Ken is a fashionable man, yet paralyzed by colorblindness. On Helena's first day at HBO, Ken was wearing seafoam green pants, and she was wearing a seafoam green top. The rest is history.
Ken claims that this was he & Helena's first date, but he is wrong. Helena was avidly avoiding Ken's romantic advances and repeatedly insisted that her BFF Julian join their outings to make it not-a-date. On this night, Julian betrayed Helena by staying home, and she was forced to watch Spotlight in theatres with Ken alone. Helena later texted Julian that he was "a bad friend."
Nearly 2 months after Ken & Helena's not-a-date, she finally agreed to dinner with him alone at West Hollywood vegan restaurant Gracias Madre. They gossiped about the recent shakeup in HBO's leadership and each other's pasts. Ken tolerated the vegan food because of his undying love for Helena.
Three years after their official first date, Ken proposed to Helena on a seedy balcony in their apartment building. Helena was cold and repeatedly insisted that she did not want to go outside, but Ken dragged her out and proposed with a peach sapphire ring she'd picked out a month before.