It was a glorious, colorful autumn.

We'd just left the coffee shop. When we walked by, he had giggled and pulled me inside, saying, "C'mon, let's be basic white girls and get some pumpkin spice!"

I don't like coffee. I never had. But when he handed me my cup and looked into my eyes while I tried it, it was the best thing I'd ever tasted.

My hand still tingled where he grabbed it.

As we walked through the park with our drinks, a light drizzle began to fall. he pulled out an umbrella from his bag, I pulled up my hood and hunched my shoulders.

"Don't be silly," he giggled, pulling me under the umbrella with him. I couldn't help but laugh too, his laugh is infectious.

As the sun started to shine again, he pulled me down to sit on a bench. he beamed down at me, and I could only gaze back adoringly.

"So Kookie..." he began. I knew this tone of voice, it's dangerous.

"Who do you like?" he whispered, and I looked away. I wanted to say, 'you, you, a thousand times you. You're the only one I can ever think about. You're gorgeous and sweet and funny and...'

Instead, I shrugged my shoulders and looked down at my cup.

He looked at me with a cautious smile. "If I tell you mine, will you tell me yours?"

"Okay." I said.

"The person I like... ...is you."

I drop my drink.

"I've been wanting to tell you for a while though. I know you're not interested in me, but I-" I put my hand over his mouth.

he looks at me in surprise. I take a deep breath. "Tae, I-" My voice catches in my throat.

He removes my hand from his mouth, leans in a tiny bit closer. "What is it?" he asks, looking concerned.

Because I can't seem to form the words, I tell him how I feel the only way I can.

Before I can lose my courage, I lean forward, pressing my lips to his. After his momentary shock fades, he kisses me back; as his lips move against mine it's like there's fire in my veins.

His hands gently cup my face as mine timidly grab him by the waist. he pulls me deeper into the kiss, running his tongue along my lips and nearly making me moan.

I think, "I can't believe this is happening."

We finally break apart when we're both completely breathless. he tilts his head so our foreheads and touching. "Wow." he whispers.

I nod in reply.

"Kookie- so, does this mean..." She stammers. This is the first time I've ever seen Tae at a loss for words. I feel a bit proud of myself.

Finally getting courage, I grab his hands, pulling him to his feet. "Tae" I say. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

he squeals, jumping up and down in that way that I always thought was simply adorable but was never able to tell him. So I tell him now. "You're adorable."

I've never seen Tae blush before, either, but he does. he pulls me into a hug, and I rest my head on his shoulder.

"So, is that a yes?" I whisper against his skin, and he giggles, grabbing my hands and spinning me around. "Of course that's a yes, silly!" he laughs.

"Good." I say. "Because now I can do this again."

I press my lips to hers, and it's like everything else in the world fades. Over and over I keep thinking, "I can't believe you're mine."

I'm still thinking, "I can't believe you're mine" the next year when we move in together.

I think "I can't believe you're mine" as he walks down the aisle on our wedding day.

But the biggest "I can't believe you're mine" is when he holds our daughter for the first time.

I didn't think it was possible to love someone more every day, but Tae proved that wrong.

"Kookie? What do you want to name her?" he asks, both of them looking up at me with big, beautiful eyes.

"Autumn." I say, and he beams in agreement. "Autumn" he whispers, and kisses his little head.

And that's not the first, nor the last, of many, many, "I can't believe you're mine's.

I hope You guys like this story.....

This is a story about the first year of my relationship with the girl I love.

I suppose it starts back in July 2017. She was dating my best friend at the time, they were in a relationship for a few weeks and it ended on bad terms. While they were dating I had only seen her one time, I didn't really say much to her as I am a very shy and socially awkward person. I think I managed to get a few hellos out but nothing more than that.

The next time I met her was on the 31st of October. To be honest I don't really remember that night much since I was black out drunk for the majority of it. By that time things seemed to be ok between her and my friend and that's how I started talking to her more.

In late November we were all talking in group chats, online I am a lot less awkward and am able to talk to other people, so this was a great way for me to start talking to her.

