First week of April 2021: It was Wednesday evening and I came back late from small group and wanted to sleep. But it was quite difficult as my next door neighbor was singing. A second message followed, “The walls are not as thick as you think 😅 I have 'Greatest Showman', if you have time this weekend we can watch it together 🙂”.

With some alcohol in my blood, I came back to my apartment from the illegal house party in the neighborhood around 1am on Friday. I wanted to go to bed quickly, but checked my cell phone again briefly. My neighbor had texted, “Oh my God, I'm super embarrassed right now 😭😭😭” Three messages later I asked, “Are you free tonight in the evening?” and a first face-to-face meeting at my place was set.

After a day in Saxon Switzerland, I came back to my apartment in the evening, put on a shirt, and threw mini pizzas into the hot air fryer. I felt a little overdressed when Mela came to my room in sweatpants and a t-shirt. “She doesn't look that bad,” were my first thoughts. Without ulterior motives, I had planned a cozy evening with a movie to get to know my neighbor a bit. Well, the movie didn't happen that evening. Instead, we talked into the night. I remember the point where she mentioned that she had visited the “Hillsong Church” in Berlin. At that moment, at the latest, the thought twitched in me, “This woman has potential to be more than just my neighbor.”

We caught up with the movie “Greatest Showman” two days later on Sunday.

Second week of April 2021: Exactly one week later, we had arranged to see another movie. With “Madame Mallory and the scent of curry” I probably made a good choice that evening. Mela brought her favorite drink from Korea that evening. And to this day, we enjoy “Soju” regularly.

Third week of April 2021: Even though I still didn't call it a date, we went to the fourth meeting by motorcycle to Saxon Switzerland. And Mela convinced directly as the best pillion I had taken so far. And during the sunset, the topic for the evening was mainly what we believe and what impact that has in our lives.

May 2021: By chance I checked my Instagram Sunday, May 2 in the morning and learned that it was Mela's birthday. Since I had to hurry to the worship service, I put chocolate in front of her door and sent briefly my congratulations.

By far the hottest date followed a few days later. I had told Mela to pick out a Korean or Indonesian recipe, and the choice fell on Crispy Chicken. Together we went to the Asian store. When it came to cooking, we split up. Mela did the chicken, I did the sauce. When I was supposed to stir 3 tablespoons of black pepper into the sauce, I paused and told Mela 2 tablespoons were enough. I was hungry and looking forward to the food. After the prayer, I took the first spoonful and immediately realized, this evening will end in tears. Probably even one tablespoon of black pepper would have been too much that evening. In any case, I was crying like a baby, while Mela was able to enjoy the meal without any problems.

Since the temperatures were rising in early May, I invited Mela to the beach. With the motorcycle we went to Ottendorf-Okrilla to the gravel pit. Briefly, Mela also dared to go into the water. The walk through the artificial sand dunes hand in hand was my highlight of the day.

On Sunday, the 23.5. I invited Mela to dinner. With the motorcycle we went on the sunny evening to the Agneshöhe in Dresden. For me, Mela had become not just a good neighbor. And I asked her that evening if she would like to be my girlfriend. Without thinking twice, I heard a “yes” and the first really miserable kiss followed.

June 2021: We enjoyed many nice dates, but Mela had not yet met my parents. In mid-June, the opportunity presented itself. On a late Monday afternoon, we went by motorcycle to Pobershau. My parents were both on the road when we arrived. My mom was the first to return and meet Mela. Afterward, we decided to go into the textile sauna. I will never forget the moment when my dad came back from the late shift. Bathed in sweat, I was sitting with Mela at 90 degrees on the wooden bench when the sauna door opened: “Hello, I'm Uwe.”

January 2022: After the vacation in Romania with the family, I was sure that I wanted to take the next step. Since an agreement of her parents was important to me, I organized a video call. To this day, the appointment is called “Video call Alex” because Mela had access to my calendar at that time and I wanted to keep it a secret. Even the disconnects couldn't stop me from asking Mela's parents that day. While Mela's mother translated to Mela's father, time seemed to pass more slowly than usual. But I rejoiced when her father gave his yes to us.

March 2022: Mela still had to wait a bit until the engagement. After I got the ring, I decided to plan another date at Agneshöhe. I got her favorite snacks and bend lights for the night. Mela wasn't expecting anything special that day when I told her we were just celebrating our 11 months. I used the moment we got up to take pictures to get down on my knee and ask, “Will you marry me?” I don't even know if I had finished speaking the sentence when I heard a “Yes!”.

David thought that I first knew about him when he texted me in April 2021. But I actually saw his message in January. I sometimes receive messages on Instagram from people that I don’t know. One message that stood out to me was from this creepy old dude. At least he looked old to me in his profile picture. He asked me if I live at the address, where I live. I checked out his profile, and it said #ITEnthusiast, so I was afraid that he might have done some hacking to get my address. Because of this, I didn’t reply to his text message. Days later, I realized he was still checking out my Instagram posts. I considered blocking him, but for some reason I didn’t.

One day, while I was in the shower, I was singing. The next day he sent me a message stating that the walls are not very thick and that he had heard me singing. That’s when I realized that he was my neighbor, and I felt a little bad assuming that he was a creep. So, I replied and said that I was sorry for the disturbance. He then asked if I wanted to come to his place and watch a movie. Now, based on serial killer documentaries that I have seen, I know that you are not supposed to accept an invitation from a total stranger and go to their place, but for some reason I said yes.

The next day, I called my brother and my friend and told them about my plans to meet with my neighbor. I instructed them to call me at a certain time, and if I didn’t answer, to please call the police. I went to his place and knocked on the door. He was wearing what looked like a child’s shirt, and I was wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a Hoodie. Later on, I found out that it was indeed a shirt from when he was a child. My first impression of him was not great. We didn’t know each other very well yet, and he was already trying to correct my grammar. My first thoughts were that he was just trying to show off.

But after we started talking, I became more and more amazed with him. During our conversations, he treated me with respect and didn’t try to do anything to impress me. I never met a guy that is so passionate when talking about his church. And I really liked it. I remember thinking that it would be nice to have a boyfriend like him who is smart, involved in church, and has a great relationship with his family. The issue was that he was just not my type. My friend called me at the prearranged time, and I used this as an excuse to end the night. But before I left, he had already made plans for another movie night. I began to realize that this was a typical thing that he did.

We met again a few days later, and then again about a week later, to watch movies together. I tried to say no several times, but he kept trying to find another day for us to get together. On my birthday he put a box of chocolates outside my door and the following week he gave me a rose. In the end, his consistency worked on changing my feelings towards him. I loved that he invested time thinking of and planning nice dates for us. It was easy for us to have long conversations together, and they never got boring. So, when David asked me if I would be his girlfriend, I said yes. This was followed by our first attempt at a kiss, which failed miserably.