Our story begins at Lifehouse Church, where Chloe and I started our friendship rooted in our shared passion for Jesus, church, and people. Although I entertained thoughts of liking her and being in a relationship with her, I let it slide as I didn’t want to ruin what was already such a great friendship.

During our first three years of friendship, Chloe split her time between college in California and her semester breaks at home.

A key moment in the story came during a lunch break at work when Ate Kristine, sensing something, asked if I had ever considered going for Chloe. Caught off guard, I denied any interest, even though the truth was that I had contemplated it, fearing the potential impact on our friendship.

Fast forward to Chloe's winter break in 2019-2020, which became a turning point in our relationship. We spent more time together outside the church setting, deepening our connection within our circle of friends. As Chloe prepared to return to college, we acknowledged how much we'd miss each other and how excited we would be to see each other again. Just for fun, we would message each other how many weeks, or months there were until we would see each other again.

Then, the unexpected twist of COVID-19 altered our plans. I was in Mexico for a missions trip when I learned that flights were being canceled. Concerned for Chloe, I reached out to her, discovering that her college was sending students back home. Despite physical restrictions, we maintained our connection through texts, video calls, and shared movie experiences. Although socially distanced, my feelings for Chloe grew closer to her.

When the summer brought a lift in restrictions, Chloe and I spent more time together, though we still identified as friends. However, I couldn't deny the growing attraction I felt towards her. Shyness and fear held me back from expressing my feelings, concerned about the potential consequences for our friendship.

As the summer drew to a close, we talked about the joy of spending time together. Sensing the “green light” moment, I decided it was time to define the relationship (DTR). Despite my apprehension about how she might respond, I took the chance and confessed my feelings through a text before bedtime. The nervous anticipation stayed until I woke up to Chloe's response, which revealed that she felt the same way.

Looking back at our story, I’m always reminded of God's sense of humour and the unexpected turns His plans can take.

Jem and I had been friends for a while before things took a turn. We weren’t super close, but we did build a friendship that we both cherished. I was away at Bible College in California from 2018 to 2019, and unfortunately, we were distant due to my busy schedule and no communication between the both of us.

It wasn’t until the latter half of 2019, that our friendship rekindled once again. It was during my Thanksgiving break in 2019, I happened to be staying in LA with my close friend, Miranda, and Jem also happened to be in California at the same time. We decided to hang out for the day, explored and then dropped him off at the airport. To me, that was a core memory in our relationship even though I only saw him as a friend.

The following month, during my winter break, we hung out again with a group of friends, and Jem officially joined my home church, Lifehouse. Throughout that break, we bonded, serving at church and enjoying each other's company. As I returned to California, I remember I expressed to Jem that I was excited about coming back home for summer break even though I had just left.

That’s when in March 2020, the world shut down because of COVID-19 and my school had to close down. At the same time, Jem was in Mexico for a missions trip and we both got sent home a day after each other. Despite the physical distance, we stayed connected, I continued to stay connected with Jem, but even then I only saw him solely as a friend because I never thought he would even go for someone like me.

As restrictions eased that summer, we started hanging out in a group, and an unexpected question from my Pastor's wife, Kristine, planted a seed in my mind: "Would you ever go for Jem?" My immediate response (with zero hesitation) was a straight up no, as I still saw him only as a close friend. But because of that question, the thought of potentially being with Jem would come up to my head, and I would think to myself, “Would I actually ever go for him?”

By the end of the summer, I found myself developing feelings for him, unsure if I should act on them to avoid jeopardizing our strong friendship. Funny enough, I didn’t know that Jem was feeling the exact same way at the same time (that’s where God’s funny humour really showed). Eventually, our DTR (defining the relationship) moment arrived when Jem confessed his feelings for me, marking the beginning of a lifelong relationship.

Though words may fall short in capturing the entirety of our story and the emotions it brought, it will forever stand as one of the most beautifully written chapters in our lives.

And yes, Jem caught feelings first :)