Melvin and I met during a JW outing at Fairgame in Canary Wharf. A sister had organized an arcade night, and everyone was there to laugh, play, and enjoy good company. But then Melvin spotted me, I introduced myself, and somehow ended up telling him my whole “moving to London” story, which to be fair, I never need much convincing to share! When I asked if he’d ever been to Florida and he said yes, we went down a fun rabbit hole comparing life in America to life in the UK. The conversation flowed so easily, it felt like we’d known each other for ages. Everything about that moment just felt natural: the conversation, the laughter, the connection. Before the night was over, we swapped numbers and from there, we were talking every day like it was our favorite hobby. Soon after, Melvin asked me out, and after a few wonderful dates, we made it official. I became his girlfriend… and let’s just say, that “arcade night” turned out to be the best prize of all.

Okay. Well here's my version. One evening, I went to Fairgame in Canary Wharf and I was looking forward to a fun JW outing with some friendly competition and catching up with friends. I wasn’t expecting anything more than a few laughs and maybe a good score at the arcade games. But then as the evening was coming to the end, I heard an American accent and saw someone I didn't recognize until the very end. It was Feda. Friendliness and warmth radiated from her, as she was speaking to others around her, and this immediately caught my attention. I came over, introduced myself and she started talking to me about her move to London. Our conversation just flowed so naturally. One minute we were talking about London, and the next we were comparing life in the U.S. vs the U.K. I remember thinking how easy and comfortable it was to talk to her, even though we’d just met. Once we exchanged numbers, we started talking every day, went on a few dates, and it didn’t take long for us to build a truly special connection. That night turned out to be much more than just games, it was the start of something real!