Shoma and Kristen met off of a dating app in New York City as the city reopened during the Covid pandemic. They ventured out for their first date at a coffee shop near Madison Square Park. Kristen happened to mention how she had never been to a botanical garden in New York. Shoma planned the second date at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. They walked around the gardens, ate Italian at an outdoor table, and strolled through Prospect Park with ice cream. Kristen happened to mention she loved burgers at some point. Shoma planned date three at PJ Clarke's, known for their burgers. They sat at a table on the water and then walked along the river. A couple of days before their fourth date, Kristen texted Shoma, "Maybe the Met Rooftop and a picnic in Central Park?" Shoma responded with a screenshot, having had the same thought and bought the tickets two hours earlier. They spent the day wandering through the museum and eating Zabar's in Central Park, talking well into the evening, and grabbing dinner at a Greek restaurant they stumbled upon. During dinner, the table next to them got engaged. After dinner, they ate banana pudding from Magnolia's Bakery on a random stoop in the Upper West Side. Three years later, they moved into an apartment around the corner. When they were packing up to move, Kristen and Shoma noticed the wall calendar in his dining room had frozen a few years back. It had not been flipped since September 2020.

Kristen had always loved the photos of Lake Louise, but never been. Shoma planned a trip and picked a room at the Fairmont Chateau with a bench seat window view of the Lake. The first morning, he took her out to a little meadow spot overlooking the lake and asked her to marry him. What means the most to Kristen is that her engagement ring was Shoma's grandmother's, offered by his mother. When Shoma's father first brought the ring in from Tokyo, Shoma surprised Kristen one day by bringing her up to the rooftop of his building with flowers - saying the first time she wore the ring should still feel special, even if it was just to try it on.