“When I was 18, I had a suitor who was super kulit and very pushy. After a few dates, binasted ko na siya. Despite that, he still invited me to his birthday celebration, which I turned down. On the day of his party he went to my house and picked me up to attend the celebration, so I felt cornered and didn’t have any choice but to go. When I got there, I realized that it was a not a party, but an orchestrated date for just him and me! His friends and family helped him organize the event, and they were all there to witness his grand proposal for me to be his girlfriend. It was so awkward! I had to force myself to smile and pretend I was enjoying the party, when in reality I was dying to go home. After what felt like a very long hour, I finally asked to be taken home. I made it clear with him that I was really not interested in becoming his girlfriend. It took him weeks to accept it.” - Pearl, 25
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“I met up with this guy from Tinder a couple of years ago. Our first impressions of each other were really good! We both seemed to like each other. We were so flirty and touchy in a sweet way. We even had our first kiss right away. It was all very sweet, until I asked about his tattoos. He mentioned that one of his tattoos is a mockery of God’s existence. I’m a Christian, so that shocked me. I kept quiet and he noticed that I was getting awkward. He started to talk badly on how stupid I am for believing in God and religion. He cursed at me and just kept judging me! Well, that escalated quickly. From the sweet, cute guy, he turned into to this aggressive dude from hell. It was awful. We ended up hating each other by the end of the date. Oh, and did I mention this was all within three hours? Crazy.” - Christina, 23
“Many years ago, I met this hot reality TV star at my friend’s party. He got my number and added me on Facebook after we met. I knew he was interested with the way he flirted online and via text. My friend warned me that he’s bad news, but I said yes to have drinks with him at a bar in Pasig. I live in Cavite, so I traveled all the way to Pasig and met up with a female friend first for shopping and dinner. In the middle of dinner, the guy texted me, ‘By the way, is it okay with you that I have a girlfriend?’ I was so appalled! He was actually checking to see if I’m okay with being the sideline girl behind his girlfriend’s back. I replied, ‘Uh, I didn’t know you have a girlfriend.’ He said, “Okay then,” and never texted me again. Needless to say, I shamefully drove back to Cavite after dinner. My friend said, ‘I told you so!’” - Luna, 28
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“We had just been married for two months when my husband and I decided to watch the last full show of Titanic. I was so excited because it was our first official date as husband and wife. Towards the middle of the movie, I noticed he kept on checking his phone. I asked him what all the fuss was about and he said he was talking to an acquaintance selling Dalmatian puppies! By the time the Titanic sunk and Jack and Rose were in the middle of the icy ocean, where she was saying the iconic line, ‘I’ll never let go, Jack,’ my husband suddenly decided that we had to leave. ‘What? Bakit?’ I asked. His reply, ‘Kausap ko na 'yung sa aso, kukunin ko na yung Dalmatian. Halika na!’ I asked if he could wait for 20 more minutes because the movie was about to end. He told me na nakakahiya sa kausap niya! We left the movie, picked up the dog, and I cried all the way home with the puppy in my arms. To this day, whenever I see reruns of Titanic, I remember how insensitive my husband was during our first husband-and-wife movie date.” - Teepee, 40
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“I dated a really horrible and manipulative guy in college. We met up one Saturday and that happened to be my birthday weekend. I planned for lunch at my favorite food place. He insisted on eating at another place where he had been craving for a certain food. I insisted on my original suggestion and he threatened me that if we didn’t eat there, we would have a really big fight. Since I didn’t want to ruin my birthday, I said okay. The food there was terrible, so I could hardly eat. He got so mad because I didn’t seem to like the food and that I’m wasting it. We did end up fighting, and worse, I had a bad tummy reaction because of the food. I’m so glad he’s out of my life already.” - A.D., 29
“One of my mom’s friends entrapped me to go on a group date with three male cousins whom I’ve never met before. They were so out of this world! Then their tita dropped by with the dad of one of the cousins. He started fighting with me over politics, while one of the cousins started asking me to give him design samples of my company, so that he can copy it and sell his own!” - Lisa, 30
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“I had a date with a guy in Australia a few years ago. I was dressed up because he said we’re going somewhere nice. He picked me up with his fancy car, so that set the bar high. It all went downhill when he parked at Hungry Jack’s, which is like the Australian version of Burger King. He ordered my food from the value meal menu. To top it off, I had to pay for my own dessert!” - Scarlet, 28
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“Years ago, this Am-Boy I was sort of dating (‘sort of’ because he never wanted to talk about our status) was not only two hours late for our clubbing date, but he had the nerve to stand back, watch me ramble at the front desk alone, and let me ‘use my connections’ to get in the club for free. My promoter friends weren’t there to rescue me, so the front desk demanded that I pay. It was a measly P500 per head with two free drinks, but Mr. Am-Boy was a cheapskate, so instead we went to the hip-hop club next door because there’s no entrance fee. I even bought my own drinks.” - Kate, 35
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“Before the era of Facebook, I met this guy online. He’s a half-Filipino, half-American who insisted on being called Mr. Macintosh. On first dates, I make it a personal rule to split the bill to show the guy that I’m independent. When we met up for dinner, I ordered only a salad and main dish, because that’s all I could afford. He kept ordering expensive starters and wine, even before the main dish arrived. He indulged me to order more, and I thought that he was trying to impress me. He kept talking about how big shot his company, and that he was the son of the owner. At the end of dinner, he gave a surprised look on his face (which I thought was well-played) because he forgot to bring his wallet. I told him that I have only enough money for myself, so he was disappointed. He offered that he would just go to his car and look for his wallet, but if I had a credit card, he would pay me back more than the total bill. I ended up paying for dinner. After that, we went to his car and—lo and behold—his wallet wasn’t there. He asked if I wanted to go to his house so that we could get his wallet there, but I already knew he couldn’t be trusted, so I said no. I never heard from him again.” - Jackie, 35
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“A cute 22-year-old guy I met in Boracay took our summer fling further by asking me out in Manila. After weeks of flirting online and via text, we met up at his friend’s party. I was so kilig until I started seeing him flirt with this other girl. It’s like they’d known each other for a while. She sat on his lap and he started kissing her arms and all that. I was fuming. Worse, he acted like he wasn’t doing anything wrong. I stormed out and left.” - Kat, 25
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