As I started to become more friendly with her I started to realise that she's not how my best friend made her out to be at all.

We started to hang out more, and the more time I spent with her the closer I felt to her. There are quite a few people in our friends group, I couldn't quite explain why. But I felt like I had some sort of bond with her, like I could connect with her in a way that I couldn't with the other people. Usually I hate it when people hug me, but when she did it always felt warm and comforting.

Where our relationship progressed was on new years eve, I had one of my depressive episodes and ended up leaving all of the group chats I was in. At the time I just felt really lonely, as if I'm destined to never be happy.

She ended up private messaging me, asking what was wrong and why I was feeling like that. There's only a few people that know how much of a shit show my childhood was, I felt comfortable with talking about it with her. And she seemed to have the perfect response to everything. After a while I felt a little better about myself and I will never forget some of the things that she said to me that night.

January..

We hung out once a week, usually in a group of 7 people. At this point I considered her a very close friend of mine, and without wanting to sound like a white knight SJW. I felt like I wanted to look out for her as much as possible. In that group were a few guys, really creepy. And how they treated her made me feel upset and angry, I wasn't too sure why I felt so strongly towards her. I was convinced that I can't like her due to her being my best friends ex.

Seeing the way these guys were with her lead to me drinking rather heavily, mainly because I felt like there was nothing I could do. Subconsciously I think I knew that I liked her then. And the fact I couldn't say anything or do anything about it really got to me, it started to bring back my depression. I don't usually get angry, and I never used to self harm. But the only thing I could think of doing was punching myself instead. Usually until my hand was really bruised or until my face was bleeding. ( yes I am aware of how retarded I sound right now)

I was In a very bad state mentally. I ended up telling her what was making me feel like that, and she thanked me for it. As it made her feel uncomfortable too.

This is towards the start of February 2018 now. My friend asked me if I like her, to which I replied with, I don't know. I feel as if I can't because you used to date, and if I did it would be a betrayal of our friendship. He was surprisingly good about it and didn't seem to mind. In fact he told me to go for it,

We're in February now and I had decided that I was going to tell her that I liked her. I have never been in a relationship with someone at this point. Never even held another girls hand, let alone kissed one. Saying I was shitting it would be an understatement. I thought to myself how could she ever see me like that, how could she ever want to date an ugly 6'7" fat (in my opinion) autistic, depressed, long haired person with extreme social anxieties.

She is around 5'6". Compared to me she's a genius, slim, and is still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, every time I talk to her. All of my troubles just seemed to dissappear, and I can just be myself, and happy for a change.

I put quite a lot of thought into how I was going to tell her. I was going to do it the day before valentines. Outside of the pub we usually go to, I wasn't drinking that night as I wanted her to take it seriously.

I had quite a few opportunities to tell her that night. I ended up getting too nervous and I couldn't do it. I really did want to do it in person. But I ended up telling her how I felt online, I don't think she knew how to take it. She said that it was a lot to take in and that she'd need a while to think about it.

It took four really long and nerve wrecking days. But we agreed to meet up by ourselves and talk about it. Something we had never done at that point. That day I was really anxious, having stomach pains. Couldn't stop shaking, I wasn't sure if I should go. I knew that I couldn't do that to her and went, it was quite muddy that day. We met at the train station in the town we usually hang out in. I couldn't start a conversation for shit, thankfully she did most of the talking that day. It was the first time I had ever spent time with another girl by myself (I was 21)

We walked up a hill and sat at the top of it on a bench. It was really muddy that day, she decided that because of how her last relationship ended. She didn't want to rush into anything and she wanted to see how it would go before we decided on starting a relationship. We spent time together every other day. And slowly I became more comfortable with talking to her in person. Within a week I was able to start conversations and cary them on.

I was still really nervous though, and wasn't sure on what was acceptable. To the point where I asked her if it was OK if I held her hand.

On the third of March it was snowing. We met up, and at this point I really wanted to know if she could see up being in a relationship. So I asked her. And she said yes. I will never forget that day. As a first date kind of thing we decided to watch Black Panther. I didn't reallt like it, but i did get salsa on my arse due to the person previously sitting in my seat.

