This Girl Literally Used A 20-Foot Mural To Try To Find Her Missed Love Connection

Imagine you’re on a train. (No, this is not the beginning of Inception.) A cutie wearing a pair of yellow shoes catches your eye, and you know he’s checking you out, too. You’re desperately hoping he’ll make a move… but he doesn’t. Instead, he gets off the train, and you never see him again. That’s what happened to a 25-year-old Brooklyn woman in October 2017. Thankfully, a Las Vegas hotel wanted to give her a second chance, so they created Devin Custalow’s Brooklyn mural to help her find her missed connection.

Initially, Custalow saw the unidentified man while riding the G train with her roommate Hilary Schumacher on their way back from Coney Island, ABC News reports. She says they were constantly making eye contact and “kind of giggling about it.” Schumacher told ABC News their chemistry was “unreal,” especially because they continually started moving closer and closer toward each other, while still making flirty eye contact. Unfortunately, when it was time for the girls to get off at their Clinton Hill stop, the man still hadn’t made a move. They stayed on a little longer, but it seems the “guy in the yellow shoes” just couldn’t muster up the courage to say something.

In hopes of finding him again, Custalow turned to Craiglist to try and test her luck. Unfortunately, he didn’t respond to her now-deleted post, but someone else did. A team from the new Park MGM hotel in Las Vegas reached out and offered to lend a hand. After launching a social media campaign using the hashtag #IfItsMeantToBe, the hotel and Custalow worked together to try and find her missing man. It didn’t stop there.

They painted a 20-foot mural in Williamsburg, recreating Custalow’s original Craigslist ad and calling for the “guy in the yellow shoes” to meet her at the mural (on North 10th St and Wythe Ave) at 1 p.m. on Valentine’s Day. They also scattered posters with the same message throughout the neighborhood. The idea was to livestream the encounter so that everyone who was invested in the missed connection could see the big reunion.

“We found Devin’s story to be equal parts heartwarming and relatable,” President and COO of Park MGM Patrick Miller told ABC News. “After hearing this, we felt we had to do something, and live up to our romantic ideals, and that’s why we put our resources behind Devin’s story. If it’s meant to be, she’ll find the guy in the yellow shoes.”

Sadly, he never showed up. Womp. According to CBS New York, her friends and family were standing by with flowers just in case. Her dad even drove down from Boston. Even though she never got to reconnect with the mysterious subway rider, she says she’s not too torn up about it.

“This has been such a great experience and I’m really just happy to be here,” she told CBS New York. “I think you have to put yourself out there. There’s no harm, no foul.”

Yellow Shoes Guy, if you’re out there, number one: WHY DIDN’T YOU SHOW UP? Number two, Devin doesn’t seem as mad at you as the rest of us might be. In fact, she told ABC News that, if you ever do get wind of this whole thing, it’s “not meant to come across creepy." She continued, "This is just following up on a really cool and impactful interaction. This is still lingering with me.”

UGH, I die. Now, you know. If you see someone you like, and the chemistry is there, there is no harm in respectfully approaching them and introducing yourself. Not everyone will offer to paint you a 20-foot mural to find them again, and even that might not be enough. Lesson freaking learned.

Check out the entire Gen Why series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Check out the “Best of Elite Daily” stream in the Bustle App for more stories just like this!