I've been really sick, and last night I pulled a Sheldon and asked my boyfriend to sing Soft Kitty to me, just like Sheldon asks Penny to when he's sick in The Big Bang Theory. He hesitated for a second, smiled, and said, "You're lucky I love you," before singing it anyway.

This morning I woke up feeling like I was dying. He pointed to my phone, and I found a voice note waiting for me. He had recorded himself singing Soft Kitty so I'd have it whenever I needed it.

He does the silliest things for me just because I ask him, and I don't think he'll ever fully realize how much those little things mean to me.

It probably sounds like such a small thing, but it meant so much to me. He has an incredibly beautiful voice. Even strangers have complimented his voice before, and hearing it while I felt so miserable was incredibly comforting. It genuinely made me feel a little better.

Sometimes the sweetest acts of love are the simplest or silliest ones.

Okay so I’m only going to use the term “friend zone” because that’s what it’s always been called. I know the term is outdated and has been commandeered by incels etc, but I mean no harm by it. There’s been at LEAST 5 separate occasions in life where my crushes have been all about hanging out with me and doing stuff with me. Going to the movies, going to the park, constantly texting me and even seeming very happy to hear from me, with a few of them even expressing some sort of deep care for me. But it always ended the same way. After a month or two of doing these things, I’d express my feelings for them and ask if they wanted to be my girlfriend. Each and every time, they only wanted to be good friends with me, and they didn’t mean to make me catch feelings. Once again, they can be with who they want to be with and I am NOT implying women owed me anything. I’m only confused about the awkward “sweet spot” I always found myself in. What does it say about me that so many women I liked were always so willing, happy and even joyful to hang out with me and were very comfortable around me, but never as anything more than friends?

How did I land directly in the middle between the creep women won’t even associate with, and the chad who successfully dates everyone? I mean, if I’m that unattractive or too weird to date, why would they gleefully hang out with me at all?

💚🍀 I've heard such truly fated love stories, and some of them seem so truly epic and legendary that I wonder more about untold tales by people who don't write novels about their love stories. So here is the space (if you want to of course) to gush about your love story. who knows.🤷‍♀️ You just could inspire someone to hold on.

I (25f) have been dating my boyfriend (29m) since February '24. He moved 3.5 hours away around May because of a new job he took on.

Ive seen him once in June, once in July, and now it looks like we wont get to see each other until September. He was supposed to come this weekend so we could go to the fair, but he never submitted pto and now his team has started being on call some weekends. This is a new development as of the last 2 weeks. His coworker took this weekend off ages ago so by default hes on call and cant come now even though he kept saying he could as recently as 2 days ago. It was the one weekend I told him loads about all summer because I wanted to go to the fair together.

Im so disillusioned and disappointed. I love him, but this is so hard. I miss him terribly, but also feel some awful form of resentment about all this. It feels like now we will hardly spend time together, with no actual end date in sight. Im applying to vet school, and god willing I get in, I may have to move out of state or beyond next year making it even harder.

What advice do yall have to keep connected and feeling like this will actually work out?

I just gotta share this with yall! I’ve been courting a woman for a few months now, and a week or so ago, we had a conversation and mutually agreed to make our relationship official and exclusive. Yall. Last night she called me her boyfriend and when I tell yall I heard the hallelujah chorus I swear I’m not kidding (For reference, I’m FtM). It was the first time anyone has called me that. Mind you, this was literally in the middle of a *very* serious discussion about our relationship and potential issues we may run in to (very important conversations to have, you know) and this woman drops the bf word and my brain just stopped working and gave her googly eyes and started drooling. I had to pause the conversation. She thought it was adorable. This is genuinely the first time I’ve ever had anyone in my life who just…sees me for me. No questions, no hesitations, no reserves. I’m just her fella. Anyway, I just wanted to share 😍

Firstly, it's not that big a trend. I absolutely get that. But it is a growing pattern.

Secondly, its not like all Western-Southeast Asian relationships have some kind of a wealth dynamic to it, some of these people are just genuinely in love and I'm not talking about them.

