In 2015, Mariko Belle and Alexander met during their first year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They think they met at a friend’s apartment to watch Interstellar, but really, they met in her apartment while he did his laundry with her roommate, Michelle, and Mariko woke up and offered him a scone. They both transferred to Cal Poly into the same, tiny major called materials engineering. He had a car (yes, everyone, he still owns that blue BMW) and she didn’t, so he took it upon himself to bring her grocery shopping every other week after their 4pm - 6pm class. Over time, they got to know each other as they took more classes together and went grocery shopping together. In 2018, it was their last year at Cal Poly, and Alexander was finally ready to admit to Mariko how he felt. Before she left to go on a vacation to the Philippines, Alexander asked to do laundry at her apartment. She thought it was odd that he needed to do laundry a few days before he went back home for winter break. He came over with a laundry basket with just his bed sheets, which she thought was even more odd, but she brushed it off. After he was done washing his one bed sheet and one pillow case, he handed her a bag and said, “I know we said we weren’t getting each other Christmas gifts, but....” It was a stuffed animal that Mariko had talked about months ago. With it he included an extremely heartfelt note, one that made Mariko blush and cry. She drove home to the Bay Area later that evening to catch her flight, but the entire drive home, she couldn’t stop smiling about his gift. After a month of texting one another back and forth despite the 16-hour time difference, Mariko finally realized that she had liked him for so long, likely since the first time she met him. Resolved to let him know how she felt, she bought him a gift in the Philippines, and the moment she got to San Luis Obispo, she drove to his apartment, took a deep breath, knocked on his door, and gave him his Christmas gift.