We're getting married! June 10, 2017

You had me at Sevilla

If you were to ask Cristiano what it was that made him finally blurt out one afternoon that he liked her to Karlie, he would tell you it was knots in his stomach that he couldn't ignore anymore. The knots that happened every time Karlie decided to whine to her best friend at the time about the turmoil she was in over someone who turned out to be a total dud. The knots that happened when he kept remembering that he was better than this dud and she deserved better. The knots that knew all along that she belonged with him and no one else. His admission of feelings had completely caught Karlie off guard at the time because she had absolutely no clue that Cristiano thought about her that way. They were best friends, they had been for a few months, but this didn't stop them from talking all day, every day. They had revealed every horrible secret that they had or laughed about stupid things that no one else they knew found funny but each other. They had seen each other through ups and downs in relationships and friendships, but their bond never changed until that afternoon where it shifted slighty - for the better it turned out.

It only took her a week before Karlie hopped on a plane to Sevilla, Spain to surprise Cristiano the day of a match and hopefully change the fact they had never spent time together in person. She had to know if it worked as well in person as it did over countless texts, phone calls and facetime sessions. It was almost too good to be true to have this incredibly handsome, funny guy be able to match her on so many levels that this had to be the catch. It wasn't going to work in person! This had to be the catch of it all! However, she was proved very wrong when Cristiano snuck out of concentration (Sorry, Real Madrid) to have lunch with Karlie and it was perfect. They laughed, they had a good time, he managed to give her butterflies and she made him smile. Karlie couldn't wait to be in his presence again after the match against Sevilla was over (Real Madrid won AND he scored a hat trick) and she headed back to Madrid to spend more time together.

What happened their first night together we won't get into many details about, but from that point they were hooked. It was a whirlwind romance with a few bumps in the road and many fights about countless things - both important and not - but their affection and eventual (though quick) love for each other never wavered. In fact, they were so in love and infatuated with one another that they joked about (but were serious) getting island married during their trip to Turks and Caicos where they said I love you for the first time...after a fight. Karlie met his son over Go Karts and helped solidify more that she was someone Cristiano wanted to keep around. Cristiano sat through a whole baseball game and managed to make all of her sisters love him which solidified the idea that he was perfect for Karlie.

Eventually some of the fights did take their toll on the couple and despite how much they absolutely loved each other, a break happened. Despite their no longer being in a romantic relationship Karlie and Cristiano continued to talk all day, every day and laughed about things no one else understood and supported each other like the best friends they had always been. A lot happened during that break including Cristiano being an absolute idiot and being distracted for a couple months, but in the end it all worked out. Cristiano and Karlie came back together and it was almost as if no time had passed between them. They fell right back into love with each other - not that they fell out of it despite what SOMEONE thought - and the happiness that surrounded them when they were together. The holidays were spent with each other's families joining up to be one big happy family and little did Karlie know Cristiano was planning on making that permanent.

On Christmas Eve during their family trip to Turks and Caicos (which Karlie affectionately thinks of as their place) Cristiano became insistent that they go fishing together the next morning after everything. He tipsily told her this about three times that night and Karlie agreed every single time and the next morning they got onto the boat that Karlie once threatened to jump off of during a fight. He set her fishing rod and made sure she was settled before asking her to get him a hook out of the tackle box. It was there that Cristiano had hidden an engagement ring that Karlie asked if it was a fancy lure because it was the last thing she expected to see. It wasn’t a fancy lure. They got engaged on that boat that she tried to jump off of months before that Christmas morning and despite their busy schedules found a day that they can officially join their families together into one big one. They say the best thing to do is fall in love with your best friend and Karlie and Cristiano just prove that's true.

Since the engagement, they have adopted a cat named Optimus Prime and a Bugatti which Cristiano won't let her touch.