The first time Don saw his fiancee, Aida, who is also seven years older than him, he thought she was a domestic helper while she saw him as just a ‘cute lil kid’.
Now, eight years on, the couple are poised to tie the knot in the near future.
In his entry, Don wrote:
“I would like to dedicate this entry to my best friend and fiancee, Aida Borhan.
“This is also my Valentine’s Day surprise for her as both of us always felt online contests were a waste of time and she would never expect me to join one.
“Our story is long and complicated, as is everyone else’s, so I shall summarize the important details.
“I first met my fiancee when I was working part time at Orchard Hotel while waiting for my O-level results.
“There, I was promoted to work on the VIP executive floor, where she worked as a guest relations officer.
“I was just 17 while she was 24. We were both single at the time.
“My first impression of her was that she looked like a foreign domestic helper.
“Her impression of me was ‘the cute lil kid’.
“Aida was my supervisor at work but we had good chemistry as colleagues and never had any conflicts.
“One weekend night, we had just finished our shifts so we decided to hang out together, and ended up taking in a late night movie. It was opening night of “The Covenant” back in late 2006.”In the theatre, I jokingly placed my arm around her as I told her I felt more comfortable since I’ve never actually watched a movie with a girl who was just a friend.
“To clarify, I did not have any other intentions towards her, or feelings for her. It was just weird not having my arm around a girl!
“She was okay with it as we had this ‘big sister and lil bro’ relationship.
“Needless to say, we enjoyed the movie and we began seeing more of each other after work.
“While we remained as friends, we felt really comfortable with each other, and we both believed at the time that a man and woman can keep things between us as strictly ‘friends’.
“Boy, were we wrong.
“One random night in Nov 2006, I suddenly kissed her on the lips while we were both sharing stories about ourselves on a bench under the void deck of a housing block in Woodlands.
“Till today, I had no idea why i did what i did.
“We both stayed silent for five minutes, before we burst out laughing.
“As it turned out, we were both developing strange and unknown feelings for each other.
“We didn’t dare to call it love as, well, we had an age gap of seven years!
“We had no physical attraction whatsoever initially!
“However, we mutually decided to give it a shot as we both figured, why not?
“We spent the next year of our lives together, happy for the most part with our fair share of ups and downs.
“We were so crazy in love that we had tattoos of each other’s name done.
“Everything was going well until one fateful day, when I decided to propose.
“She rejected my proposal, saying that I was still way too young, that marriage was not easy and that i was the one making a mistake.
“She felt that I was not old enough to be sure of my feelings and that I would one day change my mind and date a younger woman.
“We argued over this for months.
“We also had disagreements over her dressing and clubbing habits, as well as my temper and trust issues.
“Our relationship couldn’t take the strain of these countless arguements so we broke up in late 2007, after more then a year together.
“I took the break-up pretty hard for she was the first girl whose personality, rather than looks, attracted me.
“Before her, I have never felt this comfortable with anyone else, not even my best friends or sibling.
“It got to a point that I chose take a year off relationships until I was ready to date or have a girlfriend again.
“On the day I enlisted into the army, I sent Aida an email, saying I would always love her, and I finally have the strength to move on.
“I decided to accept the love of another girl, hoping to give love another chance. That was in late 2008.
“My new relationship was good. We were generally happy and I liked her a whole lot, but she was not my Aida.
“I was in the army so the time i spent with my new girl was little.
“Just before I was about to ORD in late 2010, Aida contacted me after 3 years of not hearing from her.
“It was just a courtesy greeting as she had just joined facebook and wondered how i was doing.
“I’m not so proud of the next thing I did after that. I immediately dumped my current girlfriend and arranged a date with Aida.
“To the ex,if you are reading this, I apologise again and wish you all the best.
“The moment we laid our eyes on each other once again after three years without contact, she leaped into my arms and we embraced each other for what seemed like forever.
“We then shared a long passionate kiss, somehow knowing that this felt right, and that everything will be alright.
“It has been more then 3 years since we reunited.
“We still have our ups and down. but the time we spent apart helped us to grow as individuals.
“We have learned to give and take for the greater good, as well as appreciate the various sacrifices we had to make over the years.
“We were finally on the path of building a life and family together, and are now closer then ever before as well.
“We are currently staying together with my parents while waiting for our ROM date (she finally said yes!), and scouting for a matrimonial home.
“Again, this is dedicated to my wife-to-be, my soulmate and my best friend.
“I hope this finally surprises you as it’s really hard for us to keep secrets and surprises from each other since we know one another inside out.
“I have loved this girl and knew I wanted to marry her since I was 17. I thank god we reunited after all that time.”
Source: http://bit.ly/1eQsaBW