“She was a whirlwind of cool”

Paul, 32, is an assistant producer from Battersea

I met Aisha on OK Cupid where we bonded over our shared passion for Azealia Banks. To be honest, I was surprised when she messaged me back – she’s so gorgeous I didn’t think I had a chance! On our first date, we got along so well the waitress could barely get our order out of us as we were chatting so much.

A few days later, however, I bumped into Aisha while she was on another date. I tried not to think about it, but I was disappointed, especially as I thought our connection was so strong. Thankfully, she felt the same, and we started officially going out. Aisha was a whirlwind of cool. One day, we saw a guy playing the bongos in Covent Garden and, keen to impress her, I said, “If I dance to this in front of everyone will you kiss me?” so I did and it worked. That was our first kiss.

If I wanted to do something – even if it was a music festival she wasn’t into – she’d always say “Yeah!” which is different to other relationships I’ve had. We had our ups and downs – there was an air of tension being an interracial couple. Even in London, we’d get looks, and guys would often hit on her not realising we were together. I was never jealous: I trusted her implicitly. The truth is, our relationship was a bit of an escape – at the time I was dealing with a lot of traumatic personal stuff.

I was quite accepting of the break-up; I just didn’t want her to be upset. I still think she’s awesome. She grabs life with both hands and is even more of a positive ‘yes’ person than she was before. It’s brilliant to see her so happy.

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