Where it all began
In 2012, Yu-Ann and Vikram headed out to Jakarta, Indonesia to work for PT Ruma, a social enterprise which focused on mobile banking. Yu-Ann was taking a six month internship prior to beginning business school and Vikram was taking an externship from consulting.
HER STORY
For a while at RUMA, I was relishing my status as the sole intern from the States (even if people were not entirely convinced I was from the US). I was learning a lot on the job, traveling to different cities and islands in Indonesia during the weekends. I later lost my status as the sole intern when our CEO, Aldi informed me two other interns would be joining the company during the summer. Being a stalker, I looked up Vikram on LinkedIn a few weeks prior to his joining our team. I noticed that he had already put in his profile that he was actively working at RUMA. I shelved it in my mind as a douchey move (people who know me well will understand, people who don't know me will just scratch their heads). I proceeded to be civil to him when he joined the company, but it didn't occur to me that we could be friends. We ended up grabbing happy hours drinks once in Lucy in the Sky, and surprisingly, I had a lot of fun. Halfway through, our boss Aldi popped up, startling us both. At the end of the night, we ended up in the ground floor of Vikram's apartment complex....to eat a plate of nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice!!). I bid him farewell, and then headed back to my apartment not thinking there would be more to the relationship.
HIS STORY
In 2012, I took a sabbatical from a job in New York. I became a Kiva Fellow (Kiva.org is the peer-to-peer social lending platform) and jetted off to spend 5 months at the Indonesia social enterprise / start-up PT Ruma. I came out to Jakarta, Indonesia a few days earlier and met up with some Wharton alumni. That’s when I first heard about the Ruma interns and this girl named Yu-Ann. My interest was immediately piqued when one of the guys asked me to get this girl’s phone number. My first encounter with her would come a few days later. Mid-way through my introduction to the entire company during the Monday all-hands, this girl in white pants barges in and takes a seat. Apparently, her flight coming back into Jakarta had been delayed – Yu-Ann ever the traveler was coming back from another one of her adventures. What was more irritating than the interruption was that this girl totally zoned out during my introduction as she pulled out her phone. For the next couple of weeks, Yu-Ann remained in her own world for or was perhaps purposely ignoring me (some evidence uncovered later suggests the latter). But eventually the coldness melted, and all was forgiven. The inflection point was when I finally got her out for a round of drinks. That night turned into a bit of a whirlwind – where our boss randomly showed up to the same bar and then we ended joining a couple of his co-workers out for a long night filled with other random events. Nevertheless, the night got me thinking that there was special about this girl, and the rest is history.
HOW WE STARTED DATING (PART I - FAIL)
During her second year in business school, Yu-Ann decided to run a half marathon in Philadelphia. She went to visit her good friend Annique, and had planned a chill weekend of catching up and eating (and running). She also reached out to Vikram, who was in his first year of business school. Vikram proposed grabbing drinks and they both had a great time catching up that Friday. Somewhere in the conversation, Yu-Ann brought up plans to spend New Year's in the Middle East. Vikram suggested they spend New Year's together in Beirut. They wrapped up drinks and agreed to follow up later on planning. However, Vikram had his eyes set on a far finer prize - Nick Naito. He ended up spending his New Year's with Nick gallivanting in Ghana and Yu-Ann spent that New Year by herself in Oman.
HOW WE STARTED DATING (PART 2 - ALMOST FAIL)
One year later, Yu-Ann found herself in San Francisco after business school unemployed. Vikram, who was just starting his second year in Wharton was "studying abroad" in San Francisco. Taking advantage of an opportune birthday wish, Vikram reached out to Yu-Ann to grab dinner while he was scoping out apartments for his semester abroad. On the night of the dinner, Yu-Ann texts Vikram apologetically mentioning that she might be late. She ended up running 1.5 hours late because of traffic from Paul McCartney's last concert in Candlestick park. During this time, Vikram got to know the Central Kitchen staff really well. After a rough start, Yu-Ann and Vikram had a wonderful dinner together, which was punctuated by only one awkward moment. Towards the end,
Vikram says: "We should hang" <mimic arm movements>.
<Yu-Ann smiles>
Vikram follows: "No, we should really hang."
<Yu-Ann nods awkwardly and excuses herself to go to bathroom. Then returns>
Vikram: "You know what I mean right?"
Yu-Ann: "Yes of course!"
<Silence>
Yu-Ann: "Well...I think my Lyft is coming. Good night!" <awkward hug and vanishes into a car>
THE PROPOSAL
The engagement was actually a long drawn out process (full disclosure: we had already put down the deposit for our venue prior to the engagement because we are romantic like that). Most, if not all, of the blame lands on Yu-Ann. Long story short, she was particular about the stone and the fact that she and Vikram had to make the rings themselves (thanks Adam @ Scintillant Studio!) This kicked off a three month search for the right diamond, and another one month wait to get into the jewelry studio to make their ring. But on February 11th - it happened!
Not everything was done though - the stone setter had to come in to drop the diamond into the prong setting. Yu-Ann picked up the ring on 2/14 (Valentine's Day), liked it so much that she has refused to take it off since then. Vikram meanwhile had secured a reservation at Saison a month in advance, but kept it a secret from her. The next day, Yu-Ann and Vikram headed to Saison after work. (Coincidental fact: when they were sitting at the bar waiting for their table, Lionel Richie's "Say You Say Me" started playing. This was the top song in the Billboard charts when Yu-Ann was born. As much as we'd like to think that Vikram engineered this, it was just a coincidence). They both knew what was coming, but what was surprising was Vikram shared a thoughtful, heartfelt speech at the end of the meal involving references to whale sharks. And Yu-Ann said yes.