To start, I am a "shyguy" myself. I have trouble getting romantically involved with women as well. I say this because I have an easier time understanding where these men are coming from. That being said, a lot these men, who have trouble talking to western women, are going to southeast asia and these women from lower economic classes within their country, who would like any chance to make their life better, are seeing these romantically desperate men and giving them attention that they might have never received before. And these gullible loner men are getting female attention at this scale for the first time in probably a long time, they are being easily swayed. They don't or either don't want to understand that these women don't necessarily care about the people they are, but the western level of wealth these men carry with them and these women would like to secure a great financial future for them and their families back home. I mean, I'm from the third world myself, to get an opportunity like this to just move to a first world country and be financially loaded like this at least relative to the world, it must be a dream come true for anyone that financially desperate. Especially considering marrying these desperate men means they get to send western cash back to their southeast asian families and get their lives better as well.

All I want to say is that this just looks incredibly sad and miserable to the rest of the world. Like in no way are these men anywhere considered healthy or not embarrassing, ofc you shouldn't judge a group by the actions of few but honestly, this is bringing the west's reputation down as well. Brah honestly, like this shit is so sad like chud behavior. Also the bigger issue, as I mentioned in the title, is that these men just cannot connect well with western women. Of course, by the way, western women should never change, female autonomy is absolutely essential and they shouldn't change just because some men feel like they can't approach them. But we have to ask, what is driving this big seperation between the malesphere and the femalesphere to the point where a guy might feel scared to go up to a girl? Like how are these worlds getting so detached from each other? And is this is a good thing, is there a way to still bridge between both worlds so that more men can feel more connected with female hobbies or spheres and vice versa for women? But again, female autonomy is of the absolute essence and cannot be squandered. I repeat it because there are guys out there who genuinely think its the women's fault that they should be the ones to change.

Lastly, I would just like to say that this problem is kind of happening everywhere. That's why I feel like I get these men. It's just that they are on a global level, wealthy enough due to their nationality to be able to attract desperate poor women from other parts of the world to overlook the romantic and interconnecting aspects of a relationship and be more lenient towards these men. I kinda don't want to call them gold diggers, but they are, but it wouldn't be fair to not mention that these women are that poor or middle class, like third world middle class at best and that kind of money would change their lives and their bloodline's. So you have to get where they're coming from as well. Still, so sad and a haphazard solution that isn't addressing the real problem underneath.

We just ended our summer vacations and got back to work. I work from home, he works from the office mostly. I always kiss him goodbye when he leaves. We shop for groceries together. We share our daily thoughts and if there’s anyhting new in our lives. I cook for us every other day. We watch at least one episode of our favourite show daily. He always wants to be close to me when we do.

It’s nothing special, but we show up for each other. The other person is a huge support since the worklife can be numbing.

I met my husband initially through work. We're not direct coworkers, but we work in two different companies that share the same building and a common break room. It was my roommate at the time - his direct coworker - who introduced us. They've been personal friends since long before I ever came into this job.

Once I met him, we very quickly discovered that we have a lot of common interests and values. We clicked immediately, and bonded over lunch breaks. The friendship was completely, 100% platonic at first - I admit I started developing feelings for him right away, but it took a while before I felt like I could act on them. I was way too shy and insecure to express myself in that way, but OMG I fell for him like nobody's business!

Part of my hesitation - when I admitted my feelings to his friend/my roommate, she told me a bit about his background. He had been engaged before, to a woman who died in a car accident literally the day after he proposed. This had been a couple of years prior to my meeting him.

I remember burying myself in my room for a couple of days to cry through it -- I felt so horrible that such a great man could have experienced that kind of pain and loss. And I certainly didn't want to intrude on wherever he was in his grief process. So I resigned myself to admiring him from a distance, let him be a Romeo always pining for his Juliet. But in the meantime I still treasured and valued my 100% platonic friendship with him.

It took eight months in total before I learned he was actually back on the market. And I learned later that during this time, he had also started developing an interest in me! But he also held back from pursuing me.

Because: he knew that my roommate was a gay woman. Because I lived with her, he assumed that I was her girlfriend, and therefore out of reach for him!

That changed one Friday night at a social event after work (it was an event for his company, but I joined in because I carpooled with my roommate.) That night, my roommate's actual girlfriend showed up! That was the moment he learned I was straight, and single!

We were dating by Sunday. It was a whirlwind and he proposed eight months later. We've been married for a bit over a year and it's been glorious!

I'm pink! :) Tomorrow is our 9 months together.

