Laura and Hyrum met through one of their shared interests — the Chinese Language! Laura had been co-running the Austin Chinese Language Learners Meetup for several years, and Hyrum joined the group’s online events when he was still new to Austin. They had good conversational chemistry from the start. Laura remembers feeling excited whenever Hyrum signed up for an event because he was always so engaged with the listening exercises and simply a fun person to be around. After a few months, Hyrum was interested in getting to know Laura more and did so under the guise of “getting hotpot with the whole group.” Not realizing Hyrum was trying to ask her out, Laura declined. Almost a year later, the two reconnected on a dating app. Hyrum had just left the country on a 2 week long trip to Europe, and they spent the whole two weeks sending long messages to each other. When he returned, they went on their first date to play some board games at Emerald Tavern in Austin. After a year of dating, they started seriously discussing their future and marriage. Hyrum proposed on their trip to Taiwan in December of 2023.