Fantasy Suites week proved to be somewhat of a fantasy for Charity Lawson.
After making the tough decision to send home Aaron following hometowns, Charity, 27, started off her Fantasy Suite week in Fiji with three men: Dotun, Joey and Xavier.
“Hopefully overnights will give me the clarity I need so I can make the most difficult but best decision of my life of who I’m going to choose to be my husband,” Charity said in an on-camera interview on Monday’s episode of The Bachelorette.
Charity told host Jesse Palmer that she hoped to have “real and raw conversations” throughout the week and believed “this week will be transformative for the better.”
Jesse, 44, wondered if Charity was still falling in love with three men and she confirmed she was. “I know the three men I am falling in love with are the like, the best men ever,” Charity said.
Charity didn’t feel her heart pulling her in any one specific direction.
“I’m not supposed to be falling for three people but I am,” she told the cameras. “And as I stand here right now, I have no idea who I’m getting engaged to. And if I’m being real, that’s what I’m actually so concerned about going into this week.”
XAVIER’S FANTASY SUITE DATE
First, Charity met up with Xavier, who harbored doubts about committing to forever, but hoped his Fantasy Suite date would eliminate them.
Charity told Xavier, 27, she “did bring some friends” along for their date. Then, some Fijian cultural leaders came out and gave Charity and Xavier traditional garb to change into.
The Fijian men carried Charity over to Xavier, and he told the cameras, “That’s low key my queen right there.”
Charity and Xavier learned about the Fijian traditions and ceremonies that take place before marriage. “This is like the wedding rehearsal before we walk down the aisle,” Charity said in an on-camera interview.
Going into dinner, Xavier still had some reservations about marriage. “My heart is 100 percent with you, but I think the doubt and the fear is the boxes that, you know, it can’t be checked,” the biomedical scientist said to Charity. “So that’s where the doubt stems from.”
Before he could move forward with Charity, Xavier needed to tell her something.
“In the past with my ex, I was unfaithful and I wanted to tell you that because I know that that is like, very triggering for you and it was disrespectful,” Xavier said Charity. “It’s not the man that I am. I know that for marriage, you cannot do that.”
Charity told Xavier she needed to step away from the table to consider what he just said to her. “Xavier dropped a huge bomb,” she informed the cameras.
When Charity returned to the table, she asked Xavier for more details about the cheating. He informed her that it happened “multiple times in the span of five days” two years into his last relationship.
“I wanted her to do and be who I wanted her to be and that was wrong and I just chose myself,” Xavier said.
Charity asked Xavier, “What work did you do on your end to become a better person?”
Xavier said he had been “more introspective” and “more in tune” with the reasons behind his actions. He assured Charity she’d never have to worry about him cheating “if I choose to be with you and you choose to be with me.”
Charity suggested they could proceed to the Fantasy Suite together if Xavier could assure her “that you’re going to do what it takes to show up for me, you’re going to put in the work, you’re going to make it work without a doubt.”
In order to reach a place of 100 percent certainty, Xavier told Charity, “I need to see more.”
Charity felt like she’d already shown Xavier her full self. So she told him “it’s not happening” when it came to going to the Fantasy Suite. Xavier accepted her decision and apologized before he left.
"I would be a fool to sit here and keep someone who I know that they are not ready,” Charity told the cameras.
JOEY’S FANTASY SUITE DATE
After Charity left their hometown date in tears, Joey hoped to “get back on the same page” as her during their Fantasy Suite date.
Charity rode out on an ATV and Joey hopped in. As Charity and Joey, 27, explored Fiji, though, the ATV stopped working. Joey took a turn in the driver’s seat, but he couldn’t get the ATV working either. So they continued the rest of the way on foot and ended up making out under a waterfall.
“Despite things not going as planned, Joey responds great,” Charity said in an on-camera interview.
Charity called kissing under the waterfall “magic” and Joey said, “I couldn’t ask for anything more than this right now.”
At dinner, Charity asked Joey if he had any hesitations about moving forward. He expressed that “sometimes people fall in love with the idea of me” and sometimes, after “they get to know me a little better, they maybe don’t think it’s like, who I truthfully am anymore and they start to question.”
Charity thought Joey was just being hard on himself. That made Joey comfortable enough to admit, “I am in love with you.”
Charity returned the sentiment. “I am in love with you,” she said to the tennis pro. “It is the best feeling and to say those words, just to be smiling right now, is like, huge for me.”
They kissed and then decided to go to the Fantasy Suite together. Charity said she felt like he was “glowing” when she woke up the next morning.
“A love with Joey feels eternal,” she added in an on-camera interview.
Joey felt similarly. “I can do that for the rest of my life for sure,” he told the cameras.
DOTUN’S FANTASY SUITE DATE
Charity entered her date with Dotun wondering if he might be “way too good to be true,” but she wanted to try to enjoy the day.
They rode wave runners and then sipped champagne on the beach. Dotun, 30, confessed he didn’t really know much about the show when he signed on.
“I didn’t really understand what happens at the end of all this up until like three or four weeks ago,” the integrative medicine specialist said.
However, learning that the show usually ends in an engagement didn’t freak out Dotun.
“I was like, for maybe a millisecond taken aback, and then I thought about you,” he told Charity. “I was like, I’m actually fine with that.”
“That does excite me,” Charity responded.
Once they arrived at dinner, Dotun told Charity being with her made him believe in fairy tales. “The scary part is that I’m not scared,” he continued.
Charity proceeded to confess her feelings for Dotun. “I am 100 percent in love with you,” the child and family therapist said to him.
Charity and Dotun decided to spend the night together in the Fantasy Suite and Charity woke up the next day on “cloud nine,” she said.
Dotun, however, stressed about Charity’s other relationships.
“I’m worried that there are other men still here,” he said to the cameras. “I respect her decision to make sure all options are exhausted, but it doesn’t feel good.”
ONE MAN RETURNS
Dotun might soon have to worry about yet another man reentering the running for Charity’s heart. Despite being sent home by Charity following hometowns, Aaron decided to fly to Fiji to see if Charity would give him a second chance.
“Charity’s definitely worth fighting for and I really hope that Charity just accepts me back,” the software salesman, 29, told the cameras.
Aaron dropped in on Charity at her hotel pool, and despite being surprised, she didn’t hate his presence.
“Am I mad about it? No,” she said in an on-camera interview. “I’m excited to see him.”
Aaron told Charity she could take as much time as she needed to consider how she felt about him returning and called being rejected by her “the hardest emotion I’ve had to ever sit with.”
“I knew that there was more I could've given,” he continued.
Charity admitted she’d been falling in love with Aaron and hadn’t stopped thinking about their relationship. “I have been thinking about it every single day,” she said to Aaron, adding, “I don’t know if I made the right choice and that hurts me.”
Aaron took solace in the fact that he’d still been on Charity’s mind.
“I am very happy to hear you say that you were falling in love or you are,” he said. “I still feel the same way.”
But Charity’s decision about whether to keep Aaron won’t come until later this season.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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