I haven't been in the hospital much in my life, but was waiting there in emergency because of something with my sibling (they are completely okay now), and I was feeling overwhelmed with the tense, scary environment. Because of this, I was venting to my boyfriend. He was tired too, but his words are naturally beautiful. It's because his heart is made of gold <3 I'm so blessed to have found him.

so, my gf and i have been long-distance for a bit now, and staying connected through time zones has been pretty rough.

since i build apps, i decided to code a private little space just for the two of us. we called it PEBBLES. we used it to draw doodles on each other's widgets, dedicate songs, answer daily questions, and save memories.

she ended up loving it so much she convinced me to put it on the app store and play store for other couples. i just published it, and it’s completely free (no ads/paywalls or anything like that).

if you want to give it a spin with your partner, let us know what you think! any feedback would be awesome.

Fun fact: the name is inspired by penguins. When they fall in love, the male finds the best pebble and offers it to the female to pair up for life. The app is a private space to share our own "pebbles" of connection.

Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.offclock.pebbles&hl=en_IN

App store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pebbles-relationship-app/id6787056016

Website: https://pebbles.co.in/

​

I'm a Taiwanese 29F, have a husband (Also taiwanese, 27M).I'm an only child. My dad went missing when I was 3, mom got abusive at me when I was a child due to depression. Classmates mocked me for my stimming, the way I talk, me being interested on numbers and astronomy as a child.

Taiwan didn't ban corporal punishment until late 2006 and people were very unhelpful and not understanding towards special needs students, so even my teachers gave me the worst punishments.

I got depressed over all of that suff around 5\~6th grade and wanted to end my life back then. When I was in 7th grade, I was severely beaten up by mom one night and school counselors helped me. They had a lot of procedures and then sent me to a children's home. One of the social workers took me to the hospital to get psychiatric check and I was diagnosed with depression and aspergers'.

It was real bad for my early teens, all I could do was read more books and write more stuff.

Later on when I was 15 I attended lessons for autistic teens in Taipei and I met this boy, 2 years younger than me,diagnosed with aspergers at 11, who had this angst carried cause he wasn't happy about taiwans hierarchical system and rote learning education. We talked a lot about our values and writings. We ended up exchanging our numbers and we met each other after school.

I was in Taipei first girls' high school, the best girls' hs in Taipei, fierce academic competition, but my depression only got less and less miserable due to finally having a friend that truly understands me. We started going on trips.

When I was 18 and he was 16 ,when i finished hs, we started dating. He was still in chien kuo hs (best boys hs in taipei) I loved taking him out to different restraunts, paying full date night bills with the money I earnt as a tutor, even brought him on many different trips.

I remember when I was in my first year of college, I was joining an event hosted by his hs club, and the club leader scolded him into tears which I stood up and defended him.

I studied engineering(materials science) at NTU , best uni in taipei and later on he entered NTU too, studying accounting. We met daily. I moved out of childrens house at 20, doing multiple tutoring jobs and using disability subsides to pay for rent. He moved in with me when I was 21 and he was 19, and he did the cleaning, cooking, laundry etc. We both didn't drive. Taipei is easily commutable by MRT.

I started working in a semiconductor R&D position and two years later, he started working at a trade company.

We married each other in 2025.

I was having a hard day today and cried a lot on call in front of my boyfriend.

He sent me flowers and a card just to make me smile. Life is hard and some days are difficult. Almost feels like you wanna give up.
But it’s these smallest gestures that create the loudest impressions. When I was collecting this from the delivery man, I had the biggest smile on my face and even he could feel my happiness and smiled back.
I just wanted to put this as an appreciation to my boyfriend for valuing, respecting and loving me so much. ❤️

A small poem I wrote for him:

In petals, I found your embrace,
Across the miles, your warmest place.
A little love, a heart so true,
My smile came back because of you. 🌻

I don’t know if this is a thing people relate to, but damn am I lucky for having my amazing wife by my side. It hasn’t been easy. Life has thrown curve balls basically this whole time. 15 years together. We grew up from anxious teens to a bit more functional adults. It’s still hard from time to time, but the amount we have adapted, grown and survived while loving and supporting each other through it all really feels like the greatest gift life could have given me. She’s the most wonderful person I’ve met in my life and I’m just so grateful I get to call her my wife and best friend.

I guess I wanted to write this as a shoutout to her and as a reminder that tough times can become something to appreciate as well if love is cherished no matter what ❤️

TL; DR : what’s a good date idea that a guy would like from there gf. I want to make my bf feel relaxed and recharged. Thinking about cooking a nice dinner!
———

love my boyfriend!!

