Where would be the least expected place for you to meet your future partner?

Maybe a slight bump onto each other's shoulders as we crossed the street? A laundromat, or a busy food court?

Out of all the unlikely places one would meet their future partner in life, our story started in the hustling, bustling parking lot. The Mesa Parking Structure at UCI.

I've never really been a car guy, but once in a while, I would steal some glances at cool cars here and there. That particular day, an obnoxious red-top convertible zoomed past me and parked a couple of spaces away from where I had just parked. An equally obnoxious preppy girl hopped out, with a matching plaid skirt to the convertible, stumbling clumsily around with a backpack that was clearly too large for her frame.

I started making my way to my 11 am Korean class. To my surprise, that same girl was walking in the same direction as I was - right in front of me (in the least stalker-ish way possible). She abruptly stopped right before we were about to cross the bridge that leads to the main college campus. I thought to myself:

"Why is this weird person stopping in the middle of the road, blocking everyone's path?"

Little did I know, she would be the same weirdo that I would be marrying 5 years down the line.

Language classes at universities - the closest you'll ever feel to be in high school all over again. Five days a week, every single day, with the same people for two whole years.

That morning I walked in, not expecting much as it was my second year taking that class. Excited, I greeted all my friends from the previous year, took my seat and sluggishly waited for class to start. It was already 11am, any moment now the professor would step in with her usual “안녕하세요 여러분”~

Three minutes into class, right after the professor sets down all her supplies, a preppy (and I use the term preppy very loosely) walks in all nonchalantly. With his white polo, gym shorts, and Havaianas sandals, he walks in calmly and picks the front row seat. I thought to myself;

“Interesting choice of outfit. He’s already late, how come he’s so calm? I would be stressing at this point.”

As the quarter went by, I caught myself often glancing towards that direction - never reciprocated as it seems like he was there for one thing, and one thing only - study Korean. He never spoke to anyone else in class and never even turned his head around to peak at the “back of the classroom gang”.

By the end of the quarter, we were encouraged to sign up for the following quarter’s class and two different times were offered. I found myself in a pickle - all my friends were only available at the time where I was not available! At that point, I had a mission - I will hunt down this mysterious front row nerd to be in the same class as me the following quarter.

Our story started with a simple DM on Instagram - after hours of me scrolling through every possible social media to find a way to contact this man. It was all worth it, he agreed to switch his class time within 15 minutes of small talk.

That 15 minutes of small talk turned into 5 years of relationship and a lifelong partnership.