"Wow, this guy is a total jerk." That was most certainly her first impression of me after an encounter with my dry, sarcastic humor that often left people baffled as to whether I was being serious or just kidding around. Her roommate left the country that semester, leaving her desperate enough to give me a second chance at being her friend. As it turned out, I was a great friend. I'd help her with random requests, furnish her apartment, and build her furniture. Things that friends would do for each other. Little did I know, her interest in me was piqued. She was testing me with request after request to see if I really was a nice guy, worthy of being her first love interest. Fortunately for me, I passed the test and became her college crush. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't aware. For a long time. About 9 months later, she was ready to abandon this futile effort. Luckily, my quest for a higher GPA led me to dig deep into the Berkeley coursework for "easy A" classes. Enter legal studies 161, a class about Chinese law. "Oh, Lin Lin, you're taking this class too? That's great! We can take it together!" A life changing decision on my part. Amazing class. To this day, I can recall nothing about anything that I learned in that class. About halfway through the course, she comes to me with a peculiar request: "Please stop texting me for the next two weeks, I need some time to focus on my midterms." Okay, sure. Sounds weird but sure. Whatever works for you, I guess. And boy was it difficult. Not talking to her was hard. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to tell her about something in my day, and had to delete my text. Eventually, I realized what the problem was: I was smitten. When I confessed, I'm sure her eyes must have rolled so far back that she was able to see her brain. And the rest is history.