An Inspiring Love Story: The Love That Gay Deserves

I was going to try and write a short story for this Valentine’s day, but then I thought, why write fiction when I can just share the real life story of a friend?

Real life stories are more inspiring, anyway, because they could actually happen to you and it’s not just another unrealistic standard set by Hollywood or novel writers like Nicholas Sparks, who writes such embellished love stories but who got divorced in real life.

This isn’t my love story, but it belongs to Gay, a close friend of mine. I wanted to share her story because a lot of my friends and I find it very inspiring, and thought you might think so too.

I took this prenup pic of them in Langkawi

This story started last year. At the beginning of the year, Gay and I met up with another friend, and she told us that she had met up with her ex boyfriend over the holidays.

“He showed his true colours,” she said as she chewed on a piece of Popeye’s fried chicken in my living room. “I finally realised what an awful guy he really is and that was all I needed in order to move on!”

She and this ex of hers had decided to get married, but sometime in the previous year, he suddenly decided to ask for a “cool off” which means you’re sort of broken up but sort of not. In other words, a relationship limbo that is suckier than a break-up.

So Gay held on, thinking that maybe he’d eventually change his mind. She met up with him when she went home and finally saw him for what he truly was.

I was really glad, because I never liked the guy. He oozed “playboy” all over him, but he said he had changed and wanted to settle down, so I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, for my friend’s sake. I should have gone with my gut.

I felt bad for Gay, because I had seen her go through 3 relationships with guys who did not love her as much as she loved them. She’s one of the kindest persons I know, and she definitely deserved better.

“I’m moving on,” she said in my living room. “So if you know any single guys, feel free to set them up with me. My goal is to find a boyfriend this year.”

A few weeks later, during Valentine’s Day, which is exactly a year ago today, she said that a friend of hers had set her up with another friend, and they had been chatting on Facebook. “She said she thinks we’d make a good match, because we have the same personality. His name is Leo. I haven’t met him yet, but we’re going to next week, at a Church function.”

“Ooh, that’s nice!” I said happily. “What’s he like? Do you like him?”

“He’s not like the other guys I liked before,” she explained. “You know, the ones whom when I texted them they replied in one word texts. This guy really makes an effort, starting conversations and replying lengthily, like he’s really into me.”

“That sounds promising! I really hope this works out.”

They met up and hit it off. They were so in sync, with the same personalities and values. Gay knew that this was like nothing she had ever felt before.

During their 8th date at a church function, Leo finally had the guts to hold her hand. Gay wondered if this meant they were already a couple. Leo thought the same thing. Both were conservative introverts who did not know how to bring up the subject.

Then Gay saw a friend of hers in the same function, who saw them and asked Gay who Leo was. Gay did not know how to answer. She did not want to say he was a friend, because Leo might think he was being friend zoned. She did not want to say he was her boyfriend, either, because Leo might think that was presumptuous of her.

So she just smiled and did not say anything.

But the friend was insistent, and kept on asking. Finally, Leo spoke up, saying, “We’re more than friends.”

What a perfect answer. Bless the guy.

Bless Gay’s friend, too, because their encounter with her was what led the pair to finally sit down for their DTR (Define The Relationship) talk. Leo said he wanted her to his girlfriend, and Gay agreed to be.

Then he went one step further and asked, “When do you want to get married?”

Now this would have freaked out a lot of other women, but when you’re in love and at the right age, it just feels right, so Gay replied, “Ummm… next year?”

Leo said, “I was thinking this December. But next year sounds fine.”

He officially proposed with a ring on her birthday 3 months later.

I’ll be a bridesmaid for their wedding this May.

Though I was happy for Gay, I have to confess that I did worry at the beginning, that maybe this was all going just a little bit too fast. But after hanging out with the couple several times, that fear has completely dissipated.

I have known Gay for 15 years, and my heart has broken for her several times as I saw how her ex boyfriends took her for granted.

But now, Gay has finally found the man who loves her the way she deserves to be loved, the one who is everything she ever and never thought she wanted.

I have never seen her this happy, and I am so so happy for her that I know I’ll cry on her wedding day. Note to self: wear waterproof mascara.

You know what inspires me the most about all this?

Last year on this day, Gay was still single.

Tomorrow, we’re shopping for wedding shoes.

The same thing can happen to you.

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day! xx

This story was published with Gay and Leo’s permission.

For another inspiring real life love story, check out Paris, Je T’aime – the Story of an Elopement.

If you like to read fiction, you might want to read my most popular short story, I’d Like to Buy a Husband, Please (formerly known as Shopping for “The One”).