Leveling up together

Some say love is a battlefield — our story literally began on one. Being on opposing teams in a League of Legends match, Selena and Jin tried to outplay each other on the Summoner’s Rift and carry their teams to victory.  Little did they know that what began as a rivalry on an online multiplayer game would start a connection that would grow far beyond the game. On April 22, 2016, Selena decided to take a mental break from her rigorous college studies by logging into League of Legends. On the same day, Jin also took a break from school and logged into League. They both intended to play a few quick games of Ultra Rapid Fire (URF), the limited featured game mode at the time. Selena and Jin—complete strangers hidden behind a username—found themselves facing off against each other. Amid the battle, Selena was getting destroyed by Jin’s skills and was losing significantly. Instead of crushing her even more than he did, Jin decided to have some fun and hold a dance party at the dragon pit. Not one to back down from a challenge (or a good time), Selena joined in and had her character dance with Jin. Out of all the players in the game, Selena was the only one who joined Jin’s dance party shenanigans despite being his enemy. Jin thought Selena was incredibly cool for doing that, so he sent her a friend request after the match. After that one game, Selena and Jin went their separate ways. They were just two strangers who shared a moment in the middle of a game. Two weeks later, Jin logged onto League of Legends and spotted Selena online. Remembering their moment at the dragon pit, he sent her a message — and just like that, they started chatting and queuing up for games together. Despite meeting online, they found out they only lived 45 minutes apart (Jin living in Corona, CA, and Selena from Hawaii but attending school in Azusa, CA). They decided to meet in person after Jin had to prove to Selena’s college roommate, Alicia, that he wasn’t some catfish or serial killer. Their official hangout? Grabbing tickets for the 2016 League of Legends World Championship—one of the most significant events in esports—and attending the event together shortly after. After many hangouts with Selena, Jin quickly realized he had feelings for her. On the phone late one night with Selena, he worked up the courage to ask Selena to be his girlfriend. But Selena, having recently been through a breakup, gently rejected him and placed him in the friend zone. Selena, realizing what she had done, was scared to lose a friend like Jin and asked if he would be her friend after all of this. Jin agreed and took the friend-zoning like a champ because having her in his life was already a win. After that night, Jin and Selena continued to hang out as friends—enjoying many activities together, like trying new food places, playing games, and going on short trips. One year later, Selena thought long and hard about their relationship. On April 22, 2017, she decided to give Jin a chance and asked him to be her boyfriend. As you can imagine, the rest is history.  Now, Jin and Selena live together with their two cats Lynx and Toby. They enjoy going on food adventures, gaming, using all their PTO on trips, going on coffee runs to Dutch Bros, and of course, eating Korean bbq. They are excited to continue this life they’ve built together and are excited to celebrate with you!