We still wanted to take it slowly, and we did. It took a few weeks for me to be comfortable with kissing her. The first time I kissed her was up on the hill. The one we usually go to to talk about things. That's also something I will never forget, my first kiss.

It's nearly been a year now, and without you I'd still be the introvert kiss - less ****** that I was. And I've loved every single moment of it.

We've been sleeping together in this bed every night for about 6 months now. And while you're in hospital it really does feel empty and lonely without you.

So Kate, if you ever come across this post. I love you, and I can't wait to spend many more years with you.

A lot more happened. But I realise this is getting really really long. So to those of you that read through all of this, well done. And sorry for typos or bad grammar. It's nearly 4am.

This is the story that changed my life. The best way to explain it is from the begining.

I was 15. I had an anxiety attack. I was growing up and was home schooled due to some previous issues with traditional schools. My mom and my late uncle (I miss you, uncle Bob) took me to the hospital. I remember ripping my ID bracelet off more than a couple times because I didn't want to be there. I didn't know it at the time but I needed help. This is the story of the rest of my life.

I spent 11 days in a children's mental ward named P78. I met quite a few friends there and during my home schooling that helped shape my story. Little did they know at the time how much they would affect me.

I need to backtrack a little bit for this to make sense. The friends I met during home school would always talk to me about this girl they knew that nicknamed "dictionary" because she was so smart. They always tried to get us to meet but it never worked out. We were both a bit annoyed at their attempts so eventually they tried to trick us into meeting. I was brought to her house a few times but she was "never home". In reality she was antisocial and just didn't want to meet with people. They called her on the phone and had me speak with her a few times. Again, we were a bit annoyed at their attempts. Shortly after this is when I was admitted to the hospital.

A doctor at the ward recommended a school, Eleanor Gerson high school. It's a school for troubled teens. It's for kids who have mental issues that may give them trouble in normal schools. My first year went off normally. I made friends, got good grades, and was generally happy. In my second year I met her.

Flash forward to Freshman orientation of what ended up as my junior year. We were going through meeting the new kids with everyone introducing themselves and giving a bit of history of who they are. I saw her there. She had long black hair and was dressed in what at the time was the latest gear from Hot Topic. My buddy (who will not be named just like most others in this story won't be) recognized her. He had me mention a mutual friend of him and the girl to help break the ice.

A couple days later on the bus ride home from school, I asked her what she thought of her first few days. I got a cold response along the lines of "I just got here, how can I have an opinion?" She tried to push me away but it was too late, I was already smitten. A couple months later she came with me to get myself a new pair of glasses. I was feeling bold and told her flat out "you're my girlfriend now".

Over the next couple of years we had a few ups and downs but stayed together for the most part. That is until she wrote me a letter. Her own past and insecurities were getting in the way of us being a "normal" couple. She needed to break it off to clear her mind.

I was devistated, but I had to move on. I was taking college prep classes and eventually had enough credits to only be coming to school a couple days a week. We saw each other less and less.

I graduated and went onto college. She dropped out. I never forgot her. A few months later some college friends and I were talking about her on the bus ride home. I was telling them about the girl who got away. Not even a few minutes later as I was finishing my story, she got on the bus. I let my friends know that was her and they didn't believe me. I walked up to her and we reconnected. We spoke about how much our lives have changed since we last saw each other and I walked her home like I always did back in high school.

We promised each other at the time that we wouldn't let our old feelings get in the way of our friendship. I lied. I had to tell her how I felt. Once I got the courage to do so, she let me know she felt the same way. The following January we moved in with her best friend at the same time. Thst was January of 2007. The rest is history.

Now, 15 years after I fell in love when we first met we couldn't be happier. We now have 5 cats together and have been together for literally half of our lives. I can't imagine my life without her.

TL;DR: I met the love of my life in high school 15 years ago and we're still happily together. Faerie tale love stories do exist. I am living proof..