Bemboli here. So grateful to invite you to our special, special day! Here you can read about where we were and how we got to where we are today! Our Story is One of Persistence (mine), Gut feeling (both of us), and Timing (on Ania’s time). Back in 2018 we both attended the same Business School in Boston, well Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US. Ania was a girl in my year/class that I initially found very scary and weird, but interesting. I had purchased some tickets to a Hip-Hop concert by the artist Bas. I bought 2 tickets as I wanted to invite someone, not sure who exactly it’d be. Initially, I asked my friends - none of them were interested in going. I then thought about girls from my class and Ania was the first to come to mind (I PROMISE). Naturally, she said yes, and I ended up finding out in the Uber to the concert that she doesn’t listen to Rap/Hip-Hop, so I knew I was in for a rough night. To cut the long story short, that’s what it ended up being as she didn’t like the music and couldn’t hide it well, but I loved it and enjoyed myself. How, you may ask? - By abandoning her until the end of the concert. You Only Live Once, and the timing wasn’t right. Fast forward 2 years, we’re deep in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic and I start talking to her during class via the private chat feature. (Apparently the ZOOM Meeting host, which was our Professor, may have had access to the chats…) Lord have mercy. After brielfy both showing interest she rejected me again. This time around she let me know that she was finally processing the sudden passing of her father. It was something very impressive & mature to me given how vulnerable she was and that a lot of other women would take the opporunity to just have someone there during those types of difficult times. Don’t get it twisted though as the third time was indeed the Charm. I’m me. She was in the same Corporate Diplomacy & Geopolitical Risk class, and “I guess” the interest was still there. After working together for a few weeks on the same group project, I had a strong feeling I could Secure the Bag. So on October 20th, 2020 I had the strongest most unexplainable sensation to ask her out. I rarely feel strongly about things so went with it. She was working at the reception of my Student Housing building that day and I went upstairs to drop my bag off in my room and was going to come back downstairs to ask her out, but she was gone as her shift ended in those few minutes (My luck is incredible). I couldn’t shake the feeling of asking her out on that specific day. I ended up doing so via awkward voice note after she didn’t respond to my calls. She said “yes” and was surprisingly quite excited about it despite the missed calls. October 24th, 2020 we talked on some steps near the seashore, she cried (don’t worry she does for everything), we went to see a beautiful exhibition at an art museum, we went to eat Curry at a Japanese place, walked 2km to a park, talked some more, then finished at a coffee shop. Then by the 11th of November, 2020, I had asked her to be my girlfriend. 1508 days later on the 28th of December, 2024, which was also exactly 5 years from the passing of her father, I wanted her to have an equally happy and joyous memory to juxtapose such a dark and haunting one, so she’s my fiancée now I guess. Very quaint. I’m very happy about that and about our future together!