We're getting married!

It was one fateful day at the Bronx Zoo. We were both part of international student orientation at Fordham and there were several city excursions for us to get acquainted: a trip to the zoo, sushi in Manhattan, and walking through Chelsea and Central Park. We found out we lived in the the same dorm and had classes together, although we didn’t think much of it at the time -- a few days later that changed. At the end of our first day of the semester, we stayed up all night talking about everything, from shared food dislikes to philosophy and poetry, and we soon realized the sun was about to rise, so we watched it together.

Bea is the more organized of us both, so planning any kind of surprise for her, let alone a proposal, is always a challenge. We had dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant in the 65th floor of a skyscraper in Manila, so my plan was to propose after dinner out on the balcony. My plan failed as the balcony was closed. While I was thinking through alternatives after the meal, we both discovered that the bar one floor below was deserted, and the door was still open. We wandered in, and found ourselves in a dark corner with floor-to-ceiling glass windows that gave us a perfect view of the city. I decided this was it. While Ed Sheeran was faintly playing in the background from a janitor’s phone, I asked Bea to close her eyes and then… she started laughing. I pulled the ring box from my pocket, dropped down on one knee (she’s still laughing) and then asked the question.