Marrying the One Who Nearly Acquired Away
From the second Marc Julius Reyes laid eyes on Elaiza Joyce Ramos, he was smitten. “Elaiza was the one lady in school that caught my curiosity on Day 1,” Mr. Reyes mentioned.
However this love-at-first-sight story, which started on June 13, 2011, with two highschool sophomores at a faculty in Quezon Metropolis, Philippines, didn’t actually start till January 2013.
“We grew to become seatmates as assigned by our trainer,” Ms. Ramos mentioned. “For nearly all classroom actions we had been companions.”
The 2 had messaged often about assignments. However a number of weeks later, there was a shift and their messages grew to become extra private.
“Marc is the mysterious kind, so when he lastly opened as much as me, I discovered a distinct facet of Marc, and that’s once I began to fall for him,” Ms. Ramos, now 26, mentioned.
Mr. Reyes, additionally 26, was taken, too. “I admired her for being objective pushed even at a younger age,” he mentioned. “It was like she already knew what she wished to realize sooner or later. She made me wish to come to highschool day-after-day.”
As a result of Ms. Ramos’s mother and father had been strict, it was arduous for the 2 of them to spend a lot time collectively. However on July 7, 2013, the day after Mr. Reyes’s sixteenth birthday, he instructed her that spending a couple of hours together with her can be the perfect birthday reward.
“I preferred him already however I nonetheless hadn’t instructed him,” Ms. Ramos mentioned. “I wasn’t positive if he felt the identical manner about me. However I instantly mentioned sure to having a road meals date with him. We had fishball, kikiam and kwek-kwek with vinegar sauce. The date value round $2.”
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Ten days later, the pair grew to become an official couple. “I popped the query throughout class break,” Mr. Reyes mentioned. “I sneakily gave her snacks and requested her to be my lady. When she mentioned sure, I couldn’t include my emotions, however I needed to. We exchanged secret seems to be as nobody in our class knew about our relationship.”
The 2 fortunately dated — in secret — for 2 years. However in December 2014, as faculty freshmen, they made a tricky name.
“We determined to finish our relationship as we had been at completely different universities at the moment,” Ms. Ramos mentioned. She additionally didn’t wish to disappoint her mother and father who anticipated her to solely give attention to her research.
Ms. Ramos, an accounts receivable analyst on the finance group at IBM Enterprise Companies in Quezon Metropolis, Philippines, has a bachelor’s diploma in finance and monetary administration from Far Japanese College in Quezon Metropolis, Philippines. She grew up in Bulacan, a province within the Philippines.
Mr. Reyes, who works in info know-how at PLDT, previously often known as Philippine Lengthy Distance Phone Firm, has a bachelor’s diploma from STI School, previously often known as Techniques Expertise Institute in Quezon Metropolis, Philippines. Mr. Reyes grew up in Caloocan Metropolis within the Philippines, the place the couple now lives.
Mr. Reyes mentioned that though it was extremely difficult, he “nonetheless tried to grasp that possibly this was the perfect factor for us.” Each birthday and vacation, although, he would ship her a brief message.
He feared she would possibly develop into the one who obtained away. However, Mr. Reyes mentioned, “I made a decision to threat it and await Elaiza,” with out relationship anybody else.
In June 2021, some highschool classmates deliberate a small reunion. As quickly as the 2 noticed each other, Ms. Ramos mentioned, “I felt the butterflies once more.” Weeks glided by, they usually realized they had been speaking on the telephone or messaging day-after-day. On Sept. 26, 2021, Ms. Ramos agreed as soon as once more to be Mr. Reyes’s girlfriend.
“He instantly introduced me to his household’s home to formally introduce me,” Ms. Ramos mentioned.
Ms. Ramos launched him to her household the following day. “Our relationship was now authorized on either side,” Ms. Ramos mentioned. “So, no extra sneaky dates for us.”
Mr. Reyes proposed to Ms. Ramos on July 9, 2023, whereas on trip, within the good place for a real Disney princess fan like Ms. Ramos — Hong Kong Disneyland. Ms. Ramos had instructed Mr. Reyes how a lot she cherished Aurora from Sleeping Magnificence once they had been nonetheless in highschool.
“Once I proposed she stored telling me how amused she was that I nonetheless remembered these particulars she instructed me years in the past,” Mr. Reyes mentioned.
The 2 had been wed April 17 by the Rev. Jun Meneses, a Roman Catholic priest with the Parish of the Immaculate Coronary heart of Mary in Antipolo, Philippines, with 150 friends in attendance.
A reception adopted on the close by Jamesville Resort and Lodge, at which Ms. Ramos mentioned, “We determined to have meals carts of our favourite date snacks from highschool, corresponding to Potato Nook Fries and pizza from Pizzaderia.”
“Our love story took longer than standard, however I’m blissful that it has a contented ending,” Mr. Reyes mentioned. “Each time Elaiza asks me why I waited for her as an alternative of searching for another person, I all the time inform her that I couldn’t image myself marrying and constructing a future with any lady aside from her. She is my old flame.”
