Distance made the heart grow fonder.
A formerly forlorn lover has gone viral on TikTok for claiming that she traveled from Australia to England to surprise her ex-boyfriend — with help from an unlikely matchmaker.
Tamika Cheney, or @tamicheney on the app, garnered 1.7 million views with a 29-second clip in which she’s seen knocking on her ex’s door in Brighton for an unexpected visit after four months of no contact.
Nevertheless, she intended to crash with him for the next month — and, apparently, felt confident he’d say “yes” thanks to his blabbermouth mother.
“I traveled 10,272 miles to surprise my ex while we were in no contact to stay at his [home] for a whole month,” Cheney, 21, typed over the video, posted Nov. 20.
As the door swings open, her ex-boyfriend, Sam Aitken, appears smiling and shocked to see Cheney, saying, “What the f-ck are you doing here? Are you serious?”
Footage sees them embrace each other as she jumps into his arms and begins kissing.
“It felt like a movie. It didn’t feel real to me,” Tamika told the Daily Mail. “For the whole afternoon, he couldn’t stop touching me. He thought it wasn’t real and thought he was in a fever dream.”
In that interview, Cheney explained that Aitken had moved to pursue a music career, and she didn’t think she wanted a long-distance relationship after being together for three years.
But she struggled to fill the void Aitken left — even keeping in touch with his family, who remained in Queensland, despite their breakup. “I still had a very good relationship with his family so I visited his mom and dad for dinner,” she recalled.
“His mom told me that he was very much still in love with me and didn’t see himself moving on,” the Australian woman added.
Cheney had hope that she could rekindle her relationship with Aitken. Luckily, his family supported the love birds getting back together.
“[His mom] said ‘they would send me over and it doesn’t have to be romantic,’ but obviously he was my first love — it was always going to be a little bit romantic,” Cheney gushed.
Once the $3,000 flight was booked Cheney was ready to risk it all for love even though she was anxious — and if not, she planned to take a solo European tour.
“I was very nervous and I think I started shaking my hands because the anticipation was killing me,” she said.
Fortunately for Cheney, the surprise visit went smoothly, and the pair have now embarked on a new chapter of their relationship.
“We are now back together,” she confirmed, and plans to move to Brighton in February 2024 to be closer to her boyfriend.
“A real-life movie moment! Take risks for the plot ladies,” Cheney later told followers online.
Despite their re-meet-cute, some viewers on TikTok called Cheney’s actions toxic behavior.
“This is so toxic. I LOVE IT,” wrote a watcher. “Unhinged!!!!” — to which Cheney agreed.
“Probably my biggest delulu moment,” she replied. “But it worked out.”
Another claimed, “My ex would get a restraining order on me if I did this.”
“So what you’re telling me is I just need to show up?” questioned another.
But the same move hasn’t worked out for some.
“You wanna know [something]? I did this, and it did not work out,” lamented one single.
Added another, “Don’t put this on ANY of my exes [TikTok For You Page] for the love of God.”