Paul Walker: Couple Share Story Of How Actor Secretly Bought Their Engagement Ring

Paul Walker’s death hit fans hard, and in the days since the accident that claimed his life, people have been coming forward to share their stories of how the actor touched their lives.

Kristen and Kyle Upham were one of the many people the “Fast & Furious” star helped out, and they shared a very special previous encounter with Paul, with Access Hollywood.

“I had returned home from Iraq and we decided to drive up to Santa Barbara for the weekend and we were in a jewelry store, just window shopping and [there was] another guy in the store with us. … While she was looking at rings, I started talking to this guy for about 10, maybe 15 minutes,” Kyle told Access on Wednesday. “When he found out I [had] just gotten back from Iraq and he was shaking my hand and thanking me for my service and just treating me like a celebrity and then we exchanged names and…”

“Found out he was the celebrity,” Kristen chimed in.

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Kristen had picked out a ring (something Paul noticed), and was hoping to one day come back for it. Knowing they couldn’t take it home that day, Kristen and Kyle left the store.

“We decided to go get some lunch and got a phone call about half an hour later asking us to come back and we did,” Kyle said.

“I didn’t want to go back. I thought it was a trick, I thought they were gonna try to get us, just to put, like finance the ring and I didn’t want to do that either so I almost didn’t go back. He had to convince me to go back to the store,” Kristen said.

The couple decided to go back to the store, and that’s when they got the surprise of their lives – a surprise courtesy of Paul Walker.

“We both walk in and a girl comes walking from the back holding a bag and she gives it to me and says, ‘Here’s your ring.’ Like, ‘What do you mean, ‘Here’s my ring?’” Kristen said of her reaction.

Kristen and Kyle were told someone had paid for the engagement ring and it was hers to take home.

WATCH: Paul Walker’s Engagement Ring Gift: Couple Shares Star’s Generosity

“I was in shock. It’s still shocking to this day,” Kristen said.

At the time, the pair had no firm proof that the ring was courtesy of Paul, but they knew the actor had bought the sparkler.

“Out of all the people in the store, it was just me, Kyle, Paul Walker and the sales clerks. Those were the only people in the store and the only people who knew what was going on,” Kristen said. “So, process of elimination, we had to kind of assume that it was probably him and it was nice this weekend to finally get that final confirmation. It was a grand gesture, a really big one.”

That confirmation came when Santa Barbara jewelry store clerk Irene King told CBS LA that Paul bought a couple a $10,000 engagement ring after overhearing the woman’s sweetheart tell her he couldn’t afford it. That couple was Kristen and Kyle.

Kristen said she is not surprised by Paul’s generosity.

“In just in those few minutes, he struck me as somebody so real and so down to earth, he didn’t just portray himself as that, he really was down to earth,” she said.

And Paul’s death leaves the world a little emptier, Kristen said.

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“It’s definitely gonna leave a void in this world,” she told Access. “He really did a lot of stuff that I don’t think people have really come out with yet and he was obviously involved in charity work. … It wasn’t [ever] about him doing charity work; it was always about the charity work he did and, you know, I’m pretty sure there’ll be more stories coming out. “