Elated after receiving our acceptances to the University of Illinois, Erika posted on the Class of 2020 Facebook group. Denzel sees the post, comments "Speak Tagalog?", and slides into her DMs. They would message almost every day since then.

When Denzel visited campus to register for classes, he and Erika met for the first time and had lunch at the original Maize restaurant on the corner of Green and First in Champaign.

After a year of courtship, Denzel officially asked Erika to be his girlfriend! A few weeks later, Denzel says the "L" word first.

After graduating from the college, Erika and Denzel embark on a long-distance journey. Denzel went to Maryland to work as a postbac fellow at the National Institutes of Health for two years, and Erika was in Urbana working as a scribe. Denzel matriculated to the University of Cincinnati's MD/PhD Program in June 2022, and Erika matriculated to Rush University's MSN program in January 2024. Despite what feels like forever, Denzel and Erika message and FaceTime every day, and they make the effort to visit each other when they can.

Erika and Denzel took a trip during their school breaks in the Côte d'Azur, or French Riviera. They decided on this location after seeing the beautiful views while watching the movie "Killers" featuring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher on SharePlay. On the morning of their fourth day in Nice, they walked along the Promenade des Anglais ("Walkway of the English") and up the many steps of the Colline du Château ("Castle Hill"). At the top, Denzel told Erika to look over the city for a picture. He got down on one knee, and when she turns around, he popped the question, "Will you marry me?"