TikTokers around the world are in tears after a New Yorker shared the emotional love story of his fiancé’s life and loss.

In a series of pics taken at Hudson River Park in Manhattan, Jack Ciapciak recounted his surprise proposal at the riverside idyll in 2022.

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Ciapciak led his soon-to-be fiancé, Jack Lorentzen, to a plaque on a bench whose wording proposed that the pair get married.

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“Jack, will you marry me? Love, Jack,” the faux plaque read.

Jack said yes.

Just two months later, Lorentzen died. He was 30 years old.

Ciapciak said he’d hoped to change the plaque to read “Jack & Jack” with their wedding date, but after his fiancé’s death, the bench instead became a memorial to Lorentzen and the couple’s love. 

In the story, Ciapciak recalls that one of Lorentzen’s favorite movies was Never Been Kissed, the Drew Barrymore comedy about a woman, around Lorentzen’s age, learning to accept herself for who she is. 

“Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it,” she says in the film.

“Jack always said that once he came out and started living authentically, everything in his life fell into place. I decided this would be the perfect message he’d want people walking by to see,” Ciapciak wrote.

The moving tribute — which is viewable on TikTok here — set to Kacey Musgaves’ “Oh, What a World,” has earned nearly 10 million views and tens of thousands of emotional comments.

“What is grief if not love persevering,” wrote one user in a heartbreaking thought liked by nearly a quarter million viewers.

“Decided to watch Never Been Kissed in his honor,” shared another with hearts and rainbows.

“I started sobbing about 3 slides in,” wrote one “heartbroken” TikToker. “Thank you for sharing Jack with us.”

In reply,  Ciapciak wrote, “He loved Kacey Musgraves and this was the last song of her’s that he had listened to on his Spotify.”

Since Lorentzen’s death, the bench has become a gathering spot for friends and family, and Ciapciak, who visits almost daily. 

Jack and Jack’s planned wedding day was celebrated at the bench, along with the anniversary of his death and his birthday. Flowers have been left in Lorentzen’s honor.

A plaque on the bench now reads, “In loving memory of Jack Lorentzen, October 26, 1992-December 24, 2022. ‘Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it.’”

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