Our story began online in late 2021 when we matched in an app. This match happened only within two days after I (Katherine) subscribed for 3 months. Since it was my first time to use a dating app, I used a specific feature to hide my profile from the public and only allow those who I like to see my profile and interact with me. At that time, Victor no longer had the enthusiasm to stay and take a chance on it. He was about to leave and delete the app but luckily, he decided to give it another day. It didn’t take a long time for him to see that I had liked his profile. He checked out mine, swiped right, matched, and we have never missed a day of talking up to this day.

We were surprised by the number of things we share despite our incredibly different backgrounds. The most important ones are our values, followed by our humor. Talking about anything felt so easy and was always engaging. We absolutely felt like we’ve known each other for a very long time.

Ours was not the typical love story where everything felt so high and bright at the beginning. Ours felt very steady, light, and curious. We were trying to map out each other, as we were two people coming from different backgrounds and different culture. He is a westerner, and I am a conservative Filipina. He was impatient, goal-oriented, and straightforward, and I was reserved, curious, and calculating. We powered through our differences and decided to learn from them instead. We held on knowing that at the end of this is something worth all the challenges of a long-distance relationship.

It was the following summer that we finally managed to spend our holidays together in Madrid and Barcelona, even with the restrictions of the pandemic. He was already living in the Netherlands at that time as a full stack developer, and I was an architect in the Philippines. Seeing each other in person felt unreal. Something strange yet familiar. Something new yet you’ve always known.

Two months after Madrid, I went back to Europe to be with him in the Netherlands for 2 and a half months. We travelled around the Netherlands and explored new cities together, we would laugh at anything and everything. We also had a very remarkable day trip to Bruges. It was both the unluckiest and the most incredible adventure. This trip was where we knew the most about each other, and the closest we have ever been.

Six months after I went to the Netherlands, it was his time to visit the Philippines. We had an incredible time in Boracay, and we got to spent time with my family and friends. During this trip, he asked my parents if they would give us their blessing for me to move and stay with him in Europe. It was a nerve-wracking moment because there was a time that both of my parents looked so serious, and we thought they would say no. Thank God they gave us their blessing and said yes to the idea.

In our relationship, we experienced three heartbreaks. First in Madrid, then in The Netherlands, and then in the Philippines. And all of it happened at the airport, because we had to part ways.

It was in late December 2023, right after Christmas and just a few days before the new year, I arrived in the Netherlands. He was waiting for me at the airport carrying a bouquet. It was an incredible welcome especially after not being with each other for a very long time. This was time we knew there will no longer be a goodbye.

Three months later, he proposed to me in a planetarium in Amsterdam. It was within a zoo, and right after we had a really great time seeing all the animals. It was all the things I love. Animals, space, and him. The only thing I could say to him after he asked me to marry him was “Of course!”.

A very special detail is that Victor is the only man I talked to in the app, and the first to appear. He is my only boyfriend, my only one that I get to experience all this love with. And I feel so grateful to promise my love to him for the rest of my life in front of all of you.