I first met Chizu on a date back on September 2019. Through a mutual friend, we ended up being each other's date. We were not the most pleased but we decided to try. To be honest, neither of us remember much of this date except for the few episodes of anime that we have watched. Fast forward to January 2020, I made it a personal goal to get to know people in my church. One of the first people was actually Chizu. We ran into each other at the altar in the church building. I asked him if we could hang out together. We hung out later that month. We both originally thought this hang out was only going to be two hours max. It ended up being around six to seven hours. From here on out, we constantly went back and forth asking each other to hang for the next year. There were a few times, admittedly, that I avoided Chizu like the plague (because I did not know how to deal with my feelings) and Chizu forgot about me for a second or two. He tried very hard to hang out with me, which I kept rejecting over and over again. Eventually, I caved but I still refrained from hanging out with his friends to keep myself from getting too deep into the friendship. The realness came in around the end of 2020 when I decided, due to mental health reasons, that I had to go back home. This was the pivotal point when we realized we would dearly miss each other. However-- we still would NOT admit to themselves that we liked each other even then... In Feb 2021, after experiencing COVID, I finally met up with Chizu once again. At this point in time, I thought that I didn't like Chizu anymore. I was DEAD wrong. We ended up hanging out almost every other day. Chizu finally accepted that he likes me, his best friend for the past two years. Once both of us accepted our own feelings, we sent each other signals that we were interested to each other. By March 2021, we started officially dating. From March 2021 to July 2023, there were a lot of ups and downs. I went through things. Chizu went through things. We both dealt with our own struggles of mental health, finances, dealing with our jobs, and other relationships besides our own. We also REALLY had to learn how to be a team. AND we did it all together. We really have been through thick and thin. And now, we are here about to step into the next stage in our lives. Thanks for reading up till this point.

When we first met, it was through a friend of a friend of a friend. Nothing much was said, but we were invited to a handful of smaller events, without ever speaking intently. At that time, both parties were at one of the lows in life, both mentally and emotionally, and were certainly not looking for companionship. Fast forward a couple of months, and we find ourselves on a double date together. Not much to be shared about the date, as I'm sure Wonjin will attest to, besides making sushi and watching episodes of lesser-known anime each of us had grown up watching. A riveting start, I'm sure. Once again, we move two months in the future, and that's where things really took off. At the end of January 2020, we came across each other, and made a point to hang out. When the time came, what was supposed to be a two hour venture turned into 6 hours. My dinner went untouched, because we ended up so engrossed in conversation! That set the undertones for our friendship; not the uneaten meals, but just our compatibility. She quickly became one of my best friends, and I, hers. There were times where we thought we were spending too much time hanging out or texting one another, so we'd make the conscious effort to put a pause on things. I later found out that where the season that we spent mostly apart had left me returning to old relationships, for Wonjin, it had been a respite for feelings to dissipate. It was almost a cycle, the ebb and flow of our relationship. When we met with each other again at long last, it felt like I had found the person who really understood me. I tried relentlessly to include her in my circle, which she abjectly refused time and time again. I once again found out later that she was shielding herself from feelings that were then unrequited. Since at that time, I was working, and she was hard at work finishing her masters, a lot of our hangouts were over lunch and dinners, where I could see something was taking a toll on her, but did not have a scope of what or how much. Nine months after we had started this friendship, she announced that she was going back home, where she would remain for another 2-3 months. It was in that time that it became apparent to me how pivotal it was to have her in my life. I had even contemplated driving up to her parents' place (which would have been a terrible decision, had I gone through with it). Wonjin returned to Florida in January 2021, but made it a point not to see me for a few weeks, citing "Covid safety protocol". I begrudgingly left her alone until she'd say she was ready to spend time again, and would you believe it, she went and ACTUALLY got Covid! After missing my birthday, and having to quarantine for another almost 4 weeks (Covid practices were wild before the vaccines were made available), I missed my best friend deeply. I was not prepared for the whirlwind of emotions that were to follow, however. It only took from February 17, 2021 to March 21, 2021 for us to officially start dating. Since then, we've had an enormous amount of changes, stress, burdens, and trials thrown our way. But we braved those together. These troubles only served to give our relationship the growth it has experienced to this day; through two and a half years of dating, and four months of engagement, as of writing this. That growth was also complemented with much longing, laughter, and love, which I believe all serve well in fueling a relationship through harder times. I thank all of you that have helped us this far, both by not letting us completely running away, and just being you. It's part of the reason that got us in the same place, same time to meet each other. It's also part of the reason why you're reading this now. I hope that you will join us on our special day, and share in our happiness with each other.