We first crossed paths during our secondary school days at Sutomo 1 in Medan, from July 2009 to June 2011. Although we were aware of each other’s presence, our focus remained on academics, and we rarely spent time outside the classroom during breaks.
Fast forward to 2021, during the pandemic, when Stephannie came across an Insta Story of Arvin working on his research. What began as a small discussion about our work soon blossomed into deeper conversations on personal topics. However, we didn’t start a relationship then, as both of us were committed to pursuing our individual goals—Arvin working towards his PhD in engineering and Stephannie advancing her medical career. At that time, we went our separate ways.
Over the years, Arvin made several attempts to meet Stephannie whenever he visited Medan, but it wasn’t until August 2023 that we truly reconnected. Initially, Stephannie was hesitant to begin a long-distance relationship, and Arvin faced rejection once again.
After a long and winding journey, she finally said yes on September 20, 2023, at around 2 AM. “I felt like I was giving an oral presentation just to convince her,” Arvin recalls. But as they say, the third time’s the charm.
Since then, we’ve grown from two individuals with shared personalities and a similar fashion sense into a team that complements each other in countless ways. Our conversations have evolved from “How do antibiotics work?” and “What’s new in your research?” to “When’s your next day off?”, “How’s your day?” and “What should we have for dinner?”