That might not answer all of your or my question. But maybe we didn't give enough time to ponder on that line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesics_in_general_relativit...
The basic idea is that depending on your frame of reference, you might experience what is called a fictitious or psuedo force that disappears in a more simple frame of reference. Examples of these include centrifugal force, the Coriolis effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_force
Einstein's great revelation in the theory of general relativity was that there was no difference between gravity and free fall - which is called the equivalence principle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle
In special relativity, einstein's theory had a preference for inertial frame observers where the observer essentially became the origin of coordinate system to map space by, but in general relativity einstein does away with inertial frames as privileged, and an observer is literally decided by what light it can see, and their coordinate system cannot be universal because of curved space.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_frame_of_reference#Sp...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_%28special_relativity...
Just as centrifugal force is a relative effect that you only observe in a rotating (i.e. accelerated) reference frame, the force of gravity is also a relative effect that you only observe in an accelerated reference frame.
Standing on Earth, we're accelerating towards the center at 9.8 m/s^2, and we feel that as weight due to a force of gravity that we experience in our reference frame.
If you jump out of a plane, though, you feel weightless (especially if you can arrange to do so in a vacuum), because you're in "free fall" - you're following the curvature of spacetime. In your reference frame, you're not experiencing the force of gravity.
This demonstrates that gravity, like centrifugal force, is a "fictitious" force - which doesn't really mean that it's not real, but rather that it's a secondary effect that depends on your reference frame.
General Relativity posits that gravity embodies both of those qualities you mentioned.
It is a force that bends space and dilates time.