High School Sweethearts Who Split Are Now Set to Marry Years Later
"So how did you two meet?"
It's the question that many couples might love answering when they're asked, but for Alexandra Paul, 32, and her fiancé Christian Mazzilli, 31, it isn't the simplest of explanations.
Paul and Mazzilli, from Ontario, Canada, started dating when they were 17 years old, and though she told Newsweek that it was "the purest of young love," it wasn't set to last. Paul moved to college a year later which took its toll on the young pair, and they chose to go their own ways.
"We were obsessed with each other, could not spend a moment apart," Paul told Newsweek. "He left notes outside my house before heading to school, asked me to prom in front of our entire high school at a pep rally, brought me flowers to my math class on Valentine's day. We were honestly head over heels for each other.
"We broke up when I went to university. He decided to stay back a year in our hometown, and I went away for school. The distance wasn't working for either of us, it was really hard for us both."
They tried to rekindle their romance on and off for a few years subsequently, but five years ago they completely cut off ties with each other "and went [in] completely separate directions, with no contact."
They may have cut each other out of their lives, but the pair still shared a lot of mutual friends, which made it near impossible to completely avoid one another. The occasional reunion was inevitable, and Mazzilli decided to try his luck by asking Paul out one more time.
"He asked me to go for dinner around the time I turned 26. We had run into each other a couple times because we shared a large group of friends, so it was inevitable that I would have to see him from time to time.
"I had denied his dinner proposal a couple times because I didn't want to get into things again in case they didn't work out, but then I finally said yes. We decided to put the past behind us, and the rest is history."
For many people, a breakup signals the end of their romance and they would never consider getting back together. A poll of 22,000 people conducted by YouGov found that 47 percent of people see a breakup as the final chapter, and they'd never reopen that book again.
Some are more willing to give it another try however, as 23 percent of participants got back together with an ex, and evidently for some, once wasn't enough, as 21 percent got back with an ex more than once.
The results of the 2021 poll also revealed that Millennials and Generation X are the most likely to get back together with an ex, with 48 and 49 percent respectively saying they had done so once or more than once. In comparison, older generations are much less likely to do that, as only 37 percent of Boomers said it had happened to them.
For Paul, the idea of getting back together with her childhood sweetheart was unthinkable—but fortunately for her, Mazzilli never gave up hope.
She continued: "It feels like fate, like it was always meant to be. Even when I resisted it for so long, he always held faith that we would end up together, and I'm just so grateful he never lost sight of our love.
"I'm glad we could grow apart so we could grow together. It was important for us to have those years to ourselves so that when we came back together, we were choosing each other for all the right reasons.
"I personally did not think we would ever get back together, but Christian on the other hand, he always felt we would find our way back."
Nine years after they started dating, the couple rekindled their love again at the age of 26. They were very different people this time round, having grown and matured in the time spent apart.
Now, with a love story for the ages, the couple are set to write their next chapter when they marry in August 2023. A month out from tying the knot, Paul took to TikTok (@allypallly) to share the couple's turbulent yet romantic history with her followers. As she shared how "it's been a journey" to get to where they are now, many TikTok users were grateful to hear of their happy ending.
The viral post has been viewed more than 1.3 million times and received over 280,000 likes already. Thousands of people have also commented on the post to liken their romance to something out of a romance novel.
One comment reads: "The definition of right person wrong time."
Another person wrote: "I feel like I read a book with this trope."
"What a beautiful plot twist," commented one TikTok user.
Do you have any romantic or unusual relationship stories you want to share? We want to hear the best ones! Send them in to life@newsweek.com and they could appear on our site.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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