Mark was flying home from Barcelona. Lauren had recently visited New York. Because of JFK, both of their locations were temporarily set to Queens. Somewhere in between flights, time zones, and two different lives, they matched on Hinge. Mark sent the first message: “Nice to Hinge meet you.” Lauren laughed and replied that she wasn’t actually from New York — she lived in the UK and had forgotten to change her location. Most people probably would have left it there. They didn’t. What started as a conversation quickly became part of each other’s everyday lives. Their first FaceTime call was the following month on Lauren’s birthday. In August, shortly after Lauren bought her first home, Mark flew to the UK to see her for the first time. That December, Lauren spent Christmas with Mark in New York for the first time. Somewhere along the way, Lauren started calling him “NY.” One night, while walking through the city together, they passed an “I Love NY” sign. Lauren almost accidentally said the words out loud for the first time. Later that night, before they went to sleep, Mark said them first. Since then, they’ve met each other’s families and friends, traveled together, and begun building a life that once existed only through text, Facetime, airport gates, and time differences. What began by chance became something neither of them could imagine letting go of. And this is only the beginning.