It was just a few days after my birthday, and my mother came to me saying "There is a nice gentleman I want you to meet"... we all know how that goes haha
My mother and Michael's older sister had been friends for a few years now. One day, the two got to talking about how they have two age-appropriate, well-behaved and well-learned young adults that would be perfect for each other. We all know being set up by family is not always the easiest thing to accept, but I am sooo happy that we decided to give it a shot.
Both of us had experienced long-distance relationships and swore off them, but we went along with the whole thing anyway. We connected via social media, Michael hoped in my DMs to introduce himself, speaking as the gentleman he is, and I was already charmed.
From that day on we talked every single day for the next 6 months. We got to know each other so deeply, our values, spirituality, career path and so many other things were in line.
We decided that it was time to meet in person. We really liked each other at this point, but we decided we would like to make it official in person. I (Oyin) had never been to UK, let alone Europe before.
When I landed, I wanted to trick Michael into thinking I didn't recognize him, but neither of us could stop smiling. He brought me flowers, which was so sweet! We were shy for the first few seconds, and after that, we became inseparable, like we've known each other all our lives.
He asked me to be his girlfriend a couple of days later, and I was overjoyed to say, YES!
I came back to visit Michael for the second time a few months later for his Birthday. We had planned a small dinner for him and his friends. We picked the menu, the location and all. But little did I know that I was in for a surprise.
I noticed Michael was being a tad fidgety and telling me he was talking to someone about the set up, but I brushed it off (with slight suspicion), that he just wanted to make sure everything was okay. So when it was time to head over, I went downstairs of the hotel I was staying at, and in came a young lady from the hotel, to hand me a large bouquet of flowers.
With much confusion, I accepted and walked over with him to the restaurant on location. To my surprise, the most beautiful proposal set-up I had ever seen. His friends and everyone in the restaurant had all eyes on me, and rejoiced with us as I said a loud "YES!!"