Some stories start with grand plans. Ours started with a random “yes.” Yes to a padel match on a freezing October night in London, on the other side of the city, when staying home sounded much better—and where I didn’t know a single person, just covering for my colleague Sasha. But that one yes led straight to Ryan. From my side, I met this American guy who made absolutely no sense on paper: adventurous, funny, sporty, spontaneous… and somehow working in finance(!). Which felt a bit like finding someone who skydives on weekends but also genuinely enjoys spreadsheets. (Suspicious, but intriguing) From Ryan’s side, he met a random girl who showed up last minute—slightly competitive—and, importantly, Spanish… which he saw as the perfect opportunity to practice yet another one of the many languages he’s always trying to learn ;P We kind of clicked and instead of going on a normal, straightforward path, we added a bit of back-and-forth and a few almost-plans—just to keep things interesting. Then came the “tennis date.” Ryan invited me to play… and also invited two of his (guy)friends. So instead of a romantic one-on-one, we had a full doubles situation. And just to make things even better, I didn’t actually know how to play tennis. It had all the ingredients to be a disaster. But somehow, it wasn’t. There was a lot of laughing, a lot of chaos, and Ryan (against all odds) made it a genuinely great date. Tacos and margaritas after the game (our shared weakness). A couple of drinks in, and suddenly… everything fell into place. Padel brought us together—but that first margarita made it official. The rest is history (!!)