to be wed

There’s a weekend dedicated to freshman orientation before the first week of school at the University of Illinois - where anxious students can find new friends/classmates. It was the first evening of orientation, when Paul ran into Youngshin for the first time. While talking about the weather, which is always an exciting topic, Paul’s first thoughts were, “Huh. Pretty.” Unfortunately, Youngshin doesn't remember meeting Paul at night because she was busy waiting for her roommate to stop talking to Paul’s roommate. That was August 2016. Paul and Youngshin shared the same major, which led them to have very similar class schedules. They also lived in the same residence hall, which led them to each other often during mealtimes as well. People can only endure so many "coincidental" encounters before surrendering to the ways of the universe. Paul and Youngshin soon found themselves spending time together every day. Completing homework would always be the main reason for meeting, and procrastination was in Paul’s favor every time. From the first day they met, it took Paul and Youngshin 1.5 years to see each other as more than friends. It was a game of pride – who would be the first to give in and admit their feelings? If there was ever a game with no winners, it had to be the months of push and pull, and playing hard-to-get. Finally, Paul decided to take the risk of possibly losing the friendship for something greater, and asked Youngshin to be his girlfriend. That was January 2018.

Every surprise Paul has ever tried to set up for Youngshin has failed in some way. She just has a way of noticing the energy in the air. So, for the proposal, Paul did something that is ill-advised; he winged a large part of it. It made sense – how could Youngshin pick up on something that hadn’t been planned out? Paul started the afternoon by taking Youngshin on a drive of Half Moon Bay. They were in the San Francisco area for Thanksgiving, and Paul had hidden the engagement ring carefully in his suit jacket. Paul began driving inwards from the coast, to the Windy Hill Summit that he knew would perfect his proposal. The only concern was that the sun would go down before arriving at the location. With much luck, Paul found a scenic spot and pulled the car over. The sun was about to set and everything was perfect, and Paul asked if Youngshin wanted to get out of the car to "enjoy the view." Leave it to Youngshin to ruin her own proposal, Youngshin refused to get out of the car because it was too windy at the top of the mountain. With this turn of events, Paul was forced to "pop the question" in the car just as the sun was setting. Even though things didn't go according to Paul's original plan, it was still the perfect proposal. P.S. Later that day, Paul told Youngshin he had been practicing getting down on one knee in his suit for the moment.