We met at work in the middle of peak COVID chaos; masks, sanitizer, six feet apart…the whole deal. He was “the new guy” (and, as everyone liked to remind me, “the owner’s nephew”). For months, we somehow managed to work in the same place without ever crossing paths. Then fate or scheduling stepped in and assigned him to my quad. Suddenly, the new guy wasn’t just a rumor. We started talking, joking around, and before long we were hanging out with friends… which slowly turned into hanging out without friends. Somewhere between the laughter, awkward work glances, and pretending we weren’t flirting on the clock, we fell for each other. And the rest is history; pandemic-tested, workplace-approved, and better than anything we could’ve planned.