Not many people, not even most of Ellen and William's mutual friends, realized the two met in New York.
[0. Prologue] [1. NYC] [2. HK / PDX] [3. Indian Beach]
Ellen
William used to go on some stress-relief lunches near Ellen's workplace with her friend and their other buddies. He was quite a talker, according to this friend.
One day, Ellen went shopping with her friend, and William. Considering he was willing to tag along for no particular reason, Ellen thought he might want to date her friend. Though interested in knowing more about this person, Ellen hinted William to consider dating her friend. He looked surprised, but well, maybe he wanted to save face, she thought.
Ellen needed a new laptop, and her friends turned her to William for advice, as he was interning at IBM. William "betrayed" his company by recommending a Sony VAIO.
Ellen was invited to attend William's birthday party, and she did, but lost her job the next day. It made that party much more memorable.
She then went back to Hong Kong, but was in New York for a friend's wedding several months later. William sat next to her in the car to Long Island. The first thing he did was complimenting her "sparkling" pendant that she bought from a modest street stall in Hong Kong. Ellen thought he was either being sarcastic or had nothing else to say.
William
According to their common friends, Ellen was a girl who loved shoes, and had strong opinions on many issues.
William remembered clearly his first encounter with Ellen. For some reason, they walked side-by-side with each other in New York City. Ellen suggested William strongly to date their common friend. While William was not too familiar with Ellen at that time, he thought Ellen could be the kind of girl that he liked. Well... Ellen's persuasion was considered a "there-is-absolutely-no-chance-between-us" message to William.
Later, Ellen asked William for suggestions for purchasing laptops, and that was when William suggested a Sony to her, as he had been using one himself then.
The only occasion during which they had taken any pictures was at William's birthday party.
Several months after the party, Ellen decided to leave New York City and went back to Hong Kong. William continued pursuing his doctorate at Columbia.
About a year later, they attended a wedding of a common friend in New York. They took one photo together with another brother.
After that, they didn't contact each other for a while. William moved to Portland upon graduation while Ellen stayed in Hong Kong for her job.