Mani and I met junior year of high school. We were in three classes together, and I didn't know he existed until halfway through the term when I brought my anatomy project, a flour baby, into English class and set him on my desk. Mani told me how good I did making this sack of flour look like an actual child. My face flashed BRIGHT RED, as it did when a cute guy talked to me, and as I was walking to my next class, I noticed that he was walking to the same building as I was. Wait a second, I thought to myself, IS HE IN MY FRENCH CLASS?? Sure enough, even though it took me three months to notice, he was, and luckily for me we were getting new seats that day! I waited as Mrs. Hoffman called out each name, pointing to each seat. I ended up sitting a few seats down the long table across from him, and he sat directly next to my friend Lauren who HATED him. So, Lauren begged me to switch seats with her and since this Mani guy was so dang handsome, I didn't hesitate to say yes. A few weeks went by of Mani and I talking. He would tease me by pulling my chair out from under me every time I tried to sit down and always made fun of the fact that I wore floral-patterned shirts at least three days a week (hence his nickname for me, "flower girl"). And finally, on March 4, 2017, only two months before the end of junior year, he asked me out. Lauren Julin if you ever read this, thank you for hating my fiancé, truly.

On my birthday, Mani woke me up with my favorite Starbucks drink and a cake pop. He took me to our favorite breakfast place, Chubby's Diner. Little did I know, this would be my last breakfast with him as my boyfriend. The day was perfect already, but it wasn't good enough for him. He told me to close my eyes on the way to the next place we were going, and it ended up being Strike's Bowling Alley, which was where we had our first date and celebrated our one year anniversary. We had a cute bowling date, and then decided to go shopping until our "dinner reservation," which I was super excited about. He had told me that the reservation was at 6:30, and that we should leave the Fountains at 6:00. Well, 6:00 rolled around, and then it was 6:10, and I asked him why we hadn't left yet. He told me that he thought it was at 6:30, but it was actually at 7:00. Turns out, while we were waiting, his best friend Karson was struggling to set everything up and needed a little bit more time. Finally 6:30 rolled around, and he told me that I needed to close my eyes again because he didn't want me to know which restaurant he was taking me to. When we got out of the car, I kept my eyes closed. It felt like we were walking for at least ten minutes (even though it was only like three), and with my eyes still closed, he led me off of the sidewalk, into grass. We walked towards the spot where it all happened, and when we finally got there, he told me to open my eyes when he got to one. He let go of me, and counted down from three. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a beautiful rose petal heart surrounding me. I started crying, and looked up. In front of me, there was a beautiful fountain in the middle of a golf course. I didn't see him, so I turned around, and he was down on one knee. I was so unbelievably happy as I heard him say the words that I had been dreaming of since our first date. It was the most perfect day, and I wouldn't change one single part of it.