So, I want to say we met in the most typical Bollywood way. Picture this: I walk by, my orna sways over my head, he catches the faintest whiff of my perfume, but doesn’t see my face. We bump into each other, my books scatter across the floor, and he bends down to help me pick them up. Cue slow motion. Love at first sight. And then, "Tujhe Dekha Toh" plays in the background as our eyes meet, and suddenly, everything falls into place. We lock eyes, I smile shyly, he gazes at me with those soulful eyes... and then, boom, happily ever after.

But, spoiler alert: That’s not how it went down.

In reality, one day, I decided to do my scroll ritual—not on Instagram, but on Salams, the Muslim dating app. I was just killing time and thought, “Why not? Let’s see who’s out here.”

And there he was: Khavir. His name immediately caught my attention because, well, my last name is literally “Kabir.” So, yeah, I was kind of like, “Wait… what?” I mean, what are the odds that this guy has almost the exact same name as mine? That’s a little weird, right? But, what really got me were the sneakers in the pictures he had up—these cool sneakers. And coming from a NYC fashion girlie, that called for a swipe right.

I swiped right, not really expecting much. But then he messaged me, and the first thing he says is, “Nice hat.”

Now, I had this Yankee hat from Aime Leon Dore on, and—full disclosure—he probably noticed it because he’s got a crazy hat collection. So, I said, “Thanks,” and thought that was it. But no. He follows up with: “How are you?”

The most boring thing you can ask, right? Like, give me something more interesting! So, naturally, I did what any girl would do. I ghosted him. Done.

But here’s the twist: he wasn’t done. He followed me on Instagram (how? I still don’t know), and I didn’t follow him back. But he didn’t give up. He unfollowed me, then—like a month later—followed me again.

Now, I don’t know what came over me, but this time, I noticed. So, I followed him back.

And the best part? I posted this story on Instagram one night, joking about how my dad wants me married ASAP and asking, “Is it because I’m expiring?” And, out of nowhere, Khavir slides into my DMs. And it wasn’t some cute, flirty message or anything. It was just a simple, "Hey."

At that point, I wasn’t even sure if I should respond. But I looked through his pictures, and I may have noticed he was tall (bonus points). So I replied. Still, the vibe was casual. He wasn’t coming on strong or anything—just chill, like we were friends. It felt like we were kind of floating in this in-between space, where we were talking, but I wasn’t sure if he saw it going anywhere beyond just chatting. He seemed more interested in the "friendship" route, honestly, which was fine by me. At that point in my life, I was in this “date to marry” phase, not just settling for anyone or rushing into anything. I had decided to take my time. I was all about that “when you know, you know” mentality.

For two months, that’s how it went—casual chats here and there. And then, one night, I’m scrolling through my phone at 4 AM (don’t ask why—I was out with my best friend, both of us single, just having fun and enjoying life). I noticed he posted something, and with literally no one else awake, I figured, “Why not?” I messaged him, “Are you awake?” Totally random. Didn’t expect him to reply right away. It was basically a “you up?” text, but I wasn’t trying to be that obvious.

But guess what? He replied.

He didn’t just reply—he actually gave me his number and asked me to text him. So, I FaceTimed him (because, let’s be real, I was looking good that night—dressed up for a fun night out with my best friend). We start chatting, and casually, he drops that we had actually matched on Salams—and I’m like, “No way!” It felt like some weird twist of fate on my end. But honestly? He was plotting this whole thing.

Then, out of nowhere, I said, “I want to see you in person.”

And, without missing a beat, he says, “I’ll pull up right now.”

He showed up. I thought he was handsome, and in that moment, I realized—yep, I regretted ghosting him earlier. But, no matter. We were about to make up for lost time.

We decided to grab brunch at this little cafe called Maman in the city. We spent hours talking about everything—life, family, goals—and even started talking about kids. Like, full-on plans for adoption. It was one of those conversations where I just knew this was it.

But the day didn’t end there. He mentioned wanting to go to the Marni store, but it didn’t open until 11 AM. So we spent the next three hours wandering aimlessly around the city. No plans. Just walking. But it was fun.

Finally, we get to Marni, and what does Khavir do? He buys a pair of pants for himself. Not for me. And honestly, I hated those pants. But whatever. It was a date, right?

At this point, I’m wired on caffeine because I drank three cups of coffee from three different cafes. I was so caffeinated I could’ve run a marathon. So, to keep it together, I just laughed and went with it.

The day ended with a very polite side hug. Like, the polite side hug of all side hugs. I remember thinking, “Well, I guess I’ll never see him again.”

But guess what? He texted me that night. Apparently, he’d had a great time.

And well, here we are—getting married.