Long story long; Roo came to the U.S. on a swimming scholarship to West Virginia, thinking all of America was like California and never imagining that life would eventually land him in El Paso, Texas. After graduating as a civil engineer, his work brought him south, leading him to build bridges connecting El Paso and Juárez, Mexico. Meanwhile, Cachis was managing a small spa called Aruba Sunspa , a place Roo happened to visit religiously once a week for the sauna. And here’s the thing… Cachis could not stand him. Between the weekly sauna visits and the fact that, yes, a foreign white boy in El Paso tends to draw attention, Roo was immediately filed under hard pass. Things escalated when a scheduling mix-up ruined one of his appointments. Roo stormed out. Cachis, boiling, tried to fix the situation by offering four free sessions , which only added fuel to the fire. Later that day, Roo retaliated in the most petty way possible: he booked out an entire two weeks of saunas and set reminders to cancel them so the spa wouldn’t charge him any cancellation fees. Unbelievable behavior, honestly. The following week, Roo showed up like nothing happened. After his sauna, he struck up a casual conversation. Cachis still wasn’t impressed but shortly after, Roo slid into the DMs asking for local recommendations. Peak COVID era, limited options, and one loud cantina later, they found themselves yelling across the table at Malolam Cantina just to make conversation. At one point he shouted, “What’s your mom’s name?” somehow, it worked. Friends were on standby in case the date went south, but it didn’t. From that night on, they were inseparable. The twist? Roo was leaving El Paso in three months. They lived fully in those three months. When it was time for him to move to San Antonio, Cachis sent him off with a letter, shooting her shot one last time, and was promptly denied and put on a plane home (humbling, truly). But less than a week later, Roo texted Cachis asking if she would come and visit. That turned into a year of long distance, nonstop travel, weddings, weekends together, and Roo falling more in love with El Paso, and with Cachis. Eventually, he asked her to move to Austin, where they’ve built a home and a life together for the past four and a half years. They’ve traveled the world, collected memories, and grown side by side, until Fiji changed everything. On a day Cachis decided not to get ready (unheard of), Roo was quietly nervous. On a small bar’s dance floor, with his entire family watching, he twirled her, dropped to one knee, and completely caught her off guard. Cachis panicked, ran away, circled back, cried, laughed, ran back, and said yes. Now, they’re ready to celebrate this next chapter, with the people who have loved them, supported them, and watched this story unfold. And they can’t wait to do it by the ocean, Mexico 🤍