Although Melody and Derek both went to the same college, they missed going at the same time by a few months. They first got introduced to each other through a mutual friend that got the friend group together playing Destiny 2. Both a little too shy to ask each other to play without the mutual friend. Then one day, they happened to be in a call together, blowing up the Cabal, taking names from the Vex and kicking the asses of the Scorn (RIP Cayde -6). After countless battles, it seemed like one of them was getting hungry as the topic shifted to food. At the time Derek was living in the Restaurant capital in the US. From that conversation they both could only remember one thing: how much the other REALLY loves pho. After that day they got to know each other more and more. During one crisp September afternoon, they had their first date and went to a farm together and completed a corn maze. The smell of apple cider doughnuts and crunch leaves set the foundation for future dates. They followed up that night with a round of bowling with crappy nacho cheese covered fries. Little did they know that there would be some hard choices coming up that would determine their future. Finally, in September of 2024 Melody asked Derek if they could go to a corn maze. This day happened to be the fake last day of summer in fall; it was 90F outside. Though fun both of us were sweating from all the heat. Melody now reflects back on this and thinks the heat was actually helping Derek out. After the corn maze they started to head home but decided to make a pit stop at a cute little winery. The wine was good, and they both ordered their own flights. A few sips in Derek said he has to go to the bathroom, nothing unusual for him. 5 minutes go by and Melody doesn't think much of it. As 10 minutes start to roll up Melody is thinking to herself that Derek must be doom scrolling on his phone. By 15 minutes Melody is starting to worry, she's starting to look around and worry. Derek normally doesn't take this long. At least the winery was old school and had lots of antiques and pictures to look at. At the 20-minute mark Melody starts to message Derek and even tries to call him. Luckly for Derek he comes running back in the winery out of breath at the first phone call. Derek plays it very cool and tries to dismiss any concern from Melody. They finish their first flight and order a glass of their favorite. Once done Derek asked if we wanted to take a tour of the place. Of course, Melody said yes because she loves exploring places. As they're headed to the upstairs part of the winery, a worker comes toward them and asks if they're here for the B&B. Melody still confused as to what's happening about to say no, Derek butted in and said yes. The worker asked if we'd like a tour of the upstairs and proceeded to give them a mini history tour. At this point Melody is piecing together that they are staying there for the night. Not very unusual as Derek and Melody love to do mini staycations in the Chicagoland area. The winery had 4 themed suite, and they ended up staying in the Italian suite. The suite was large and very ornate. There was a cute flower petal heart on the table with two champagne glasses. To Melody this was just Derek trying to surprise her with an anniversary date! What a great surprise it was. We took the glasses and explored the suite. When we got to the bedroom and there was another heart made out of fall leaves and a card. Melody opened the card and started to read in her head, but Derek said to read it aloud. As she read it aloud the words of kindness and love showed and she started to cry from how sweet the card was. The last few lines were "Melody, I'm sorry we couldn't go to Europe together this year so I thought I could bring Europe to you. Flip card over.... Will you marry me?". Melody is bawling her eyes out and didn't see Derek get down on one knee. Barely able to form words she managed to say Yes.