Zoe ignored the first message Alex sent her all those years ago on OKCupid. But nevertheless, he persisted. After the second attempt, she thought "maybe there is something to this guy." So they set up a date. She cancelled. But, they tried again, and one week later they finally met face to face. It was a warm late summer Tuesday evening at a small cafe in SoHo. They sat at a table with a map of Oregon on the surface. After hours of talking and a free brownie, the restaurant closed, and they began that awkward walk back to the subway to go their separate ways. In the Broadway/Lafayette, Alex asked if he could kiss her. She said yes. They promised to text. And they did for the week leading up to their next date at his apartment. That date led to another, and another, and another. Three months later, he asked her to be his girlfriend. She said yes. What followed was three years of dating. Meeting parents, travelling from coast to coast, and eventually, moving in together. It was then, at almost three years, tragedy struck. Alex fell ill from a horrible auto-immune disorder, and almost lost his life. Luckily, he's hard to kill. After 23 days in the hospital, Alex was home, just in time to make their third anniversary dinner. It was then that Alex realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the woman who was his rock throughout his ordeal. So he formulated a plan. Somehow, he managed to keep it a secret for six months. On March 30th, 2018, Alex got down on one knee and asked Zoe to marry him. She said yes.