Fred’s Story
Amanda and I first met on a dating app. One day using the app I saw a discovery (ahh ahh what a fine babe), but I was concerned that this woman could be a catfish and be someone I don’t find attractive (the amount of women who use filters to trick society). However, I took a risk by swiping right and when she matched me I initiated the conversation with the eye emoji and received a smirking emoji back. Our conversation began with no words and I wanted to see how long we could communicate using emojis and GIFs. This helped keep our conversation interesting as we were able to express ourselves in unique ways.
After a few days I asked for her number and I planned our first date to go to an Italian restaurant. I had arrived promptly on time (I was wearing this nice outfit with my muscles on display with a fresh cut trim). This woman had me waiting at the car park for a good 25 mins, eventually she arrived and apologised. When we stood side by side ready to go into the restaurant, Amanda was looking like one super green giant with her super high heels. In my head I knew she was thinking ‘what kind of short king is this’ but I proceeded because I knew if she took of those heels I’m at least a few inches taller than her, and God never fails me. The date went really well with banter and interesting topics but Amanda kept maintaining eye contact as if she was looking dead into my soul. At that point I brought it up by saying “you like maintaining eye contact don’t you” she laughed and her response was “Yeah, it shows that i’m listening”. When the date was over, the aim was to sit in my car for a bit and then go home, but it turned into more than 4 hours of us talking a lot more and just jamming to music.
We went on a couple of more dates and then I eventually ghosted her for a few months, due to dealing with things with my Ex at the time. After that point I knew that was one of my biggest mistakes by letting Amanda go. Then out of the blue Amanda reached to amend our relationship as friends and this was the perfect time for me to explain myself, so we met up at a coffee shop and she heard me out. Before meeting up she told me she was seeing someone, but I felt that she went out of her way to reiterate that when we met up (I knew what she was trying to prove lol). However I respected her relationship and agreed to just continue our friendship.
This is why God works is mysterious ways, because it took me to lose something by my own hands, to know what I wanted. We developed our friendship, which then evolved to us becoming best friends and it made our relationship very organic. When her relationship ended, I just knew that God made it very clear to Amanda that I was always going to be her last; considering I’m the best thing since slice bread, she was not going to find anything better in her life lol. However, when I expressed my feelings about us being together, she decided to shatter that dream of us picking up from where we left off because she didn’t want to rush into another relationship. But I knew if I let her roam these streets or have a hot girl summer, someone else would swoop her from right under my feet, take her away from me, and i just couldn't let that happen! So I told her up straight ‘you can have your space but you’re not dating anyone else besides me’. I just wanted her to know that I’m taking her seriously and that I wanted to build a future with her. After about two months later we both decided to take our friendship to another level and see how a relationship might plan out. It’s been more than 5 years of this journey with Amanda and we are soon to be married. Our journey started out bumpy but it’s been smooth ever since and I wouldn’t change it for anything because who knows, I might not have ever got a woman like this!
Amanda's Story
So Fred and I met on a dating app. Initially I wasn’t going to swipe right for him because I thought he looked different in some pictures; I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a catfish situation, and in 1 pic he had one jheri curl hairstyle that I wasn’t feeling lol. Never the less I gave him the benefit of the doubt, only to find out that he had already matched me. Instead of Fred to come with the usual ‘hey, how are you?’, he simply sent the eyes emoji and I responded with the smirking emoji. Our first conversation had no words, but only emojis and GIFs. I thought it was strange at first, but appreciated the uniqueness of it, and the GIFs were funny so it made me laugh. After talking for some days we exchanged numbers and arranged our first date.
On the date I wore the highest heels that I probably owned at the time, thinking that Fred was super tall, but I had a rude awakening when I stepped out of my car lol I thought ‘Lord have mercy, why God??’. However his saving grace was the fitted top he was wearing that displayed his muscular arms lol. We went out to eat, the conversation flowed smoothly and the laughs didn’t stop. I even joked to Fred that I knew what he was doing by wearing this top, and he laughed and said ‘yeah I had to show you the merchandise init’. When the dinner was over, we went briefly to sit in Fred’s car before heading our separate ways. Only it wasn’t brief at all, we sat in the car for a further 4-5 hours talking and laughing.
We went on a couple more dates in the next few months and then all of the sudden Fred started acting up and eventually ghosted. However your girl wasn’t about to sit around moping or waiting on him; I actually ended up dating an old friend. One Sunday I was at church and the sermon was about forgiveness and making amends. I reached out to a few people to forgive and heal, and during that process I realised that I was still offended by what Fred had done and I hadn’t truly forgiven him. I prayed about it and felt that God told me that Fred was another person to reach out to and make amends with. After ignoring God’s instructions for a while, I eventually swallowed my pride and messaged Fred. His response wasn’t what I expected and he was very apologetic and grateful that I reached out. I told Fred that I was no longer mad about what he did, I had let it go and just wanted to wish him the best. He said that he would like to meet up to explain his behaviour. I agreed to have a coffee with him, but also made it clear that I was with someone else now. To be fair he had a valid reason for his behaviour so I didn’t hold it against him. He told me that he had been speaking to his boys about me, how he knew he had made a mistake by ghosting me and was planning to reach out to me, but I just beat him to it (till today I’m still not 100% if I believe that, but I guess I’ll never know). After this meet up, eventually we started speaking again as friends; I wholeheartedly believe that this was part of God’s plan. We developed such a genuine and platonic friendship and essentially became best friends, we would support each other, check in, and discuss the good, the bad and the ugly. Eventually my relationship fizzled and Fred was a supportive friend throughout.
This is where it gets interesting, at this point I had been single now for a month or two. Fred opens up about having feelings for me and wanting us to be together. I told I him I wasn't ready to be with anyone and he shouldn’t wait for me because that wouldn’t be fair on him. Fred didn’t like that at all and actually got quite offended (I won’t go into detail about what he said, but boy was I in shock! Lol). He made it clear that he didn’t want me to date anyone else and he wasn’t going to lose me again. Initially, I didn’t know how to feel about, what I felt was, an ultimatum, but I also liked how honest he was about his feelings. About a month or two later, I gave in, we started dating, and here we are today, getting married!
I didn’t know I needed this man, but clearly God did, and I’m grateful!