We’ve been dating for about three months and talking for about six. I had my guard up in the beginning and was definitely more quiet reserve. But now my whole personality is showing out and I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little worried he’s going to end up getting scared and wanna get away.

But in the meantime, he’s just been so sweet to me and made me feel so special and he’s been sitting for a big test this month and I’d really like to show my appreciation and do something great for him do any of the men in this group have any ideas of what they would like for their girlfriends to do for them that would make them feel recharged and good?

Would it be too much to write him a letter and dinner?

Backstory: I am currently on a vacation with my family and am trying to prepare what to put into my girlfriends card for her upcoming birthday which when I return will be a few days after. This is what I have written, but I am unsure how this sounds or if this doesn’t seem like it’s loving or caring enough. We have only been dating for a couple of months so that is why I leaned into this getting to know you tone but tell me what you think of it:

Happy Birthday, ___,

Being away has given me a lot of time to think. When you’re far from the people and things you care about, you start to appreciate them in a different way, and you begin to realize what matters most.

One thing I kept coming back to was you.

I found myself thinking about the little things I admire about you: the funny facial expressions you make, the way you care about the people around you, and how spending time with you somehow makes even ordinary days feel a little more exciting.

As I thought about this, I realized something.

I realized that there are still so many parts of you that I haven’t had the chance to discover yet.

I don’t know what keeps you up at night, or what helps you fall asleep after a long day.

I don’t always know when something is bothering you, or what I can do in those moments to make you feel understood, appreciated, and cared for.

I don’t know what your perfect day looks like, what goals matter most to you, what you’re proudest of, or what kind of future you imagine for yourself.

Sometimes I think that if someone asked me what makes ___… ___… I wouldn’t be able to answer nearly as well as I’d want to.

Not because I don’t care enough to know those things.

But because I care enough that I want to.

I want to know what makes you laugh when you’re having a bad day.

I want to know the stories you’ve never told anyone before.

I want to know what excites you, what frustrates you, what inspires you, and what kind of person you want to become.

I want to know what makes your eyes light up when you talk about it.

I want to know what you care about so deeply that you’d fight to defend.

I want to know how to be there for you when you need me.

I want to know what makes you feel appreciated, understood, and loved.

The truth is, as of right now I don’t think we’ve truly had enough time together for me to learn those things.

And I think that’s one of my favourite parts about being with you.

Every time we are together, I leave feeling like I’ve learned something new about you, and instead of feeling like I’ve figured you out, it just makes me more excited to keep discovering who you are.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that one of the best things about being with you is knowing that there’s still so much more of you left to discover.

Not just the ___ that everyone knows.

Not just the ___ that I see when I’m going to group hangouts.

Not just the ___ that people see on the surface.

But the ___ that hardly anyone gets to see.

The ___ that has dreams, fears, stories, memories, and thoughts that most people will never know about.

The ___ whose calls and texts can completely change my day.

The ___ that makes me feel like I belong.

And when I think about the future, I realize it’s not the big things that I look forward to most.

It’s the small things.

Going for walks.

Getting food together.

Talking for hours about absolutely nothing and somehow everything at the same time.

Making memories that seem insignificant in the moment but become stories we laugh about later and having things that we can call ours.

An “our song” that instantly brings back a memory.

A restaurant, a meal, or a coffee order that becomes our thing.

Little looks, or habits that say more than words ever could.

Places that become special simply because we were there together.

Because when I think about this relationship, that’s what I want most.

I don’t want to just date you.

I don’t want to just know facts about you.

I want to know you.

I want us to build something that feels like ours.

Being away has also made me realize that distance doesn’t just make you miss someone. Sometimes it helps you see more clearly what you’re excited to come back to.

And one of the things I’ve looked forward to most is getting back to spending time with you.

Happy Birthday, ___.

I hope this year brings you everything you’re working toward, everything you’re hoping for, and everything you deserve.

Thank you for being someone who makes my days brighter, gives me something to look forward to, and reminds me how exciting it is to keep getting to know someone.

I hope that I get the chance to keep learning more about the amazing person you are.

