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Love Is Blind<\/em><\/a> stars David \u201cDave\u201d Bettenburg<\/strong><\/a> and Lauren O\u2019Brien<\/strong><\/a> left the pods engaged, but they split before they actually made it to the altar. During the season 8 reunion, hosts Vanessa<\/strong> and Nick Lachey<\/strong> asked the medical device salesman if Lauren was \u201cthe one that got away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do,\u201d Dave, 33, said. \u201cI think about it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n When Vanessa, 44, urged him to tell Lauren, 31, how he felt, Dave struggled to get the words out before admitting he \u201cdidn\u2019t think he could do that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Lauren had trouble taking Dave\u2019s words to heart.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, I just don\u2019t fully believe it,\u201d she replied. \u201cYou\u2019ve had my phone number for the last year. We\u2019ve seen each other at bars. You\u2019ve made no effort to show that in any capacity. You acted like I was making you choose between the devil and your family, and I was not making you make any decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n While Lauren felt like Dave had \u201ca lot of growing and healing to do,\u201d she made it clear that she didn\u2019t think that \u201cequated to him being a narcissist and a manipulator,\u201d which Dave said he \u201cappreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave and Lauren connected early on in the pods, but once they returned to the real world, the former couple ran into several issues. While they were vacationing in Honduras, Dave learned that he had mutual friends with a man Lauren had been in a casual relationship with<\/a> prior to filming Love Is Blind<\/em>. Even though Lauren insisted that things had never been serious between her and the unnamed man, Dave struggled to accept it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is going to be weird for me that I know both of your exes,\u201d Dave confessed to Lauren after discovering the news. \u201cNot, like, well, but I know them. It\u2019s a little weird that I know them. Again, I don\u2019t know them well \u2026 And I don\u2019t want that to affect our relationship when we go back. I asked you if you were seeing anyone right before this experiment started. Hearing that I was like, \u2018OK \u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He later told producers, \u201cHow do you go from seeing someone so recently to like, \u2018I\u2019m ready for marriage?\u2019 That just seems like a huge step in between, where it\u2019s like \u2026 how did you \u2026 I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave and Lauren\u2019s relationship continued to crumble after they returned to Minneapolis, and the issue with her previous hookup and his sister not wanting to meet Lauren<\/a> proved to be too much and they broke off their engagement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sad, I\u2019m mad, I\u2019m frustrated. We have such a great connection. I feel like I let her down in a way, because I couldn\u2019t get over my own ego, my own pride that she could\u2019ve seen some other guy before me, which is very normal,\u201d Dave said during a confessional after their split. \u201cI\u2019m mad at myself for that, but I love her and I probably always will. But at the end of the day, this felt like the right decision. Love is blind, but I don\u2019t think marriage is.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he seemingly began to regret his decision when he ran into Lauren during a group outing with some of their fellow Love Is Blind<\/em> costars.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to reach out to Lauren ever since last night, ever since things ended. I wanna say hi to her and I wanna go home with her, and, like, hold her and everything, but I know it\u2019s probably too late for that. I suck at wanting what I can\u2019t have. When I had it and I can\u2019t have it, so \u2026\u201d Dave admitted to the producers. \u201cI don\u2019t know. I feel like I took those things a little too personal. I do wish that I could go back and do things differently, and hear things differently, and process things differently. Lauren deserves that. I love her and I should be sticking up for her. I would love to go talk to her because I do feel like I could still be that guy for her.\u201d<\/p>\n While he eventually managed to confess his feelings about their breakup to Lauren, she told him that while she wanted to \u201cbelieve it so badly\u201d she felt like they were \u201cpast\u201d the point of getting back together.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n