# Stories in which unrequited love becomes requited? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468 "2009-01-29T00:33:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/1 "2009-01-29T00:33:56Z")
I’m trying to write something in which this situation occurs, but I think a little reference material would be helpful. Only… I can’t think of any. Like at all. Specifically, I’m looking for stories in which a character is absolutely besotted with another character, who is or becomes aware of the other character’s feelings. The object of affection initially declines a romance with the admirer, but later, comes to return the feelings. (Whether or not the two actually get together is of no consequence to me.) I know it’s not that uncommon a theme; I just cannot for the life of me remember where I’ve seen it. Can anyone help? Movies, books, TV shows, cartoons, anime, anything is fine. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/2 "2009-01-29T00:52:50Z")
Beauty and the Beast Sixteen Candles High Fidelity Say Anything ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/3 "2009-01-29T01:00:41Z")
Niles on _Frasier_ vis a vis Daphne, tho she requites pretty soon after she finds out. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/4 "2009-01-29T01:02:56Z")
When “Harry Met Sally” might fit the bill. As I recall, one little caption says “Five Years Later…” before their relation changes. Sheesh! Life’s too short to throw away five years! ---
**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/5 "2009-01-29T01:03:43Z")
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but it’s due to supernatural causes. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/6 "2009-01-29T01:07:36Z")
Princess Bride fits most of it. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/7 "2009-01-29T01:15:30Z")
Great Expectations ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/8 "2009-01-29T01:29:37Z")
Pride and Prejudice. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/9 "2009-01-29T01:53:07Z")
Bridget Jones’s Diary, for that matter. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/10 "2009-01-29T02:52:55Z")
Bodice-ripper romance novels (_The Flame and The Flower, The Wolf and The Dove_, et. al.) are full of this sort of thing, although the mutual acknowledgment of affection is preceded by antagonism, not unlike Elizabeth and Darcy in _Pride and Prejudice_. OK, Darcy didn’t abduct Elizabeth as a spoil of war and repeatedly ravish her. Minor detail. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/11 "2009-01-29T03:23:54Z")
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Long Walk to Forever” in the collection _Welcome To The Monkey House_ would work (as would “Who Am I This Time?”, but I suspect that is not what you are looking for.) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/12 "2009-01-29T03:26:51Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Great Expectations The ex and I argued about this. At the end, it says something about Pip seeing no shadow of their parting. She assumed they ended up together; I thought it just meant that they would stay friends. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/13 "2009-01-29T03:39:47Z")
A very common theme in 30s movies. **Footlight Parade** , for instance, has Joan Blondell in love with Jimmy Cagney, something he doesn’t realize until the end of the movie. The great **Bringing Up Baby** shows Katherine Hepburn with an unrequited crush on Cary Grant, who is engaged to marry someone else. Eventually, they get together. Peter Bogdonovich’s semi-remake, **What’s Up, Doc** has the same triangle with Barbra Streisand in love with Ryan O’Neal, who’s engaged to Madeline Kahn. ---
**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/14 "2009-01-29T03:50:50Z")
Sense and Sensibility ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/15 "2009-01-29T03:53:22Z")
There’s a manga (that I doubt has been or will ever be translated) about a young man who starts working at a horse ranch because he likes one of the owner’s daughters. After a year or something, she starts to return his feelings. This takes about 12 books in the series, but pretty much as soon as the love is requited, the two of them have unprotected sex and the girl gets knocked up. So the last 12 or so books of the series are about them trying to start out as a pair of young, uneducated parents. It was a doozy of a changeover in tone for the series. You essentially had to read it as two entirely separate stories. [Jaja Uma Grooming Up!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaja_Uma_Grooming_Up!) ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/16 "2009-01-29T04:08:08Z")
Urkel and Laura, Family Matters. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/17 "2009-01-29T13:27:51Z")
**Gone With The Wind** ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/18 "2009-01-29T13:32:51Z")
The TV series _Ed_. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/19 "2009-01-29T13:56:40Z")
Love in the Time of Cholera ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468/20 "2009-01-29T14:13:04Z")
Forrest Gump Spiderman II Lois and Clark The X-Files (naw, just kidding) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-in-which-unrequited-love-becomes-requited/483468.md?page=2)