[imagesource: Finlay McAfee/ Facebook]

Grand romantic gestures are a staple in the average romantic comedy, the genre with probably the greatest potential to create unrealistic expectations from one or both of the people in a relationship.

It’s also the genre that puts food on Katherine Heigl’s table.

Occasionally, however, people do get on board with ramping up the romance to new heights, and in the case of Finlay McAfee and Salma Saade (above), both of them decided to try it simultaneously in exactly the same way.

They were clearly meant to be together, just not for a day or two back in January 2017.

That’s the year, per CNN, that the couple who were in a long-distance relationship found themselves in an awkward situation after deciding to surprise one another with an unexpected visit.

McAfee hopped a plane to Paris, where Saade had a day layover scheduled, having flown there from Beirut en route to Edinburgh. McAfee figured he’d surprise her at Charles de Gaulle airport, while she decided to surprise him by showing up a day early.

They were actually in the same airport at the same time, at one point, before going their separate ways.

The couple had no idea that they’d both been transiting through Edinburgh Airport at the same time. Even worse, the Scottish air hub is so small, they could have easily bumped into one another.

And if Saade had texted McAfee right away upon landing, he could have avoided getting on his flight.

Here’s what happened when they both arrived at their destinations:

Saade found out things had gone wrong when, back in her apartment, she dropped McAfee’s roommate a text.

“Hey Adam do you know if Finlay’s in the flat by any chance?” she wrote. “I’m back a day early and wanting to surprise him.”

“He just flew to Paris,” wrote back Adam. “Like to do the same thing. Like literally.”

Then she texted McAfee:

Image: Salma Saade

They had only been going out for around three months, but they’re still together, four years later.

Saade celebrated the four-year anniversary of the mishap on Twitter, following which her post went viral:

Happy 4 year anniversary to when I flew to Edinburgh to surprise Finlay and he flew to Paris to surprise me and this is why we don’t do surprises anymore pic.twitter.com/ZBJ4jCNZ4i

— Salma Saade (@SalmaSaade) January 12, 2021

At the time of writing, upwards of 150 000 people had retweeted the post, with more than a million likes.

Most of the comments liken the misunderstanding to a classic rom-com plot:

The day after their 2017 mishap, McAfee flew back to Edinburgh and the couple were reunited.

You know what they say about the ‘best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men’…

[source:cnn]