It's happening!!

We like to believe that we are the silver lining to the cliché "love comes around when you are least expecting it.", because that's exactly what happened to us. Just about an entire year before we met, Ashley had been watching out for Allen, without ever knowing him. Ashley was working at the fire department for just about a year when Allen's sister's fiancé (who Ashley has known since they were 9), asked if the fire department was hiring. They weren't at the moment, but 3 months later, Allen was able to apply and was put on a waiting list. We were both working on bettering ourselves, working/applying for better jobs, and starting to rejoin the gym. And that's where we first met. Allen's sister (who Ashley went to high school with, and mentioned above) encouraged Allen to join her, just as Ashley's sister did to her. "I remember the first day Allen walked into our 535AM class. My sister watched him stroll over to his station, and then looked at me and said "That's him Ashley, that's your husband.". And I said... "No."." Allen's sister introduced us, and the more we saw each other, the more we grew towards friendship. Eventually Allen was called in for an interview, and we must have been blind to our chemistry because all of Ashley's coworkers noticed the sparks between us as we talked to each other before and after Allen's interviews, so much so that one of them asked HR to see the book of applicants so she could show her the picture of "Diaz's husband". To both of our benefit, Allen was hired, and even the chief made sure to make it known he saw what was going on between us (even if we didn't) as he asked Allen "What are your intensions with my administrative assistant?" and to Ashley's surprise, Allen said "NOTHING WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!!" Allen, being the good guy that he is, wanted to thank Ashley for the help she extended during the application process, so he took her to lunch. That's when Ashley knew she wanted to be with him. "He was so genuinely himself, he made me laugh, he bought pastries for the office, and invited me to be his plus one for his sister's wedding." As he started orientation, Allen started to quickly fall for Ashley too, and this time we were starting to see it. That was November 2021. December 2021, we started hanging out more and Allen one evening, being cheeky, asked Ashley if he were to ask her out on a date, would he have to ask her dad for permission. Ashley froze up, got out of the car, panic slammed the door shut, and walked up to her house. All before she would come back to tell him, he could ask her on a date whenever he wanted. On January 2nd (Ashley's birthday), Allen asked Ashley to be his girlfriend. "And we have fallen in love with each other more and more each day since. We love our story because the people we care about most were there from the beginning, watching and waiting for our happiness, threatening the both of us to make this work. And now witnessing the commitment between the two of us, as we become one."