My love story was a super complicated and long one. It's what you'd expect out of a Kdrama. It started about 2 years ago, at the end of my freshman year. My school's Hmong Club decided to take a walk to Hmong Village in celebration of the newly elected officers. We all went to Blueberry to get some boba tea and there was this guy, let's name him R. I overheard the Blueberry worker saying something like this to R,"Out of all the guys here, you're the best looking one." I turned around and took a look at R as I thought to myself,"Pshh! He ain't even all that." One month went by and we had our Hmong Club picnic the week after school ended. I forgot that R even existed until my cousin mentioned him saying that he went to school with her brother. I took a look at him as he sang with his older brother and this other guy but wasn't too interested.
Summer vacation came to an end and school just started. I had Biology first period with a whole bunch of my friends. In that class, one of my friend would always spazz about a guy to me. (Let's call her P) I didn't know who it was but I could care less since she was the type to fall really quickly for guys. R eventually came to add me on Facebook (probably cause I was the treasurer of Hmong Club) but I didn't really know who he was. xD One day Facebook told me that it was his birthday and although we didn't talk much, I still wished him a happy birthday through Facebook. The next day, P was spazzing again about the guy she liked. Turns out that the guy she likes was R, and not just that, but R sat right behind me in Biology. Of course, I never registered the fact that R sat right behind me since he was just a stranger(but also a facebook friend.) Lol. R and I started talking a bit as friends and I soon started dating this guy that I had a crush on freshman year but eventually broke up since I knew that I didn't have any feelings left for him. A few weeks went by and I was playing cupid with my friend and R. I started to get to know R more and soon found out that he just broke up with his girlfriend on his birthday since she was moving far away.
I tried to tell P that R still had his heart for someone else and that she shouldn't move so quick. But knowing her, she never listened and continued pursuing him. Weeks went by and P was getting super obsessive about R. I was starting to get annoyed with how obsessive she was, from posting post it notes in his locker to wearing his sweater every single day cause she never wore a jacket to school, I just couldn't stand her anymore.
One day in December, P crossed the line. While borrowing R's phone to call her ride, R left to the bathroom and she took his phone home with her without permission. I was furious when I heard this. She wasn't even his girlfriend yet and she was already acting like that. Since R and I were practically best friends by then, I talked to him about this and found out that he doesn't like my friend. His heart was still set on his ex-gf or a different person. Knowing this, I told him to stop leading P on. He said that he did, but his words never goes through her head. As my friendship with R grew, I started to realize that he's my type of guy. Smart, caring, funny, patient, confident, charming, handsome, etc. I pushed that thought away since P still had a huge thing for him.
P eventually started to notice how close R and I were. She talked to me about it saying that I should just go for R since we both liked each other and she wants R to be happy. I wasn't sure why she was saying this since I knew/thought that he still had feelings for his ex and I had no intentions of dating him. The thing though is that it wasn't just P who noticed it, a whole bunch of my other friends and family also noticed the chemistry between R and I. (apparently I was left in the dark and couldn't even see my own situation) But after that talk, I analyzed everything that I did/felt in the past few months. I came to the conclusion that I did like R, but I denied that feeling because my friend, P, likes him. My friendship with R was growing, and so were my feelings. I read my horoscope one day since they're always so accurate and it said something like,"if you're unsure about something right now then question it and you'll find the answer." I thought about it and decided to take a risk. I asked R who he liked but he wouldn't tell me unless I tell him who I like too. So we set up a date on when we'd tell each other who we like. It was a Friday afterschool when we walked around. Both of us were being really stubborn with the topic of who we like so I finally muttered,"I like you." Except I said it too quiet so he didn't hear and said,"Fine, I'll tell you then. I like you." I was overjoyed upon hearing this and clearly told him that I like him too. xD
That Saturday, I was volunteering at Mall of America R couldn't join us since he had a funeral to attend. We both texted each other when we could, saying how much we miss each other. Besides that, I also took the 8 hour day to carefully decide on what I wanted to do. I didn't want to be a bad friend by dating my friend's biggest crush. But I didn't want to lose such a good guy either. I eventually came to the conclusion that if he asks me out in a week then I'll say yes. If he doesn't ask then I'll ask him. I also considered the fact that no one would accept this relationship and support us. I knew that people would talk about how bad of a friend I am. A week later, on a Friday again, R asked me to go to his locker after school. Of couse, I knew something was fishy but I went anyways. When I got there, he told me to turn away from him. He opened up his locker and took out a box of Ferrero Rocher and hugged me from behind saying,"I'm a bit late on this, but will you be my leprechaun?" I said yes of course, and we both decided to keep this a low profile until the following Monday when we had a Hmong Club event. There, we openly announced our relationship by holding hands. xD Towards the end of the day, we were having reflections on how well the day went. P said that it was a great day and she realized how it felt to have a family since her real famliy never treats her well. (But from what I saw, she just doesn't see how much her family cares about her) She was crying as she said this but there was more to it than just that. She talked to me a few days later saying that she was crying because of my new relationship and how I never told her anything about it. I just told her that I was sorry for not telling her. I didn't know how to say it knowing that she'll be utterly heartbroken.
Our friendship was going downhill while my relationship was going up. Not only that, but as I expected, everyone was talking about how bad of a friend I am. Hmong club members, people that I looked up to, friends who I thought were trustworthy, and people who I don't even know. Even though I expected it, I was disappointed to see how people really viewed me just because of this. But I wasn't going to let them stop me from my happiness. I risked everything for this relationship, I wasn't going to end it just because some people are too quick to judge. My frienship with P eventually got better even though we're not as close as we used to be anymore.
This month marks our 11th month anniversary, and I'm proud to say that I'm glad I stuck with my decision. We may have had our ups and downs but we always managed to fix it without having an argument. R was always there for me when I was feeling down. He's the sweetest guy I've ever met. He's the only one who has enough patience to be with me. It was worth getting to know him as a friend first. If it weren't for our friendship beforehand then I wouldn't understand him as much as I do now. It was a long and rough path but it's not ending anytime soon.
Also, the funny thing is that months before I started dating R, my brother's girlfriend told me about how she got into a relationship with my brother. She went through the same exact situation as I did. Lol. She probably influenced a bit of my decision. xD
P.S. R claims that he thought I was a fob when he first saw me Freshman year because I "wore dark make up" (I hardly ever wore make up) and was super tan from tennis. Lol! But he also thought I was cute and short. xP Apparently he started pursuing me some time after he broke up with his girlfriend but since I was dating someone else already, he backed off until I ended the relationship. Everytime I think about it, I laugh like an idiot. The person whom I thought wasn't all that turned out to be the one that I've been waiting for. I must have been extremely stupid to not realize my own feelings.
