Every love story is beautiful, but you'd be hard-pressed to find one as unlikely or as unique as Emmy Abrahamson's.
Emmy, a writer, was a 29-year-old traveling in Amsterdam back in 2006 when she met the love of her life. Vic Kocula was a total stranger. He approached her on the street, and the two had instant chemistry. They quickly became captivated with one another.
While this all sounds like your standard romantic comedy fare, Emmy and Vic's story is a bit more unconventional — because at the time when he approached Emmy, Vic was a homeless man living on the streets of Amsterdam.
On January 30, 2018, the pair gave an interview on ITV's This Morning talk show, sharing their incredible tale and what their lives are like nearly 12 years after their chance encounter.
Scroll through to read more about Emmy and Vic's amazing story.
Photos: Facebook / Emmy Abrahamson; YouTube / Nyhetsmorgon; YouTube / ITV / This Morning
[H/T: Daily Mail]
Emmy, a Swedish writer, was visiting Amsterdam 12 years ago when she had an unusual encounter. The then 29-year-old woman was waiting to meet up with a friend for dinner and sitting on a bench in the park to pass the time.
That's when Vic spotted her. The stranger confidently came and sat down right next to her, asking for the time — which Emmy considered a "cheesy" move, given that they were right under a clock.
"Straight away, I could see that he was homeless because he was very dirty. And his hair — his beard was bigger then and was very dirty," Emmy said on This Morning.
"But we started chatting, and I also noticed that he had the most beautiful brown eyes I’d ever seen, and he just made me laugh straight away."
Vic explained that he'd seen "this beautiful woman" sitting by herself and was struck by how comfortable and content she looked sitting on her own, with a smile on her face. He just knew he had to talk to her.
They only had 10 minutes together before Emmy's friend arrived, but it was enough time to form a bond. In spite of his unkempt appearance and his smell, Emmy was instantly attracted to him.
Vic, an American, had been on an extended backpacking trip through Europe when he ran out of money. He didn't want to return home, so he began begging for money. Unfortunately, he fell into a dangerous pattern of squandering his money on alcohol.
"The wheels fell off, and the alcoholism sort of kicked in heavy. It was such a gradual turn that all of a sudden, one day, I noticed — I realized: 'Oh my god, I'm a homeless alcoholic,'" he explained.
Emmy was taken aback when, after only a few minutes together for their first meeting on the bench, Vic confidently asked her out on a date.
"I basically just told her to be at the same bench," Vic recalled.
"No, his exact words were, 'Saturday, 3 o'clock, the same bench,' and he just walked off. I was like, 'What?!'" Emmy remembered, baffled by his confidence. But throughout those five days, she couldn't get him out of her mind.
Emmy decided to take a chance and meet up with Vic again. Though he was 20 minutes late to their date (and showed up riding a little kids' bike!), they spent the whole day together.
The writer even recalled really wanting to kiss him on their first date, but didn't know if she could "because of his smell." She gave him her number and returned to Vienna, where she was living, not expecting to ever see Vic again.
"Three weeks later [in Vienna], I'd just turned 30, and I just get a phone call on a Monday morning, and it was just Vic saying, ''I'm here now,'" Emmy continued. Vic had managed to scrounge up enough money to take a train from Amsterdam to Vienna to reunite with her.
"And we've been together ever since!"
The two had a "fairy-tale" wedding in a castle. With Emmy's encouragement, Vic turned his whole life around and went back to school.
Today, Vic is a mechanical engineer, and the two share 6-year-old twins, Desta and Til.
"We've told [the twins] everything that happened. I don't think they grasp the social aspects of the whole thing. They just thought it was quite funny that I lived in a bush," Vic said.
Emmy also wrote a book about her experience: a fictionalized version of their love story.
Emmy's novel, How to Fall In Love with a Man Who Lives in a Bush, will be released in the United States on March 20, 2018, and is available on Amazon.
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