Who would’ve thought that a woman who has been single for three years would meet her forever through an online dating app match, get engaged, and then get married—all in one year?
Charity (Tiktok: @charii_ty), a director and creative producer, shared with WhenInManila.com the story of her whirlwind romance with a man she had met online who flew all the way to the Philippines from London to sweep her off her feet.
The fateful first meeting.
“Year 2018, I was at the stage in my life where I considered myself happy,” Charity began. “I had a very nice job which I loved dearly (shoutout to PostAd), I had a strong support system, both my family and friends. Little did I know I was slowly becoming [one of] the OG Titas of Manila, always looking forward to the weekend to play and bond with my nephews. To be honest, I was not even looking [for a boyfriend]. I was working in the advertising industry, specifically traditional events and production, so if you know you know—I didn’t have time for dating.”
She recalls a time when a friend of hers introduced her to her foreign boyfriend and she wished she could experience the same kind of kilig. “But hey, I didn’t have time,” she said. “I needed to catch a bus/flight or whatever transport that would teleport me to [clients all the time]. So [I thought that] maybe I would just be a workaholic, happy, Tita of Manila na mag-gagantsilyo pagkauwi ng bahay kinda gurl.”
Charity’s life teetered between being either “extremely busy or extremely bored.” So one day, she decided to listen to the advice of her friends to “swipe right” for once in a dating app and see where it would lead her.
“Change is good, I just didn’t expect that it would be a ‘change for good’,” said Charity. She first got a “Hi ya!” message from her match and, soon after, she was waiting for him to arrive at the airport.
“All I knew [was] that I was already in NAIA Terminal 3, holding a calamansi juice, tracking [an] Emirates flight, updating my family, friends, workmates, even my uncle from Dubai to just say, ‘I am meeting a friend? Date? Whatever you can call it’, sending locations because everybody was just so afraid that something wrong might have happened. Yes, that’s how positive we are. No wonder why we are single for so long.”
But she didn’t have to worry because as soon as she met him IRL and got to know him, she knew she had found her person.
“He’s a neuroscientist from London, a British-Polish and [an] only child. I am a creative producer, Filipina, [and] with [a family of] 50 plus. He flew 6,795 miles just to meet me. Ansabe ni Nadine Lustre, Anne Curtis at Marian Rivera? Waley. Iba ang ganda ng puyat sa trabaho at galing sa half-day work,” she joked.
Wedding in Africa.
“The rest is history. He was definitely my person. I mean, I didn’t expect a Doctor of Nueroscience to be that charming and funny. The relationship continued and after 5 months of LDR (long-distance relationship), he came back to the Philippines with his father. I think that’s one of the most lovely gestures a man can do to a woman, showing his intention is pure. We had our first family meet-and-greet and got engaged shortly after. Four months after the engagement we got married in Africa (just the two of us) and now we are living in London with our 9-month-old daughter.”
Ending her story, Charity left this message to everyone who, like her once, is single and waiting for romance to come into their lives: “Love has no timeline, it’s timeless. Whatever is meant for you, the universe will find a way to give it to you.”
(ALSO READ: I Dated My First and Only Dating App Match Ever—Now We’re Engaged)
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