It was late November in 2018.

Emily had given up on trying to find a man the old-fashioned way and re-downloaded Tinder. She updated her pictures since a few of her friends had recently turned 21 and she thought she looked cute in the pictures they had taken.

Graham had swiped right on a girl who he thought was cute, but actually recognized a friend of his in one of her pictures. He reached out and asked how she knew Michelle, as she was in one of his friend groups (Ping Pong Clob) that regularly played volleyball or hung out in their dorm rooms.

Little did Graham know, Michelle was one of Emily's best friends, the first that she had made at Purdue. And while she had spent time with nearly all of her friend groups at one point or another, she had never spent time the whole of Ping Pong Clob, and had therefore never met Graham. Emily had joked to Michelle before that she needed to introduce her to one of her many single guy friends, as she felt she needed a wingwoman. Without even trying - that's essentially what she did.

The conversation about and shared love for the incredible human that is Michelle Hunkeler broke the ice and Graham and Emily were in near constant communication from that day forward. Instead of keeping the conversation in the app, they took to Snapchat to learn more about one another: where they were from, what shows they liked to watch, what their previous relationships had been like, and more. Since they had met near the end of the semester, studying for finals was in full force. There was no in-person meeting in 2018, but they were always chatting or snapping.

It wasn't until early January when they went on their first date to dinner at the Purdue Memorial Union - while Michelle being his friend gave the impression that he wasn't a serial killer, you can never be too careful. After that initial meeting on January 1st, they had a few dates here and there before Graham made it official on the first night of February.

It's been 5 years since then, and so much has happened in the time that passed. They graduated from Purdue in the midst of a global pandemic. Graham moved to Merrillville, Indiana, to pursue a career in engineering at Southlake Automation, while Emily moved home to Indianapolis without a job planned. Long distance was tough, but they made it work, traveling back and forth every few weeks. Eventually, Emily got a job in Avon, which allowed her to pursue her career in marketing, but didn't get her much closer to him.

After about a year and a half at Legends, she was up for a few internal job promotions/changes, and requested that with this adjustment that she go fully remote. With permission from her new boss, she planned the move up with Graham. While his apartment had plenty of space, they planned to upgrade to a slightly larger apartment when the lease ended, especially so they could one day get a dog.

They transferred to a different building at the same complex-specifically a pet-friendly, second story apartment with nicer appliances and ceiling fans-and soon were buying a couch, planning for a dog, and continuing to talk about the future.

The proposal took place on the day they celebrated their five year anniversary, as the actual date landed on a Thursday when Graham was in Michigan at a training class. After painting pottery and having drinks at their favorite cidery, they had an early dinner and then headed home to their sweet golden doodle pup, Jarvis.

Emily had resolved that they weren't getting engaged that day, and that was alright - they had a great day today and they were happy, and that's what mattered. After settling in for the night to play a Hunt A Killer murder mystery, they reviewed the evidence list to make sure everything was there.

The last item Emily couldn't find was a threatening note that was sent to the deceased prior to his death. After shuffling through the papers, she found a piece of thin paper that read "WILL" in red letters. In her mind, she's like Oh, this is the note, it probably reads, 'I WILL KILL YOU,' straight and to the point. However, the next word to fall out was "MARRY" and she got confused-Why would the would MARRY be in a threatening note? "Marry??" she questioned. Graham looked at her and with a ring box in his hand, said "Yeah, will you marry me?"