Chapter 1: Kismet or strategy?
Most love stories have 2 key members...this one has 3. Suchi, Pavan, and Nakul.As many of you know, Suchi and Pavan were on competitive dance teams in college, namely Gator Adaa and Spartan Badmash. In other words, they'd use their parents' hard-earned money to stay at dance practice until 3 a.m., travel to different states on the weekends, and call that studying.
In 2019, they both were in their 3rd year of college. Suchi was "working hard" on her business degree at the University of Florida (Go Gators), and Pavan was studying electrical engineering at not University of Michigan, but the other one (Go Green) and their paths randomly crossed at a Michigan-based comp early that year. So where does Nakul slot in?
For some background on these competitions, the weekend kicks off with a mixer on Friday, followed by the competition and after party on Saturday. Each team competing has a local liaison who takes care of them throughout the weekend. Nakul, Pavan's roommate and best friend, was Gator Adaa's liaison that weekend. So, naturally, leading up to the weekend, they both went through the roster in search of wives on the all-girls team.
So the "random crossing of paths" was actually weeks of meticulous planning from the pair.
Chapter 2: A Change of Heart
After Pavan and Suchi's teams won 1st and 3rd, respectively, they headed over to the judges' meeting, where the judges shared their feedback and explained their scores. While they were patiently waiting their turn outside, Suchi overheard some guys talking about "that all-girl team" and automatically whipped her head in the direction of the comment. She then locked eyes with Pavan, who finished his statement with, "They deserved 2nd, hands down."
Until this point, Suchi thought of his team as the bearded all-boys team, with Timbs and too much testosterone, but the validating statement warmed her icy heart. She rode the placing high and compliment all the way to the afterparty.
Queue Nakul. As everyone was enjoying the after party, he decided this would be the best time to bring around his group of most eligible bachelors, aka this other guy and Pavan. Suchi chose to talk to Pavan. She thought, "nerdy look, shy, easy on the eyes...seems like a safe option." They ended up hitting it off and continued talking after the competition- starting with brief Snapchats, which turned to lengthy texts, which turned to falling asleep on FaceTime.
Truly a love story of the digital age.
Chapter 3: Corny Takes the Cake
They continued talking and planned to meet again when Pavan's team went to Nationals in Atlanta. At this point, both had made it known that they had feelings for the other but knew the distance would be a significant obstacle down the line since they lived 1000 miles away from each other, so they proceeded with caution.
On April 20, Suchi picked him up in her dad's 2001 Sequoia, and they headed to Ponce Market for lunch (image of the remains of the parking ticket from the date attached). Suchi nervously waited for him to officially ask her out the entire lunch but he didn't say anything. She started losing faith and mentally came to terms with being a free lunch and an Uber ride. As she pulled up to his hotel to drop him back off, Pavan, being the last-minute king he is, finally mustered up the courage and said, "Wanna be my girl." While most would've turned this down, Suchi chalked the statement and delivery up to nerves and said yes.
It was and always will be the best decision she made.
The End. Enjoy watching their love grow over the years!
