Diego and Nina met by coincidence through their connections between mutual friends. Nina had been studying in community college locally for nursing while Diego was in UC San Diego for his engineering degree. Nina had taken summer classes back in 2017 and ended up meeting one of Diego's friends from high school, eventually she was invited over to their Discord server where Nina remained quiet for a couple of years, occasionally joining for a game or two. Fast forward, Nina was invited over to join a call on this very same Discord server to help a friend's little brother for their high school chemistry homework when Diego joined in on the call one day. Though at that time, Diego didn't really frequent being on voice calls with his high school friends, he found one reason to catch up with the server that day. Diego and Nina slowly started talking and getting to know each other. Nina wasn't looking for a relationship at that time and it never crossed her mind with nursing school being around the corner, but Diego remained a consistent presence months after they first met each other through call. It wasn't until one of Diego's friends (you know who you are) ended up "spilling the beans" that Diego actually liked Nina that the idea of a relationship started to blossom. Nina started realizing that through the countless messages, small daily updates, funny posts, and jokes that Diego really did like her. After about almost half a year of talking as friends, Diego and Nina met up at a Friendmas Party back in December 2019 and started dating each other exclusively. However, while this time period in their lives marked the beginning of their relationship, it was also one of their loneliest times. Nina could not officially date at the time because her parents had an agreement and wanted her to focus on school, making it hard to introduce Diego in good light. At the same time both Diego and Nina were in school, navigating dating long distance, meeting up with small ample time and chances, and getting by the hardships with COVID-19 precautions and lockdowns. Finally after almost 2 years, Diego finally met Nina's family for the first time in person, Diego graduated first and moved back to Anaheim and Nina neared her last couple months of nursing school. Even though Nina's parents were normally strict with her dating, Diego's patience over the years had managed to win her parents over and with Nina's graduation, they started enjoying the best parts of their relationship. After five years of sharing their joys, sorrows, and obstacles with each other, Diego and Nina got engaged on December 21st, 2024 under a Christmas tree. Only this time, the small Christmas tree at that Friendmas Christmas Party in 2019 became a large, brightly lit Christmas Tree towering over them that one Saturday night.