Few women hope to be proposed to by a homeless man, unless that man turns out to be your boyfriend in disguise.
That’s how Mike King, 22, proposed to his girlfriend, Katie Barabas, 23, this past Saturday.
The young couple, both students at Bethel College Mishawaka, Ind., have dated for 11 months, and King wanted the proposal to be memorable, so he came up with a plan and invited friend Cody Clemons along to film the whole process.
“I was definitely extremely nervous,” King told Yahoo News. “I’m not typically nervous. The significance of this prank was a lot greater.”
The video, sound tracked by a soft rock cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” shows King anxiously getting into costume — which included multiple ratty sweatshirts, a mask, and a pair of sunglasses — before walking up to his girlfriend as she and others pass out pizza to the homeless in downtown South Bend, Ind.
It’s there that the disguised King confronts the unsuspecting Barabas, and after telling her she’s cute, proposes to her with a Ring Pop. She politely declines to answer, and it’s then that King reveals himself with a flourish, asking, “What about now?”
“He took off his mask and got down on one knee and I was in complete shock and in such joy,” Barabas told the news site.“It was so special the way he did it.”
While the costumed proposal may sound strange to some, it made perfect sense for the young couple, who are members of their college’s Feed the Homeless ministry.
“We love going there,” King said. “It’s one of our favorite locations.”