On April 12, Yul Kwon proposed to his girlfriend, Sophie Tan, at a benefit concert he helped organize at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Popping the question in a public forum, he jokes, was part of his strategy to shock her into agreement. Hey, it worked.

 

The following is an e-mail exchange between KoreAm and the happy couple:

 

Tan: It feels like I’ve been riding on Cloud 9 since the proposal! Yul did such a superb job at surprising me — I was utterly stunned and could barely fumble out the word yes! As nervous as Yul was, I think he always knew I’d accept in a heartbeat.

 

Kwon: Although it’s funny that neither of us actually remember her saying yes. I’ve heard from friends who were nearby, however, that she said, “Uh … yeah.” One thing I love about Sophie is her poetic nature.

 

Tan: Yes, the poetry doesn’t flow out very smoothly when I’m all choked up.  My first reaction was to just nod.

 

Kwon, 33, an Asian American activist and entrepreneur, and Tan, 29, who works as a product manager at a mortgage bank, met on a blind date a week before the “Survivor” finale in 2007. “The idea of dating a realty star seemed a bit obscure, [but] Yul turned out to be such a sweet and giving guy,” Tan says. 

 

As for the ring: “It’s a 2.2 carat, cushion-shape diamond set in a classic four-prong setting, crafted in platinum,” Yul describes. “I don’t know what half this stuff means, but it sure looks shiny.”