It’s been a few weeks since 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days viewers saw Ella and Johnny.
Their most recent episode was in February, when Ella warned him that she wasn’t going to wait for him forever.
Sure enough, the preview for next week’s episode included a confession: she had slept with a visiting friend.
Despite ample warning, Johnny seemed devastated. Do they have any hope for a future together?
Ella Johnson has not always been lucky in love.
In the past, she had a long-distance boyfriend from India.
When the two met up in Thailand, however, things fell apart.
The unnamed boyfriend rejected her, telling her that he did not want a physical relationship.
This was emotionally devastating, as it would be to anyone, and was a major setback for Ella.
She has been hoping that Johnny, whom she loves, will be very different.
But Ella and Johnny have had a number of setbacks, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnny’s fears are not irrational — this virus has killed millions, is airbourne, and could easily prevent him from seeing his family for months.
But whether they are reasonable or not, cold feet are cold feet. Ella knew that he needed a push.
When we last saw them, Ella spent a considerable amount of money to book tickets to Dubai.
Though Dubai’s laws in the areas of human rights would cause many to choose another location, Ella and Johnny could conceivably meet up there.
Ella’s hope was that buying the tickets herself, knowing that Johnny already had his, would be enough to motivate him to take the risk in the name of love.
Johnny — and not unfairly — characterized this as “American thinking,” saying that the risk was simply too great.
In some ways, the two are a microcosm for our two nations and their diametrically opposed responses to the pandemic.
As much as Ella loves Johnny and wants to see him, however, she knows that she cannot wait for ever, and she told him as much.
Simply put, Ella told Johnny that if he doesn’t meet her in Dubai, something will have to change.
It doesn’t mean that their relationship has to end, but it will have to change to an open relationship if it is to continue.
Why? Because she’s a human being with wants and needs, and has already invested years of extraordinary patience into this romance.
Setting this boundary may have been the best thing for Ella’s well-being, but it was not easy.
She doesn’t want an open long-distance relationship with Johnny, she wants to be with him.
It’s hard to yearn for this long. Honestly? Many people might have given up a long time ago.
Johnny met up with a friend of his, Wang, to share his fears that Ella will meet someone else and fall in love.
He is afraid of catching COVID, afraid of being separated from his family for many weeks, and afraid of losing Ella.
Wang advised him to go for it. All things considered, he has to face at least one of those fears no matter what.
The preview for next week’s episode showed Johnny’s fears spike.
On Season 5, Episode 13, Ella will tell him that a friend came over, and that the two ended up having sex.
While this sort of thing happens all of the time, especially in open relationships (which may be their status), it is hard for him to hear.
So what does this mean for their future?
Not everyone can handle an open relationship (just like not everyone can handle monogamy, or any kind of relationship), and Johnny seemed hurt in the preview.
For that matter, it’s been many months since all of this filmed in the back half of 2021. Have they split since then?
While the two cannot spoil things, Ella did post a “man crush Monday” post in February.
The crush in question was Johnny, and she did not shy away from her thirst.
While this could be a misleading throwback intended to string along followers (no doubt encouraged by production), that’s really not how people talk about their exes.
A safe bet is likely that Ella and Johnny are still together relationship-wise, but not physically together yet.
That could change. Honestly? So far, we’d be interested in seeing them return for another season.
We’ve found ourselves rooting for them, especially since Johnny is Ella’s perfect man — at least, her perfect man outside of anime.
During Ella’s first episode, she described her ideal man but could not name him or the show that he was from.
I reached out on Instagram hours after the episode aired to confirm that she was describing Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho.
We hope that things work out for Ella and Johnny, but if they don’t, does anyone have Kurama’s number?