Sometime in 1997, my friend Howard met a penpal Yvonne the first time in person. Yvonne was an aspiring actress, Howard was an up and coming professional. Even though they both had been living in the same city, they only communicated by mail before then. Being penpals, they already had a basic understanding of one another.
Due to their own hectic schedules, Howard and Yvonne didn’t to meet often in person, but they kept in contact, again, mostly by letters. Knowing that Yvonne is an avid reader, Howard had sent several small gifts of books he handpicked to her.
Fast forward to the end of 1998. During a semi-public function that took place late at night, Howard reported that Yvonne displayed unusual signs of affection towards him. According to Howard, these nonverbal signs include holding hands (sort of) and touching. Howard went up to shake her hand for one reason or another (I forgot), which ended up to be longer than a normal handshake, with her not withdrawing her hand afterwards, so it was like Howard holding her hand for a very long time (I reckon this is subjective time :D). While they were “holding” hands, Yvonne touched the outside of Howard’s upper arm (the one connected to the free hand) with her free hand, somewhere between a light tap and a firm grip. I am inclined to think it’s much closer to the former. :cute: Later on that night, when they had their photo taken, Yvonne moved closer to Howard, so her shoulder and upper arm was pressing (lightly?) against his upper arm. Howard said he judged these actions to be unusual because Yvonne (to his knowledge) is a bit shy and reserved and not into physical touches.
Try not to let a good thing slip away, yet not being sure of her intentions, he posted the question to some mutual acquaintances. Unfortunately for Howard, they told him not to make much out of it. If he had asked me, I’d tell him to go for the gusto. But then, I didn’t know him at the time 
Sometime during January 1999, when Howard was talking to an assistant of Yvonne’s agent, he suddenly asked Howard if he would be available at Valentine’s Day. It was a startling question and Howard was caught unprepared. Before Howard was able to formulate an answer, the assistant got sidetracked. Eventually, Howard was unable to give him the answer.
Things took a nosedive for Howard soon afterwards when he found out that Yvonne, who became his heart’s desire, had a date with somebody else (call him Vincent) on Valentine’s Day and started dating him shortly after.
Fast forward to 2003. While Howard has been blaming a bunch of people for him losing out on his Big Chance, he is still getting along well with Yvonne. Through one way or another he found out that she still hates Stephen, her former boyfriend, who apparently ripped her heart to pieces during their relationship. So now Howard is debating whether to couch Yvonne on ways to put Stephen out of her mind. On one hand, he would love to see her to finally rid her of the anguish and pain stemming from her prior relationship. On the other hand, Howard feels that he’s so much better than Vincent, and that he is the one person who can bring Yvonne true happiness (yes, yes, I know…). This wound in her psyche, he reckons, is keeping her to completely fall into the laps of Vincent. In other words, this wound keeps the door open for Howard. Yes, that’s what he thinks, don’t ask me.
