Boarding a flight to Boston from Los Angeles in January 2018, Alex Zhou noticed a cute guy helping someone with their bag. The guy, Eddie Lin Kay, turned out to be her seatmate.

She spent the flight with headphones on, watching “Merlin,” a TV show, on her iPad. Hours later, as the plane began its descent, the two introduced themselves and Mr. Kay said that if she liked “Merlin,” she would enjoy another show called “Chuck.”

They spoke as the plane landed and taxied, and as they made their way into the airport, an unusual move for Ms. Zhou. “Normally, I shut random strangers down very easily when they try to talk to me,” she said.

But when they reached a bathroom, Mr. Kay peeled off and they went their separate ways.

A week later, Ms. Zhou said she searched on Google: “What’s the threshold for adding a random person as a friend on Facebook?” The results said they should have mutual friends; they didn’t. She disregarded them and sent Mr. Kay an invite anyway.

The next day, Mr. Kay messaged her, they began chatting, and several weeks later, on Feb. 19, they went on their first date in Boston: lunch at the now-closed Gourmet Dumpling House. Mr. Kay chose the restaurant because Ms. Zhou, who was born and raised in Nanjing, China, told him that she missed quality Chinese food.

Ms. Zhou, 32, moved to the United States in 2009 to attend the University of Southern California, where she received a bachelor’s degree in international relations. She went on to receive a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She also received a master’s degree in economics from Brown, where she completed a Ph.D. in economics this week.