Mani and Christy met at work in 2020. Christy worked in one department and Mani worked in another with Christy's mom. They would talk on occasion, but it wasn't until after Mani had been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer that things began to start for the two of them. There was an announcement at work that Mani had been diagnosed. This was around the same time as Christy's annual trip to Baraboo to celebrate her late boyfriends birthday. On the way back from her celebration, she got lost and saw a cute garden store advertising everything was on sale. She stopped and found a cute sign saying "Cancer Picked the Wrong Person to Mess With". She got it for Mani and gave it to him. He developed a crush on her and decided to ask her out if he survived his first round of treatments. When he returned to work Christy quite literally jumped with joy, did a happy dance, and asked for his number to contact him about playing DnD. Though they only exchanged numbers, it was a foot in the door for Mani. When he went to Alaska at the start of 2024, Christy demanded he send her pictures from his trip and they started talking. When Mani came back from Alaska he gave Christy a polar bear doll that his sister had convinced him to buy as a way to ask Christy out. When Christy discovered the polar bear at her desk she texted Mani asking if it came from him. Mani responded that the polar bear wanted to ask her out, but was shy like Mani and didn't know how to. Christy said she would willingly go out with him after she returned from a trip to Vegas for her cousin's birthday. They started sending long text messages to each other and planned their first date. On their first date, which involved boardgames of Wingspan and Azul, they realized that they were absolutely perfect for each other and would eventually get married. Now here we are!