diff --git a/src/connection.c b/src/connection.c
index 5264981..2363e0b 100644
--- a/src/connection.c
+++ b/src/connection.c
@@ -217,9 +217,12 @@ int connection_do_read(connection_t *conn) {
             int ssl_error = SSL_get_error(conn->ssl, bytes_read);
             if (ssl_error == SSL_ERROR_WANT_READ || ssl_error == SSL_ERROR_WANT_WRITE) {
                 errno = EAGAIN;
+                return -1;
+            }
+            if (bytes_read == 0) {
                 return 0;
             }
-            return bytes_read;
+            return -1;
         }
     } else {
         bytes_read = read(conn->fd, buf->data + buf->tail, available);
@@ -514,8 +517,11 @@ static void handle_client_read(connection_t *conn) {
         clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ts);
         conn->request_start_time = ts.tv_sec + ts.tv_nsec / 1e9;
 
-        if (strncmp(conn->request.uri, "/rproxy/dashboard", 17) == 0 ||
-            strncmp(conn->request.uri, "/rproxy/api/stats", 17) == 0) {
+        #define DASHBOARD_PATH "/rproxy/dashboard"
+        #define STATS_PATH "/rproxy/api/stats"
+
+        if (strncmp(conn->request.uri, DASHBOARD_PATH, sizeof(DASHBOARD_PATH) - 1) == 0 ||
+            strncmp(conn->request.uri, STATS_PATH, sizeof(STATS_PATH) - 1) == 0) {
 
             log_info("[ROUTING-INTERNAL] Serving internal route %s for fd=%d",
                      conn->request.uri, conn->fd);
@@ -526,7 +532,7 @@ static void handle_client_read(connection_t *conn) {
             }
 
             conn->state = CLIENT_STATE_SERVING_INTERNAL;
-            if (strncmp(conn->request.uri, "/rproxy/dashboard", 17) == 0) {
+            if (strncmp(conn->request.uri, DASHBOARD_PATH, sizeof(DASHBOARD_PATH) - 1) == 0) {
                 dashboard_serve(conn);
             } else {
                 dashboard_serve_stats_api(conn);
@@ -536,15 +542,13 @@ static void handle_client_read(connection_t *conn) {
 
             if (!conn->request.keep_alive) {
                 conn->state = CLIENT_STATE_CLOSING;
-                return;
             }
-
-            memset(&conn->request, 0, sizeof(http_request_t));
-            conn->request.keep_alive = 1;
-            conn->state = CLIENT_STATE_READING_HEADERS;
-            continue;
+            return;
         }
 
+        #undef DASHBOARD_PATH
+        #undef STATS_PATH
+
         log_info("[ROUTING-FORWARD] Forwarding request for fd=%d: %s %s",
                  conn->fd, conn->request.method, conn->request.uri);
 
@@ -729,11 +733,17 @@ void connection_handle_event(struct epoll_event *event) {
             connection_accept(fd);
         }
     } else {
+        int handshake_just_completed = 0;
         if (conn->type == CONN_TYPE_UPSTREAM && conn->ssl && !conn->ssl_handshake_done) {
             handle_ssl_handshake(conn);
             if (!conn->ssl_handshake_done) {
                 return;
             }
+            handshake_just_completed = 1;
+        }
+
+        if (handshake_just_completed && buffer_available_read(&conn->write_buf) > 0) {
+            connection_do_write(conn);
         }
 
         if (event->events & EPOLLOUT) {