The Bachelor couple Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph are opening up about Cassie's struggle to commit at the end of Season 23 and how excited they are to finally be out together in public.
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"It's been so nice [to be out of hiding]," Cassie said during a Wednesday appearance with Colton on Good Morning America.
"We've both been smiling for, like, the past 24 hours," Colton noted.
"I know! My cheeks kind of hurt because I'm so happy," Cassie added with a giggle.
Colton and Cassie are now dating after a whirlwind relationship and breakup on The Bachelor.
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Cassie initially dumped Colton before their overnight Fantasy Suite date in Portugal because she wasn't "in love" with him yet and didn't feel ready for a marriage proposal, but Colton decided to fight for her and win her back.
After Cassie agreed to give Colton a second chance -- after he eliminated both Hannah Godwin and Tayshia Adams to prove his love -- she met his family and then the couple enjoyed a do-over of their Fantasy Suite date in Spain.
"I feel like it was kind of good and therapeutic in a way watching [the season] back. It kind of helped me understand what he was going through the whole time and kind of what I was even going through, because it was just, I don't know, a lot. It was a roller coaster," Cassie explained.
"I went into it open and ready for an engagement and then until you're there, you almost don't realize how little time you are going to get to be really sure that's a lifelong commitment you're ready to make. And I just wanted to be sure at the end of it."
Cassie insisted she tried to quit The Bachelor mainly because she didn't want to ruin Colton's journey on the show, knowing he wanted to leave Season 23 engaged.
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"I loved him and cared about him so much, and I wanted him to have that, because that's what he had said he wanted the whole time," Cassie revealed.
But Colton didn't care about an engagement or marriage as long as he could have Cassie by his side. As fans saw, Colton even attempted to end The Bachelor early because he was devastated following Cassie's exit.
Cassie admitted she was "shocked" to see Colton jump the fence and go to such great lengths to be with her.
"You see such a small part of who we are as people and our relationships too," Colton shared.
"And just knowing how much we've been through together, for me, it was like knowing a future with her was something that -- I just did not want her not in my life, and I think that was something bigger than the show itself. I didn't care how it ended; I just wanted to be with Cassie."
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Colton noted, however, it was "tough" to tell producers an engagement wasn't going to happen when Bachelor Nation roots for a happy ending every season.
"It was tough because it was that night in Portugal where we really had to sit down and say, 'Okay, what do we do now?' This was the person I fell in love with and wanted to be with, so we sort of had to figure it out on the fly," Colton said on GMA.
"But say what you want about it, [the producers] did an amazing job. They put her in my life, so I'm very grateful."
Now that Colton and Cassie can enjoy life together in the public eye, they said on GMA their first official date will be going to see Frozen on Broadway while they're still in New York.
Colton also confessed he's happy people will finally stop talking about his virginity.
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"Yeah. There's so much more to our relationship and so much more to me too, so I'm very happy we're going to be keeping that part of our relationship private," Colton noted.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski