This is the guy's side of the story. True or not, dunno.
S'pore engineer accused of molest on woman's blog
says he told her he loved her and... SHE LET
ME HUG HER By
Liew Hanqing June 20, 2008 
HE courted her for more than two years, and offered to help her
pay off a study loan of more than $48,000. He even once confessed
his love for her.
Jim sent a letter to Amy via his lawyer demanding the
amount he claims she owes him. -- TNP Picture: KUA CHEE
SIONG
He claims that he then hugged her with her consent.
But their friendship has gone sour after she accused him of
allegedly molesting her on a trip to South Korea last October.
The man is giving his side of the story following a report in
The New Paper yesterday.
Amy (not her real name) a graduate student, had recounted the
incident on her personal blog.
She had asked Jim (not his real name), 34, an engineer, to
accompany her to Seoul to settle an accident claim because none of
her female friends could make the trip.
Amy, 24, claimed she had booked a hotel room with two separate
beds, but because of a reservation error, they were asked to move
to a room with a double bed after one night.
She alleged that on the last night of the trip, she was asleep
when she felt something rubbing against her buttocks.
She has since made a police report in Korea about the
incident.
Yesterday, Jim told The New Paper they had been friends for more
than three years, since they were colleagues at an IT firm in
2004.
He said: 'In early 2005, I asked her out for the first time.
From then on, we saw each other frequently for the next two years
or so.'
He said he would ask her out regularly, often for meals and
movies. At one point, he saw her almost daily.
'We wouldn't necessarily go out each time. Sometimes I would
just pick her up from work,' he recalled.
'It was clear to her that I was interested. When we went out,
she would sometimes let me hold her waist or put my arm around her
shoulder.'
However, Amy said Jim tried doing this at group
gatherings, but she would shrug off his advances each
time.
She said he had asked her to be his girlfriend several times but
she rejected him because their 'personalities did not match'.
Early in their friendship, he said he offered to lend Amy
$48,000 to repay a study loan. Although she was 'apprehensive about
it at first', she accepted his offer.
When asked, she confirmed this, but claimed that the money was a
gift from him. She claimed that she had told him upfront that there
was a possibility she would not be able to repay the loan.
'He told me not to worry about it,' she said.
But Jim said that after the Seoul trip, he fell out with her and
wanted his money back.
He was only able to communicate with her through a mutual
friend.
'I told her, through her friend, that I wanted my money back.
She said she was agreeable to that,' he said.
At the time, he was holding another job as a financial planner
and had sold several policies to Amy.
ANGRY
Soon after they returned from Korea, Amy wrote in to terminate
the policies because he had allegedly outraged her modesty.
'I was very angry,' said Jim, who then sent a letter through his
lawyers to demand the money back.
She replied, also through a lawyer, that the money was a gift
from him.
Jim's lawyer then sent a second letter saying the money was a
loan, and not a gift.
Amy told The New Paper she understood the money was a gift
because Jim had not asked for it to be returned until the Seoul
incident.
Before the trip, she had been planning to buy a small car. She
asked Jim to accompany her to a car showroom because he was
knowledgeable about cars.
She said: 'Jim knew about my intention to buy a car. If the
money was supposed to be a loan, he would have insisted I pay him
back right away.'
He said that she had given him mixed signals on whether she was
interested in him.
'In May last year, I went for a motivational course to learn how
to open up. After the course, I told Amy one night that I loved
her,' he said.
He claimed he asked her whether he could give her a hug, and she
agreed.
Amy claims to have no recollection of the incident. She
said that she had always made it clear to him that she regarded him
only as a friend.
'I believe he knew this. Whenever we were out at gatherings and
people asked if I was his girlfriend, he would reply no,' she
said.
He said he did not push her for a reply after he revealed his
feelings for her and did not hear from her for months.
He said he was surprised when she asked him to go to Seoul with
her because they hadn't spoken in a while. He asked her why she had
asked him along instead of a female friend.
'She told me her friends couldn't make it, and that she needed a
companion because the airfare would be cheaper if two people went,'
he said. He agreed to go because 'I needed a break because I had
been very busy at work'.
He added: 'And, of course, I was still interested in her.'
He declined to comment on what happened during the trip because
his lawyers have advised him not to talk about it.
Jim said he was unaware of Amy's accusations because he seldom
reads blogs. He learnt of it only when a friend e-mailed the blog
entry to him last Sunday.
He said: 'After that first e-mail, more of my friends and
colleagues began telling me about it because they recognised my
name on her blog.'
He said he had not contacted Amy about her allegations, but
added: 'This has affected me. I haven't been able to stay focused
at work.'
He said Amy was the first woman he has pursued in nearly a
decade.
The last time he had a girlfriend was during his school
days.
Of his courtship, he said: 'I had been waiting for her for more
than two years.'
