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In the summer of 2014, Laura and Juan went to a mutual friend’s birthday party. They only saw each other from afar and showed no interest in each other. At both corners of this celebration, their group of friends wanted to introduce them, but none of them were interested in accepting introductions, if they knew someone it would be through their own means.
That Christmas, Laura’s friend Ramiro tried to convince her, telling her that Juan was a very good guy, a little shy, and that he had dedicated himself to making music for video games, but she wouldn’t accept his insistence.
In July, when Laura was 25, she was keen to find a partner, and she wanted something serious and stable, and she suggested to her friend an outing for four: it seemed like a very good idea for her boyfriend to bring a friend and that way they could all go out dancing.
Her friend accepted, but thought for a moment and slyly told her (and perhaps under Cupid’s guidance) that that night only one of the boys in the group was free to go out: Juan.
They met at Laura’s house for some drinks before going to the bowling alley. The rest of the group was there celebrating their birthday, and they met up. “We had a good vibe, we spent the whole night together chatting and laughing, and we had a great time.” From that point on, group outings became more popular to help a promising couple meet and fall in love. The plan was going perfectly, but it wouldn’t be that simple.
With several group trips on the agenda, Laura thought adding Juan on Facebook was a good step forward. Ramiro (her friend) called her to ask why she was doing this, and in the face of this anger she said: “This is how you give up on yourself, and she won’t want to go out with you.” But Laura is a woman who trusts her instincts, as we will see later in this story, and she thought it was a good plan. Juan was shy and was not the one sending the invitation on the social network. In short, the worst that could happen was that she would scare him off, which was not serious considering she didn’t love him. Conclusion: There was nothing to lose.
As she expected, Juan accepted the request and after a while he invited her to dinner, just the two of them. “He’s very shy and was very withdrawn from the situation,” Laura remembers, but anyway, they started dating, and it was on their birthday, and Laura gave him a crucifix, and she was a devout Catholic and went to Mass on Sundays and Juan also started going.
They had been dating for three months and Laura felt that this attempt to establish a relationship between them would lead to nothing, so she preferred to tell him that she did not want to continue. Juan was angry, but he understood, and even though they stopped seeing each other, he continued to go to Mass, even without her.
Laura began searching for great love again, to no avail. She got tired of everyone she went out with, and months passed and no one defeated her. She realized, for example, that she didn’t share the books and movies she loved with Juan, nor did any of the boys she dated.
In a session with his psychiatrist, he told him what was going through his head and heart, and told him that he had been thinking about writing to Juan. “All these kids are so silly, the only thing they do is make me remember him and everything we shared, and what I enjoyed,” Laura said.
To his surprise, the response came from the other party: “No, you broke up with him for a reason. Don’t contact him again, because you want to be with someone and it doesn’t work that way. You obviously left him for a reason the first time.”
Laura left the consultation with something inside her telling her she shouldn’t listen to her psychiatrist, he didn’t have the whole truth. She had bought a book that they had talked about at the time with Juan, and it was a starter to start the conversation, a conversation that continued week after week.
One day, when she left work, she met Juan, and he was waiting for her. Overcoming all shyness, he asked her: “Let’s go out again, let’s try again.” Laura liked the security she saw in him and accepted it.
A month later, they were married, and Laura set her conditions: “I want to get married. If we don’t get married after three years, I will leave you because my time is running out. I am getting old and I will not marry a friend.”
Juan thought it was a fair deal and they went ahead with the engagement.
She doesn’t remember the first kiss exactly, but she remembers exactly the first time she realized that she loved him, and that he was the man of her life. They were in the field with friends, “I don’t remember exactly what happened but when I saw him perform I realized he’s the man for me, he’s so good! I remember that same day Juan first said to me I love you and I told him I was thinking the same thing. “It’s so good that it’s impossible not to love it,” says Laura.
Laura lived alone, they were at her house when they were dating for two years and Juan asked her to stay in the room for a while while he prepared an anniversary surprise.
When he left he found a painting by Juan, which was several layers of cut paper with backlighting, “so it was all reflecting a landscape with an owl, a forest, a lake, all handmade by him. It was an impressive and stunning effect, and In exchange for the engagement ring, which was a cross. “I always imagined my ring would be a cross, but I never told him that,” Laura recalls fondly.
He accepted the offer and didn’t take long to send a photo to his family to tell them the good news.
A year later, three years into their relationship, they said “Yes, I do it” at the altar. Soon after, they had two children. “The thing that always distinguished us was that we never quarreled or argued, we were always very peaceful and when we had children they changed a lot and I was afraid, but we managed to overcome those first years of parenthood that were difficult,” concludes Laura, who is in love and plans to expand the family.
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