Our story began at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego in January 2017. Cindy had recently been hired at the hospital when Gene was starting as a transfer from UCLA Hospital. We became friends and talked from time to time at work, but Gene was soon transferred to the new Kaiser hospital that April. In November, our co-workers from both hospitals put together a group to play basketball. Little did we know that our passion for basketball would bring us together again. We played a 3-on-3 basketball game, and happened to be on the same team. Our team was losing, and it was almost over for us, but Cindy pulled out her amazing basketball moves and made 3-pointer after 3-pointer, which led to a win for our team. Gene was impressed and took notice. That night, Gene messaged Cindy on Facebook and asked for her phone number. Cindy messaged back, and Gene called that same night, asking to take her out for a birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant since her birthday was coming up. Cindy loves sushi and chose a Japanese restaurant for their first date. Cindy did not know that Gene did not like sushi then, but he liked Cindy enough to not shatter her sushi dreams. A week later, they went to Ikiru Sushi, where Cindy ordered all her favorite rolls. She noticed that Gene wasn’t touching the sushi, and was only eating the gyoza (fried dumplings) and drinking the sake / beer. Even though Gene got pretty tipsy that night, he couldn’t forget his fantastic first date with Cindy. He asked her out on a second date shortly after, and the rest was history.

Gene proposed to Cindy on their 3-week vacation to Europe in September 2019. The first stop on their trip was Barcelona, and on the second day, after spending all day exploring the city together, Gene and Cindy stopped by the Magic Fountain to enjoy the sunset and the city views from the hilltop. After the sun set, there was a fountain show with water effects choreographed to music. Gene was trying to find the right moment to propose but there was a large crowd, and no space to get down on one knee. With determination, he searched and eventually spotted an open area, in the splash zone by the fountain. Gene casually suggested to Cindy to move there for a better view, and when they walked over, a song that Cindy liked came on. Gene took it as queue that this was THE moment. He took out the ring, got down on one knee, and surprised Cindy with a proposal. Cindy screamed and said yes, spectators in the crowd clapped, and that magical night at the Magic Fountain was followed that next week with a beer-filled Oktoberfest celebration in Germany with Gene’s parents!