It had been 5 years for Doug and 4 years for Mayu, living in Hawaii with family (and no significant other). Mayu ran 2 shops, a natural parenting/baby shop and a bakery, at Manoa Marketplace. Doug was the maintenance supervisor for the whole shopping center, so he was the go-to guy who fixed everything. Both of them had some wounds from past relationships that ended horribly, and they were both busy with work, so they weren't actively looking for anything serious. But then they'd see each other at 5 am as they both rolled into work, which became the highlight of their respective days. For months, Doug would come into Mayu's shops to help with the upkeep of the units and to have food and drinks from the cafe, and they'd have short conversations in between other customers coming in and out. Mayu would bring Doug pastries and organic tea during breaks to "thank him for his help" and Doug would bring buckets of freshly picked mangoes "for everybody at the store" (yup, they were excuses.. but they both got to each other's hearts and sweettooth's more and more with every little interaction).

It wasn't long before they exchanged numbers and spent a day at the beach. Swimming around and laying in the sun, they talked for hours. Kisses were NOT exchanged on this day... but they shared the most delicious mango and already felt like they had found the one. The kiss came the following day because Doug said to himself it would be stupid to wait.

After a year of living together blissfully, Doug took Mayu to Manoa, where they first met, to go hiking up the Manoa Falls trail. Completely unsuspecting, Mayu was enjoying the hike, telling him how it was almost exactly 5 years ago that she had been hit by a truck in San Francisco which prompted her move to Hawaii. "Crazy times, but everything happens for a reason!" Meanwhile, Doug was hiking with the ring box in his crotch because it was too big and obvious for the pockets (and hopefully Mayu wouldn't randomly become a public crotch grabber). Coming to an archway made of tree roots, Doug placed his phone on the ground to "take a selfie with the 10-second timer on." What he was actually doing was turning on the video, pretending to take a photo, then as Mayu turned to start walking again, he pulled out the ring and called out: "Hold on, I have a question to ask... Will you marry me?" Mayu turned around to see him on his knee, whimpering "of course" with other hikers cheering them on.