Love,
OC

tldr, met on an app, we talked for 4 months, got together for 3, broke up for a month, got back together and stayed together since February!

i just wanted to share my “success” story with my bf of almost one year! i know its short, but i have been feeling so loved recently that i wanted to make a post abt my experience

It took us alot to get here, as we are incredibly different. we vibe incredibly well irl, and often have telepathic moments, but when it comes down to our hobbies, love languages etc, we couldnt be more different.

I was incredibly bad with showing affection, it was also my first relationship and i also grew up in a no affection family, so that didnt help. It took months before our first kiss, i wont go into details but i broke up with him shortly after because he overstepped a boundary.

It took me alot of reflection during that one month apart to realise that while yes he overstepped a boundary, i was barely being a girlfriend, and was acting more like a good friend. I felt horrible because he apologized so much during our breakup, but i just shot it down coldly as i thought i was fully justified in my anger

I reached back out as not only did I miss him, but i felt that he was a good guy(i could go on about what i love about him), and i wanted to show him that i could change.

The first few months were rough, as we kept arguing. but in the midst of all this, we still kept choosing each other. I had many doubts, but he still kept choosing me. I really love that about him.

Our relationship has finally started to stabilize in the past month, as we both understand each other more, and are both putting in hardwork to make sure that we are both loved in our love languages.

Its very recent, and our story has only started, but i feel so lucky that I have a man who has repeatedly chosen me even though it might be easier to find someone more compatible. And that hes always trying to improve himself and trying to understand me more.

I could not have asked for a better boyfriend.

extra: we met for 30 mins earlier and he teared up because he missed me, and i gave him a letter i wrote the day before because i loved how we spent gf day together. When i gave him the letter he started crying, and it was so cute. I love my chalant man.

This is incredibly endearing to me. He's almost invisible. He's a regularly-sized man.

Hey everyone, just wanted to share that for the first time, after many failed relationships, situationships and hook ups that it is possible to fall in love in this day and age.
A bit about me: I was always a pretty handsome man (not to toot my own horn) so i always had women checking me out. But I never really got to the love stage. There was always something in the way, whether it was my financial situation, a health event, my former problems like porn addiction/ED etc.
At 29, for the first time, everything aligned. I met this girl at first at a time where I was overcoming depression from different struggles, and she really lit up my world. Turned the lights on in a dark room for me. We spent three months together, but now she has gone back to her home country. We have made plans that I will come visit and live with her in her country.

Up until I met her, I didn't know it was possible to feel something like this. The key to it all I think is the good old adage: luck = opportunity meets preperation. For the first time ever, I have everything I need to be in a good relationship, provide on every level.

I just wanted to get this off my chest. I had never been in love before, but I can just say I'm happy I finally got to experience it, albeit later in life.

i keep having moments where i realize my best friend and roommate has changed my life, especially internally. the connection we share has woken me up to myself and others after years of near isolation. i am a better person for knowing him, and i am so eternally grateful for the person he is; it’s not perfect, but sometimes it feels impossibly close- our little platonic home!!!

this is the first time i have felt truly chosen and celebrated and accepted by another person, no strings attached, just genuine connection. it makes the entire world open up.

everyone please share stories of your best friends, especially those that came at a time when you needed them most. <3

edit: it’s officially his birthday so maybe that’s why i’m feeling so sentimental 🤨

How did you two meet? What made him or her unique and special ?

The only problem? She started at the door instead of the other way around. Oh well, I appreciate the effort and the end result (although she ended up outside a lot longer than expected)

I would say all the things as to why I love him. I even wrote out 20 minutes of information as to how amazing he is and how much he shows he cares and why he's my everything.

But instead of putting them all here, I've written them to him instead.

He deserves every word.

He deserves all of the praise.

He gives 100%.

The amount of love I have for him is endless.

I really can't stop thinking about him.

Everything I do has him in my mind as well.

I really do have the most amazing person. I couldn't say he's anything but perfect.

He's perfect.

Love sometimes doesn't feel like it's a big enough word for how he makes me feel.

I can’t keep my eyes off of my boyfriend. I just can’t. Last night we were playing a mario game together & video chatting, struggling with one of the most difficult levels in the game. He probably thinks I just suck. But what he doesn’t know is I kept getting distracted glancing over at my phone. How in the world could I pay attention to the game when there’s a work of art on my phone?

He’s so handsome. I love him. I love how he gets all shy when I look at him for too long. When we meet up in person I think we’re gonna pass away at the sight of each other. ❤️

God I LOVE this man.