I am 21, I just graduated from college with a great percentage and a whole bunch of friends. I also have a boyfriend who loves me to bits. We’ve been in a very happy relationship and we’re planning a trip with our mutual friends very soon. They say when you meet a person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with, you know. In my case, I knew the moment I met Rohit*.
Two years ago, life wasn’t as great. It was my second year of college when my first boyfriend dumped me. We were in a serious relationship, or so I thought, and I was completely smitten by him. I thought he was the one for me.
That was until he dumped me for a girl he met at his first workplace. She was older than him and they had made out a few times while we dated. He admitted all of this to me the day he dumped me. It’s easy to say that heartbreaks heal over time. But when your heart breaks the very first time, you feel like there is no respite and almost nothing to live for. I was 19 when I first got dumped. And it changed my life…
My circumstances pushed me to work harder than I’d ever worked in life. I started dedicating all my time to my books and college lectures. I was a front runner in class and my lecturers loved me. As everyone in class would come to me for notes, I ended up making a lot of friends as well.
Three months ago, one of my classmates was browsing through her phone and she was smiling to herself. I couldn’t help but ask her what was up. She sat me down and introduced me to a dating app called Happn. It is a free app she downloaded, which lets you see the profiles of people you have crossed paths with. “So it doesn’t reveal my exact location then?”, I asked in curiousity. “Nope”, was her answer. That caught my attention.
I downloaded the app the next day to see for myself. I went in thinking it was one of those places you go to to get laid. And so, I was extremely wary. I was able to “like” a few profiles based on pictures (it is a secret action where the other person doesn’t find out) and when they liked me back, I got a notification. I got a lot of notifications that day. It was a huge boost for my ego.
The next day I liked the profile of this bearded guy. He sent me a charm in return. A charm lets the other person know you’re interested and so I got a notification. That was the day I met Rohit*. Since then, there hasn’t been a single day that he hasn’t messaged me.
Rohit and I met on Happn, our lives intertwining so seamlessly it was unbelievable at first. We hit it off on our very first date, and decided to keep in touch. Two months into the relationship, Rohit asked me if I’d like to get into a serious relationship. How could I say no to this guy? He asks me if I’m OK even when I have a slight frown on my face. He screws his face up in disapproval every time I do something reckless. When we’re walking down a crowded street, he always has his hands around my waist or he’s holding my hand.
Recently Rohit told me he had first seen me at a coffee shop and decided to go to his app to find me because he was too shy to come talk to me himself. He geo-located me in real time and found out my name. He claims my profile left him “mesmerized”. He can exaggerate a bit sometimes.
After this experience, my whole approach and view on dating apps changed. I know most of us shy away from them because we are too shy or too conservative and the idea of plain sex without the romance can be a turn off. My story turned out to be the complete opposite. I found my fairytale romance, not in a novel, but on a phone app.
*This is a sponsored post for Happn.
