said “Hi! Is it OK if I sit in front?”
I looked up and saw her for the first time.
“Morning! Of course, go ahead.”
Quote:
Originally Posted by
purepulp
TS, before you continue, will there be dragons and tigers in your story later? A lot of these ’true encounters’ recently are scenes out of JAVs.
Please re-read the second paragraph in my earlier post. You can do a search of my earlier sharing, should be clear to all that I am not in the habit of embellishment.
The passenger door opened and a sweet female voice said “Hi! Is it OK if I sit in front?”
I looked up and saw her for the first time.
“Morning! Of course, go ahead.”
On first glance, she was a typical OL - short black dress, black flats, Prada bag and a laptop bag. She didn’t strike me as being exceptionally tall or short, maybe around 1.6m and a proportionately sized frame which leaned towards the" ba ba" side. With a roundish face, small eyes and a smile which revealed a bit of 虎牙, she’s not exactly a head turner.
We made small talk on the way to her workplace which was right on the route to my own. She was a advisory manager in one of the big 4 firms, and it was her very first time taking a Hitch ride.
“Lucky me!” I said to her and laughed.
As with most first time rides, I don’t usually probe too much beyond where the rider works, which line they are in, and their daily travel routes (must fish for potential regular passengers mah). Through the conversation that day, I gathered that she used to drive or get a ride to work but that has since stopped.
All too soon we had reached her destination and I said goodbye to her. She thanked me for the ride and off she went. All in all, it had been a pleasant ride as she was fairly friendly and nice to talk to, but I didn’t think too much into it.
When I reached my office, I took out my phone and texted her.
“Miss Lim, nice to meet you today! Catch you sometime soon I hope - next time you need a ride just text me!”
She replied a while later:
“Sure, nice to meet you too! It was a good first Hitch experience for me, thanks. BTW you can call me Jiamin.”
A few days went by without incident. As usual, I managed to find passengers to pick up to work and to drop off home, helping to offset my driving costs. The demographic of my riders were usually the young CBD professionals who could afford the extra cost of Grabhitching.
One evening, somehow I couldn’t any passengers to pick up on the way home - maybe it was the awkward timing of 730pm? Most people would either be home already or having dinner outside. I suddenly thought about Jiamin and texted her.
“Hey! Don’t suppose you need a ride home? I should be leaving work soon, lemme know.”
She replied shortly (I found out later that she uses Whatsapp Web Messenger so she was always connected): “Oops I’m already on my way home. How about tomorrow morning?”
***
“Hey!” Jiamin greeted me with a smile as she stepped into my car the next day. She lived in a fairly new executive condominium about 5 minutes drive from my home, which made it really convenient to pick her up.
We chatted along the way about random things like travelling and work;she had taken a half-year sabbatical to backpack around South America earlier in the year, so I gathered she was quite the adventurous type. But as we talked more, my curiosity grew over something…
“So, do you live with your parents?”
She replied that she didn’t.
“Oh okay… Are you married?”
There was a pregnant pause.
“… It’s… complicated.”
“Oh okay… Are you married?”
There was a pregnant pause.
“… It’s… complicated.”
Yikes. Awkward! I quickly changed the subject to safer topics and we continued on our way.
I texted her after dropping her off.
“Sorry for being too nosy! Forgive me for asking too much.”
“Ah, it’s OK. That’s life,” she replied.
***
I continued picking her up the rest of that week to go to work in the mornings. The more we talked in the car during our shared travelling time, the more comfortable we both got with each other in terms of our conversations. She was a really good listener and had a wicked sense of humour that I could appreciate.
I never do expect sparks to fly in these sorts of situations, so it was good enough for me to have some good company every day.
We stared texting on Whatsapp more often, talking about each other’s days and random things we saw or experienced at work. We found that we had a shared love for whisky and promised to make time for a drink or two sometime. I wasn’t sure if she was serious or not hough, maybe just say say only right? Hmm…
A week or two later, she texted me one evening.
“I had bad news… The condo management just told me that I got a place on the shuttle bus to CBD. I think I’ll be taking that from the start of next month…”
I don’t know why, but I felt a tinge of disappointment. Maybe it’s because she had become a friend to me, and not just a passenger who was offsetting my driving costs.
“Oh wow! That’s okay, thanks for letting me know. Well just text me next time if you need to go to work earlier or need a ride home in the evening.”
The last few days I drove her to work before the end of the month passed as per normal. She started taking the bus after that, and unfortunately for me, it was quite reliable a comfortable ride and of course, a lot more economical than Grabhitching every day.
We still kept in touch through texts though. She seemed pretty busy at work usually, but still managed to send a few texts here and there to me, which I always replied to when I wasn’t too busy myself. One evening after I was done at work, I just felt… Like I wanted to see her. So I texted her to ask if she was going home soon.
“If you are free, maybe we can grab a quick bite nearby your office before I send you home? #freeride”
“Wah, how to resist this offer! Okay, see you later…”
She’s not the hottest girl I’ve picked up on Grabhitch for sure, but the one that I have felt the most connection with.
Where will this lead us? Will the drinks over whisky really materialise? Stay tuned…
Thank you for the support thus far guys. I’m glad people are reading despite the slow build up – which cannot be helped as this is real life and not a Jap AV.
Ultimately I’m still doing Grabhitch for the money lah, haha. Bros who want to start in the hope of picking girls up, just be really, really careful. A misjudged comment could easily be misconstrued as sexual harassment… Always proceed with caution!
“If you are free, maybe we can grab a quick bite nearby your office before I send you home? #freeride”
“Wah, how to resist this offer! Okay, see you later..”
We met face to face for the first time that evening, at a busy cross junction at the heart of the CBD. Why do I say that? Well, usually I only get to see the right side of her face during our rides to work mah. So that day, I finally got to see her face to face.
She waved at me from across the street, dressed in a blue dress, her usual flats and lugging her laptop and handbag. We greeted each other and unsurprisingly, there was very little awkwardness even though it was the first time we were meeting outside of our Grabhitch rides.
We did what we agreed to do earlier, which was to grab a quick bite at a hawker centre nearby before heading home. She still had a report that needed to be sent out by the end of day, so I didn’t want to keep her for too long either. But that was a really enjoyable first meal I must say… Talking to her in person was just like the way we texted each other throughout the day, with lots of laughter and smiles.
I drove her home after dinner, for free and not as a Grabhitch ride. I guess that was the day we ended our driver-hitcher relationship and moved forward…
Hey all, sorry for being a little quiet. This story is ongoing in real time, so it’s quite unlikely there will be daily updates. So far I’ve recounted the events till about 2 weeks ago, will try to share more soon.
About last night…
So much has happened in the last two weeks… I can’t wait to catch you guys on on the details since my last post! But for now, rest assured that this story will now have at least a juicy twist fairly soon…
Happy weekend all!
