It was another exhausting day in uni. Being in engineering meant everyday was just chasing after submission deadlines. Rachel was walking past the rock-climbing wall, pale and focused on getting to the computer lab when she heard this loud voice. It pulled her out of her head and she zoomed in onto this guy at the rock-climbing wall. This guy was wearing a glaringly orange shirt that was dirty-looking and clashed horribly with his very tanned skin, a washed-out pair of jeans torn at the knees and had really disheveled sweaty hair. And she thought "Wow how could someone come to uni looking like that?" Jokes on her, when they finally met 4 years later and look where they are today! Lesson: Don't be judgey, you really never know!

Jie-Han was where you'd usually find him: at the rock climbing wall on campus. He spotted this girl noisily struggling to complete one of the routes, wearing very macam-yes fingerless gym gloves. Gloves are reaaaally bad for climbing and they make climbing much harder than it needs to be. He didn't give much thought to her, but after about 10 minutes of her still being noisily stuck there, he just shouted "TAKE OFF YOUR STUPID GLOVES!" as he left for class. She then completed the route and he left thinking "Why would anyone try climbing with gloves on?". Fast forward all these years later and she still makes him question a lot of things.

Their first meeting was a plank competition that lasted 6 minutes in which Rachel completely defeated Jie-Han. That was the first spark of a close friendship that slowly blossomed into 8 years being together! From climbing, business, music, tennis, and now pickleball, it's been a wonderful journey full of love and growth. JH: "Longest 6 minutes of my life" RS: "No feel"

Rachel was brought up in a family who treats her like a princess. If her dad or brother is around, she does not need to drive, carry anything or even take her own food. Imagine her surprise when a male acquaintance texted her one day "Hey since you live so near, do you want to carpool to the climbing gym?", asking her to fetch him. She agreed but her first thought was "Okay this guy is confirmed not my type. Can be friends only." (She fetched him anyway, and he took turns fetching her as well. Throughout these rides, they always had the best conversations and got closer as good friends.)

When Jie-Han found out that Rachel had never dated before, he thought to give her an idea of how a nice date should be like as a good friend. So he planned the date, fetched her, brought her to lunch and they watched the Wonder Woman movie together. He was a perfect gentleman throughout. He prepared frozen grapes and even fed her during the movie. At the end of the date, he told her not to accept treatment lesser than that from another guy. Rachel: "I think it was his strategy all along, to worm his way into my heart when I was 200% sure I did not want to get into a relationship." Jie-Han: "Busted, but it's too late now!"

Rachel already knew Jie-Han would pop the question during this trip. She just didn't know exactly when, where, or how. They custom designed the engagement ring together with a special gallery that had their initials, the number 7 (to signify the start of their 7th year together), and a treble clef motif. Jie-Han found a nice quiet, scenic spot near Oshino Hakkai by Shinnasho River in Japan and sang a medley of love songs meaningful to their relationship before asking Rachel to marry him. Fortunately, she said yes. Jie-Han: "Nov'23, my application for promotion to "Fiancé" has been approved after 6 years of hard work and devotion. I received more responsibilities but no pay rise."