In August 2014, Serena and Jesse met as resident assistants in NYU’s Brittany Hall. Serena had grown up in Tokyo, Jesse in New Jersey, but suddenly they were side by side—tasked with watching over forty nineteen-year-olds learning independence for the first time in New York City. Between late-night rounds, endless bulletin board projects, and whispered check-ins outside dorm doors, a friendship bloomed.

Jesse, though, knew it was more than friendship. For months, he carried a quiet certainty about Serena, waiting patiently while she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all. And then, one snowy night, when Winter Storm Juno hushed the city, everything between them shifted.

After graduation, they moved in together, filling small apartments with too much wine and whiskey and just enough plants. They’ve traveled the world side by side, from the neon of Tokyo to the quiet of hidden coastlines. Somewhere along the way, they picked up new adventures too: running marathons (until Serena got faster and Jesse wisely retired), and skiing, where Jesse still has the edge and Serena is determined to catch him on the slopes.

And then—nearly ten years later—Jesse proposed in the Brittany Hall library. The very same dorm where it all began, only this time the project wasn’t a bulletin board, but something much bigger: planning a whole life together… and one epic party.