The Bachelor couple Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph are explaining why they're still not ready to move in together.
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Shortly after The Bachelor's 23rd season wrapped on television and Colton was shown selecting Cassie as the winner of his heart earlier this year, Colton relocated from Denver, CO, to Los Angeles, CA, in order to be closer to his girlfriend.
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However, Colton and Cassie are still living in separate places in California, and they have yet to get engaged.
"We travel so much, so we're always around each other and together," Colton told HollywoodLife nearly a year after he taped the finale of his The Bachelor season.
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"It's good,a right now, for our relationship, to not be there yet, you know? We're taking things step by step. We'll get there, though. We're taking our time to make it all work out and be right for both of us."
Colton explained he and Cassie are still getting to know each other in the real world since they had a whirlwind romance on the show and a press tour that followed.
"It's sort of reverse dating. You dive into the deep stuff and the hard questions and that type of stuff first [on The Bachelor]," Colton shared.
"So, it's picking up on the little things that are important to get to [now]. I think now she knows that I'm a klutz, and I know, for instance, she has a healthy habit to salt or wanting to put salt on all of our foods!"
Cassie added that learning to communicate has been an important part of their relationship.
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"We're learning, like, what's important to the other person and how to just kind of create that balance in your life, is what we've learned to do together," Cassie revealed to HollywoodLife.
"I think, honestly, we're just leaning on each other and being honest and communicating, is what we learned. It's everything to us."
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Breakup rumors recently swirled about the couple, prompting Cassie to publicly address them in late September.
At the time, Cassie insisted she and Colton were still together and happy. She also attempted to put to rest speculation Colton's feelings for her were much further along and their feelings for each other were "mismatched."
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"Colton and I are very happy and our relationship is in a good place. Is our relationship perfect? No, it is very normal with its ups and downs and compromises. Despite the microscope on our relationship, we are trying to stay focused on what is important and grow in the direction of getting stronger and closer every day," Cassie wrote in a lengthy message to her fans on Instagram.
"We know that in order for us to work, we need to focus on each other and not the craziness that sometimes surrounds us, and stay grounded. We are good!"
However, she also made it clear at the time she still wasn't ready to get engaged to the charity founder and former pro football player.
Cassie said she felt "unhealthy pressure" from The Bachelor fans to speed her relationship along, which made her "question the reliability" of her own feelings.
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"Obviously the nature of The Bachelor is to end in an engagement, but when you translate that to real life and not tv land, it's pretty crazy! Many people I know have been dating much longer than I've been dating Colton, but people rarely ask them when they are getting married," Cassie reasoned.
She later concluded in her post, "What happens in the future between us is to be determined... We both are learning so much in this and more than anything, we are both right where we want to be... happy... thankful... learning... growing!"
Many fans have been questioning whether Cassie reciprocates Colton's strong feelings for her ever since The Bachelor's 23rd season aired on ABC earlier this year. (The finale aired in March).
Colton chose Cassie over two other women, Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin, by the time of his overnight Fantasy Suite dates, which was a very premature decision when taking into account the show's typical timeline.
But Cassie decided to quit the show at that point because she wasn't in love with Colton, nor could she envision herself getting engaged at the end of the process.
Colton, however, refused to give up, and after dumping both Tayshia and Hannah G. in Portugal, he begged Cassie to simply give him a chance and date him -- with no expectations of an engagement.
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Cassie obliged and then traveled to Spain to meet Colton's family while cameras were still rolling. Once the show ended, Cassie claimed on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose she had slowly fallen in love with Colton in the real world.
But the couple's romance continued to be a slow burn.
Colton told Extra back in April he could picture himself proposing to Cassie "within the next year," but then Cassie told Us Weekly a month later, "We really don't have a timeline... We're just enjoying right now and not worrying about it."
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