Last week, we followed the courtship story of Rocco and Delilah. As they inched closer to finally meeting each other for the first time face to face, Rocco gets a phone call.

Read part one of the two-part story here.
   
14/9 12:17 AM
Delilah calls me on the phone. She woke me up from a beautiful dream filled with kittens and rainbows, but I cannot complain.

There is something about being woken up by a beautiful woman, even if she was 1,370 km away. To be honest I do not remember much of the conversation except for her mentioning that I was mumbling and that she let me go back to sleep. All I remember thinking was ‘Rocco, you need to lose the winter fat before you take your shirt off’.

14/9 11:00 AM
I get back from my epic 46km bike ride (by my standards) and I see a Whatsapp message from Delilah saying ‘We need to talk’.

Shit.

I immediately text her back and ask what it was about. She replied with a smiley face and said that it was nothing serious.

I heave a big sigh of relief. She added that she will give me a call at 9.30pm.

14/9 11:00 PM
She finally called; I unload some crap about calling so late and how hot women tend to be unpunctual. She laughs and says that she was out a bit later than planned with friends.

Via phone:

Rocco    :  So…. What do we need to talk about? *I smile - because apparently people can hear a smile in a phone conversation*

Delilah    :  This may sound very arrogant but are you interested in me?

Rocco    :  Haha, of course la, I figured I made it clear through my e-mails and Whatsapp.

Delilah    :  The thing is I actually started dating someone last week. I know he’s bad for me but I have liked him since February this year and he just told me he was interested in me. He saw the flowers that you sent me and he immediately made me delete you from Facebook. He was really angry about it.

Rocco    :  ........
*half a minute of silence

What. The. Fuck.
You have got to be kidding me.

Delilah    :  This is awkward, we never used to have awkward moments.
*She giggles. She actually giggles - nervously I would like to think

Rocco    :  No shit...
*Silence again for about 20 seconds

Rocco    :  Hmm. OK. Goodnight.

I would dearly love to tell you that I stepped out in a blaze of glory. Instead, I went quietly into the night.

After I hung up I sat frozen, staring at the shadows on my wall. I was livid but all I did was a whole heap of nothing.

I wanted to drown kittens and shoot puppies, I wanted to tear out my hair out and scream. I wished I was the Enola Gay bombardier over Hiroshima, I wished I could set Delilah on fire and shout ‘We must stamp out heresy! The flesh must be cleansed! Burn for your sins, you godless witch!’

Blue fucking balls.

I guess at that exact moment, I wanted to hold on to what little shred of dignity I had left. I did not want to give her the perverse satisfaction of elaborating more about it. Or lose my shit and scream obscenities at her until spittle ran down my chin.

I could have asked. In fact, I did want to ask what exactly just happened. But I guess there really was no point. You have got to have standards; you need to have some sense of self-worth. You and only you, decide how people can and should treat you. You should never settle for anything less.

I WhatsApp messaged Abigail the next morning and dug into her for ‘introducing’ me to her player friend. She called me but I mowed her down; ‘I don’t want to talk about it!’ and promptly hung up like a little sook.  

72 hours later, I had calmed down.

Damn it. Where were the warning signs?! I was clueless.  

Clearly I was kinda harsh on Abigail, but I was hopping mad. I was like a petulant child ripping off Barbie doll heads because they cannot fight back. But in the end, she was right; it was my decision to pursue Delilah.

I can handle rejection. I happen to have all 46 chromosomes, thank you very much. So if I got rejected to the face or the heroine of this story did not want to have coffee with me, that would have been perfectly fine. I would have gotten the hint. But getting to know a chick like this is ludicrous. No one deserves to be strung along this way.

Yet, you still have to put yourself in the running; you are bound to meet someone who will like you for you, without changing any part of your core personality. As Keanu Reeves once said, ‘Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.’

I may seem the shallow sort but the initial bluster in Part 1 was just artistic embellishment. I am still quite the sap. I am a slightly shallow, very horny sap, but a sap all the same.

Waittaminute. Didn't I buy a trip to Melbourne?

Yes I did. Here's the best part - no one was around on the Saturday of my Melbourne visit. I had literally flown down just for Delilah. All I knew was that she was free that weekend, so I booked my flight tickets.

After haranguing Abigail over dinner on Friday night in Melbourne, I spent Saturday wandering the city enjoying some alone time.

After dinner, I changed into a nice chequered shirt, some fitted maroon slacks, a pair of dark brown suede lace-ups and grabbed my sexy petrel trench. In short, this was the outfit that I had planned to rock during my date with Delilah. 

And then I sat bar-side at Whiskey and Alement and flirted with the cute bartender, amusing her with my whiskey stupidity. GQ says it is manly to drink alone at the bar, if you are dressed sharply.

Alas,

Rocco: 0    Delilah: 1

Via Whatsapp

Unknown Number                                          27/9 8:42 AM
Hey, hope you’ve been well. Just wanted to drop you a quick message to say hi x.

Wow. Delilah actually had the audacity to Whatsapp me after leading me on a wild goose chase.

Bitch.

Rocco Tan                                                      27/9 1:31 PM
Who is this?

Rocco will not deal with morons. Well, she was a moron to me now, anyway. After pondering judiciously, I would like to end the story on this belligerent note: ‘To hell with your chocolate, to hell with King Kong, to hell with your OOTD, to hell with the Gold Coast and to hell with you, madame!’

Rocco: 1000    Delilah: - 1