“If soulmates do exist, they're not found, they're made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and they get to work building a relationship.”

When Asia was in winter training for her job as an RA, it was required that she attend a basketball game to support the Plymouth State team, since no one was on campus to cheer them on. She doesn’t usually watch sports period, let alone college basketball, so she went begrudgingly. As she sat in the stands, she saw Merak and his family come in as they usually did because his sister, Zoe, LOVES college sports. Asia tried to focus on the game and not stare; she’d seen Merak around campus a few times but didn’t think she existed in his universe. What she didn’t know was that Merak HAD noticed her, and would reach out only a few short days later. Merak’s mom took Merak and his sister to games all the time, but THIS time, she snapped a photo of him. Asia happened to be in the background of that photo. His mom had inadvertently caught the very beginning of their story, just two weeks before they’d start dating.

Just three months into dating, Merak and Asia were forced to stay sequestered in their family homes due to COVID. Asia had been unceremoniously evacuated from her dorm, her campus, and her job as an RA. With the relationship being so new, Asia wondered if this interruption would end her time with Merak before it could really begin. However, instead of allowing things to fizzle, Merak and Asia talked on the phone every night. They watched movies (VERY carefully synchronized), dug through the bowels of Etsy to find haunted dolls for sale, and wrote letters to each other. They learned how to communicate well, and their connection blossomed. When they were reunited, it was like no time had passed.