Dear People,

It doesn’t matter if you’re straight or gay, finding ‘The One’ is a universal struggle.

But when you’re a sexual minority and your dating pool is primarily comprised of headless torsos and creepy profiles, the prospect of finding love can seem pretty bleak. But don’t give up on Cupid  just yet.

The following heartwarming stories of how 10 same-sex couples first met one another will not only restore your faith in Cupid’s aim, it’ll make you all warm and fuzzy on the inside too.

1. Bhas and Samuel

Bhas: Our story starts off in one of the most conventional ways of how gay people meet; through an online dating app.

The medium was typical but the conversations were not. Naturally, we had physical attraction to each other, albeit just through photos. The key was mainly to keep it less sexual, and more of knowing the other person’s personality and mind, though we admit some occasional flirtatious teasing did jazz up the interest level. We texted about everything under the sun, and moon, on our likes and dislikes, aspirations and goals, and one vivid topic was “How do you define success?”. The thought provoking questions made us search deep inside and we welded a bond that felt as old as time itself, despite being newfounds. We had a theme song for that, and it was called “A Thousand Years”.

And we have since kept the conversations going, about everything in this journey called Life

2. Olivia and Irene

Olivia: This is a very long story. The short version is we met on the Sayoni (www.sayoni.com) forums after I broke up with my first girlfriend and was trying to heal from that relationship.

Given that my first relationship with a girl ended up with me in the hospital from an overdose, some people thought I should go back to dating men instead. However, I needed to better understand myself and why that relationship had failed. The women in Sayoni were there during my process of self discovery. Irene was one of those who spent time with me and was the person I chatted while I was depressed and trying to dig myself out of that hole.

Eventually we fell in love.

3. Bobby and Ritz

Bobby: Back in 1991, my ex-girlfriend and some mutual friends wanted to check out this spanking new nightclub called Zouk during their very first opening weekend.

When we got in – she pulled me to the highest podiums closest to the DJ console and showed me this guy that she has the biggest crush on… and i remember agreeing with her and thinking to myself – “wah – good looking”. Who knew that more than a year later in 1992 – we would gravitate towards each other and hit it off . And 24 years on – we would become soulmates .

Through the years , he has always made sense from all the nonsense, kept me grounded and will forever be my rock .

4. Peggy and Aileen

Peggy: I was her senior in junior college. We only knew each other by face then, Hi Bye Friends, we kept in touch via Facebook.

We often run into each other after graduation; every time when we bumped into each other, we would drop a message on Facebook with a casual remark like “Hey! Good to see you today!” kind of thing

We hit it off really well after being “virtual friends” for a good 5 – 6 years. It was very easy for us to talk about anything in the world and gradually, we met up more often for drinks and dinners because she is often near my work place in her previous job. I couldn’t really remember who declared her love first (haha!) but it really came quite naturally.

She made me feel love like I have never felt before and I can be myself when I’m with her. She brings out the best in me, making me believe that I am capable of bigger, better things.

5. Nick and Dwayne

Dwayne: We actually met through straight friends at college! End of freshman year in college.

Nick: We hung out with a group of international students, an eclectic mix of people from Turkey, Greece, Singapore and the US.

Dwayne: One of my best friends there, this firecracker named Alara, knew I was interested in guys, despite having primarily dated girls before. We had just found out that Nick was possibly gay too. He was also very straight acting and just came out of a relationship with an Asian American.

Nick: We were sitting on opposite sides of Alara at a house party. When I was jokingly hitting on her, she turned to Dwayne and outrightly stated “Hey! Aren’t you gay too Nick? Do you know that Dwayne likes guys too?” She then stood up and left us to awkwardly stare at each other.

Dwayne: We ended up chatting the rest of the night. Our friends even left us alone to clean up and find our way back to campus!

Nick: We had a nice heart to heart about our lives and family and sexuality, and took our time taking the NY subway in the dead of night. When we reached my dorm, Dwayne gave me a massage which I will never forget, and the physical ice was broken.

Dwayne: No happy ending though! At least not this first time.

6. David and Huey

David: It is actually quite a funny story.

Our love story began as a hook-up … or what was supposed to be a hook-up! Huey and his friend were going to visit Montreal (where I was living at the time) and his friend suggested he should go on Jack’d (a gay dating app) to find a guy that would let them crash at his place. That’s how we first started talking to each other.

However, the trip didn’t end up happening but we discovered that we had a lot in common so the two of us exchanged phone numbers and began texting each other everyday. We grew so fond of each other and so two months later, we decided to meet in person. Huey took the train (from Toronto) to come meet me in Montreal.

I remember how fast my heart was beating while waiting for his arrival. It was a little awkward at first having to transfer our conversation from texting to in person, but shortly after, it was almost as if like we’ve been together for a long time.

That night, we had our first date at a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant where we discovered our love for food (yes we know people eat to live, but we live to eat!)

7. Sean & Edmund

Edmund: Our first point of contact was though Jack’d. I said ‘Hi’ first as Sean was playing hard to get.

Our first date was at the Lego exhibition at Art Science Museum. Sean came over to pick me up. He turned up in this ‘hideous’ grey vest and I immediately told him to take off that piece of junk. He was a little fashion-illiterate.

We had a great time pretending to be kids and going awe about the art pieces built with Lego and the play section of the exhibition. We did what usual couples did, many selfies at an arty-farty exhibition and end the night with an awesome dinner at Standing Sushi Bar. Thank God, both of us love sashimi!

It was definitely a simple date without too much fanciness, as we kind of like to build things up rather than start with a big bang.

8. Desmond & Onn

Desmond: From afar, I could see this stocky but tanned looking daddy walking towards me.

As we walked passed each other, I counted to 3 and turned and…. He turned around at the same time!

Onn: The day we met, I flew off to Kuala Lumpur for business and told him to call me whenever.

Desmond: When I realised that he was really keen for me to go to KL, I felt excited that he wanted me there.

12 hours later, I was at his hotel room door and we stayed there till way after 9pm… Our first real meal on a date was at KFC at Sungei Wang KL.

9. Maitri & Krys

We first met on Facebook. whereby we exchanged numbers and just talked as friends. We (started out as) just normal friends.

The best part was when she brought me to Dempsey Hill and asked whether I was ready to be together with her.

10. Jay & Jona

Jay: We met when I visited the restaurant where he was working as a waiter and there was an instant connection there.

Unfortunately, I was there with a serious judge friend talking about serious legal matters and so I was in no position to be flirting. Eventually I asked the owner of the restaurant for more information and then found each other, rather serendipitously, on Facebook.

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