I’ve been at William’s for about four days so far, two nights of which he was away for work. We haven’t interacted a ton other than to laze about Sunday night and last night, watching some Modern Family and Big Bang Theory yesterday and a couple of movies about India Sunday. He did take me to a nice Chinese restaurant Sunday, and we ordered McDonald’s once and Pizza Hut once.

Then today, Thursday, I was planning to work all day, and wasn’t expecting William to want to hang out. We woke up fairly late, after I turned off my alarm at 9:30, and I was finally up at my computer by about 3 p.m. I ate some leftover pizza and caught up on some personal things for awhile, and he eventually went to get a haircut and told me to meet him at 6 at Dhoby Ghaut station, about an hour from here. This really didn’t leave a lot of time for work, so I resigned to doing basically nothing until I had to get ready to leave. I thought about going for a short run, but my stomach wasn’t feeling great, so figured that could wait till tomorrow.

I showered and made it to Somerset Station (one stop past the original plan, per his request) at 6:10. He gave me instructions where to find him near H&M, and then apparently turned off his phone for a while or something. I waited there 15 minutes, and then saw him, and we started walking. I mentioned being thirsty, so he took me down to this place to get a green tea. I was slightly confused when ordering, for it was my first time ordering at a beverage place, and I didn’t know there were so many options for a green tea. The cashier thought I said “full sugar” when I said “no sugar,” and after seeing “100%” on my receipt, I had to ask to confirm it meant 100% tea. Thankfully I asked, because I was going to get “100% sugar,” whatever that means. There were even two options higher than 100% for sugar…

I got the tea, it tasted fine, and then we headed back up to the street. I thought it was sweet we went out of our way for my tea, and I kept following. He was apparently showing me all the nice buildings in downtown Singapore, though I didn’t know it was tour time. I try not to ask too many questions, as he is apparently readily annoyed with the number of questions I do ask.

Then we ended up by a waterfront, and I thought perhaps the restaurant was nearby. We walked up to a ticket window. For a boat ride. I suspected this meant he was taking me on a boat ride, but I didn’t want to get excited or assume. I asked, “Are we asking for directions?” And he said, “No.” So, boat ride! We got tickets for $48 and got in a line. Shortly after, someone said “tickets” and waved us ahead of the line. I’m not sure what all the people in front of us were doing, and William didn’t know either.

Anyway, we boarded the boat, and I sat by a window. The tour was nice, and William tricked me into thinking the tour was over when the boat turned around after a few minutes. I didn’t quite believe him, but was ready to be not surprised if that was indeed the whole tour. The bungee ride nearby was $70 per person, after all, so Singapore can be quite expensive.

The ride lasted maybe an hour, and I took a bunch of nice photos of the lights, water and buildings. Then it was time for dinner. I followed him for another 10 minutes, and we arrived at an open sided corner restaurant with a short line. It was clearly a popular place, serving pork ribs in soup. William ordered for me, and the food was delicious.

Then we got ice cream from a little man in a truck attached to his bicycle, sat down by the river, and ate and talked a bit. I wasn’t expecting William to spend so much time with me seemingly on a whim, and I was hesitant to talk too much or ask too many questions.

I did find out he apparently doesn’t want to take selfies with me anymore, despite wanting to when we were in Hakone, because he liked me more then. I didn’t want to push the issue too much, for he can be quite emotionally guarded. After talking about that trip some more, I casually asked him, somewhat self doubtingly, if he had met my brother Tim, whom he mentioned earlier. I thought he had met Tim briefly, but I couldn’t quite remember what part of the trip that was. William said, “No,” and I left it at that. Then, later while sitting there still, William said he couldn’t believe I forgot something. I suspected he was talking about Tim, but he wouldn’t give me any clues, and made me doubt myself about everything. I felt bad, like I forgot his birthday or something, but I knew that wasn’t it. Eventually he told me he would reveal what I forgot if I agreed to massage him till he fell asleep tonight. I asked if we could add a cap to that, and he said 30 minutes. Then he told me he did meet Tim, and asked me where. I again had to try really hard to remember to six months ago, and I said I thought we had eaten together, but I couldn’t remember where. After checking my Foursquare history, I found we ate at MUJI cafe in Shinjuku. William hinted I missed another one, and then I remembered William ate with us at the fruit parlor near my apartment.

William admitted he was having a fun night, and that made me very happy. After a while, we went home, and I thought everything was fine. We walked into the bedroom, and he immediately said to me, “You left the AC on.” I thought he was pointing it out in a friendly way, and I said sorry. I said I would pay. I asked him how much the monthly electricity bill was, and he said it was not about the money. I know it’s not because he cares about the environment, so I am baffled what the big deal was. I can only assume he is mad I didn’t have the apparent common sense to turn off the AC before leaving. “How could you forget?” “It’s not something I’ve ever had to remember to do.”

Then he saw some red seeds on his desk that I had left there when I was hurriedly getting ready to meet him for dinner. They were in my shorts pockets still from another country, and I had left them in there yesterday while walking around in a park, and they got very annoying. So I took them out and put them on the table quickly, thinking little of it. My top priority was being on time for William. Well, he inquired harshly several times where they came from, and I just said, “another country.” I think he was suspecting they were from India, a country he apparently hates, which I discovered after I took out some bronze statues I bought there upon my arrival, hoping he would express some interest or affection for one of them, and I could happily give him one. William had already gotten me a gift in the past, and I really wanted to get him something, but I have no idea what kind of things he likes, and he doesn’t open up very easily. I even asked if he ever ventured into the city when in Mumbai, and he said he had just stayed in the hotel. I thought that meant he had a good shot of not being able to buy such things on his own in the past, and perhaps he would actually want one. Nope. I felt very embarrassed and slightly horrible when, to my dismay, both he and his roommate told me to get rid of the statues, for they were a bad omen and would mean William would have to go to India for work soon. Fuck. So much for starting this leg of the trip on the right foot.

So we’ve been home two hours, and William hasn’t said a word to me and won’t agree to talk or answer any questions. I even offered to massage his back while he worked at the computer, but he sat silently, apparently enraged. Later I caught him smiling at something on his phone, so at least he isn’t totally consumed with anger… but just has some directed at me. Well, I can take that. I hate to have made him unhappy, but at least he’s not totally, generally unhappy. He is just upset with me.

I brewed a little bit, thinking about what I would say if he turned around and requested that massage before he went to sleep. But no matter, he’s now fast asleep behind me, and I’m still sitting on the hard floor after having asked two hours ago if I should sit on the bed or at the desk. Not getting a response, and really not wanting to enrage him further, I figured the floor was the best bet. Maybe now that he is asleep I can move to the desk… but I can also imagine he will freak out on me if he wakes to the sound of me at the chair. I really don’t know what to do so as to keep us on good terms. Maybe this is a sign. Maybe if I told him I felt that way, he would close down and shut me out even further, sealing that fate. But that would break my heart even more.