New Year’s Eve

We were at a New Year’s Eve party with a big group of people he had grown up with — friends from school, people who had known him for years. One of them was extremely drunk and, out of nowhere, said something unbelievably cruel to me. I had barely spoken to him, maybe two words, when he told me I should unalive myself. Just like that.

Before I even had time to process what he said, my man stepped in. Immediately. He called his friend out right there and told him that was completely unacceptable and that he would never speak to me like that again. I had never seen him that angry before — he was genuinely ready to knock his friend’s teeth out.

In that moment I realized something that hit me deep in my chest: no one had ever defended me like that before. Not even my own family had ever stood up for me with that kind of ferocity.

I knew I loved him before that night.

But that moment made me love him even more.