'Love Is Blind' 's Raven Is Dating Again — and Manifesting a 2023 Engagement! — After SK Split

"I really feel like I'm going to be engaged this year. I mean, [he's] definitely the front-runner for sure," Raven Ross tells PEOPLE exclusively of her new love interest

Love Is Blind's Raven Ross has a new man in her life — and engagement on the brain!

The pilates instructor, who split from her Love Is Blind fiancé Sikiru "SK" Alagbada in November following cheating allegations, tells PEOPLE exclusively that she's dating a new guy to whom she could see herself getting engaged by the end of the year.

"I've gone on quite a few dates [since SK]," she says. "Actually, the guy that I'm dating now sent me a message on Instagram. It's relatively new. But it's going well, so knock on wood."

Things are going so well, in fact, that Raven says she's manifesting "a great long-term relationship" with him, including a very near proposal.

"I truly believe in being very specific, because it always works. But I am going to be engaged this year. I really feel like I am," she adds. "I'm going to say it out loud: I really feel like I'm going to be engaged this year. I mean, [he's] definitely the front-runner for sure. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed."

Because Raven's last relationship unraveled in the public eye, she notes that she's had "to have lots of hard conversations" with her new man, but it's only made them grow.

"I think he had seen the show, but he's a guy so he doesn't really see or follow [the SK drama]," she explains. "I've definitely had to explain a lot of things, and that's not easy. That's super awkward. But it's only brought us closer together so far, so it's going really well. We'll see."

raven ross https://www.instagram.com/p/CmRhEW9Onka/?hl=en
Raven Ross. raven ross/instagram

Raven's new relationship comes a few months after she and SK split for the second time following rumors that he had allegedly cheated in the wake of their second engagement.

The couple initially decided not to wed during the Love Is Blind season 3 finale, only to reconnect after production wrapped.

In November, news of SK's rumored infidelity broke online in November when a TikToker shared what she claimed were text messages between her and the reality star. SK denied the accusations in a statement to Life & Style, noting there was time between filming Love Is Blind and his reunion with Raven where he was a single man.

"When Raven and I left the altar, I went about living my life as a single guy and she went about living her life as a single woman," he said at the time. "The path leading to Raven and I together was not straightforward. It took a while for Raven and I to even consider or attempt to start dating again. People don't realize that."

Love Is Blind. (L to R) Raven Ross, SK Alagbada in episode 304 of Love Is Blind.
Raven and SK from Love Is Blind. Courtesy of Netflix

However, the Love Is Blind: After the Altar special — which premiered Friday on Netflix — presented different claims when viewers saw SK propose to Raven post-filming. Their happiness was short-lived as Raven claimed in a recorded video that SK had been unfaithful to her during their engagement. (SK didn't comment on the accusation in the special.)

"Since then, a lot has changed. My world is completely different because, you know, SK cheated on me and now our relationship is over," Raven told cameras.

"I was so happy. I really was so invested in the person that everyone saw and everyone loved, like, that's the person that I saw and I loved every day too," she added. "So, to see everything that has happened since then is so hard because that was not the person that I thought that I was with."

Love Is Blind. (L to R) SK Alagbada, Raven Ross in season 3 of Love Is Blind.
Raven and SK. Patrick Wymore/Netflix

Speaking to PEOPLE about the dramatic turn of events, Raven says it took awhile for her to process the hurt she was feeling.

"I think it did make it a little harder, because we were going from such a high place. Our relationship was going really, really well to then such a low place. It was really hard," she shares. "It was the toughest thing I've ever had to go through, but it made me grow so fast from that and really realize what I don't want."

Because of that, Raven believes she's stronger and wiser in her new relationship — and she's not deterred from a future marriage.

"I needed [the engagements with SK] to get to where I am now. So I'm like, 'OK, that had to happen. It really, really, really, really, really sucked. But now I can take it and make something great from it,'" she explains. "I have always been someone who's had walls up, had my guard up all the time, and we do that to protect ourselves. And it clearly didn't work for me."

"So I want to lead with vulnerability and just full honesty [moving forward]," she continues. "And I know that there's a chance something could happen because, I mean, pretty much the worst that could happen has already happened. So I may as well just lean into it with everything I have and see if something will change."

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Love Is Blind is now streaming on Netflix.

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