Chris was technically Shivali’s boss, a fact we’ve since agreed to politely gloss over, especially in the company of HR professionals and new coworkers. What began as professional chatter slowly escalated into daily banter (judging) about music on the office Sonos, an unhealthy number of GIFs, and repeated attempts at convincing Shivali to get a “Blue Magic” smoothie from Juice Press.

Then came COVID. The world shut down, and like everyone else, we disappeared into Zoom calls, banana bread, and existential dread. But when the city finally started to open back up, we reconnected. We hung out once: casual, friendly, nothing to see here, and then Chris launched his campaign: one man, one mission—to convince Shivali that an East Village beer crawl (R.I.P., Good Beers) was the path to happiness. After some polite resistance (and perhaps mild concern for his confidence levels), she agreed. It wasn’t technically a date, but Chris had a plan. He was right (a phrase he has since tried to trademark), and she was sold.

After fifteen months, multiple trips, a few weddings in the books, and a stealthy relationship hidden from our coworkers, we finally emerged from the shadows. We swapped Slack for FaceTime, office gossip for “what’s for dinner?”, NYC life for long walks, and started deciding whose family we were visiting next.

There were visits to Chicago to see Suyashi and Luke. Christmas in New Jersey with Chris’s mom. And many trips to Florida, where Chris slowly but surely convinced Shivali to let him become a full-time Florida Man, one golf round, one Publix sub, and one home-cooked meal at a time. With a five-month adventure in Montana, Oregon, and California somewhere in the middle!

Now, here we are, starting the next chapter. New jobs, new home, new life. Still arguing about who sent the first Slack emoji. Still blasting “Read My Mind.” Still pretending that our first date wasn’t totally a date.