It was late December of 2021, at a hostel in Miami Beach—

Two strangers from opposite sides of the world happened to be assigned the same bunk. Yari was visiting the U.S. for the first time from Italy. Allyson was escaping a cold Chicago winter (despite her girlfriends bailing on the trip). It was the end of Allyson's first year as a lawyer at Smith LaCien, and for the first few days, she could be found working at all hours of the night in the hostel lobby. Meanwhile, Yari and their roommate, Mauricio, assumed Allyson was out partying every night, and made it their mission to befriend her to get invited...sorry guys!

Given the three-way language barrier, their conversations were held together by charades, patience and Google Translate, but somehow they became fast friends...and for Yari and Allyson, something more by New Years Eve, when they shared their first kiss.

At the end of their vacation, their return plans changed when they all discovered they had COVID--which meant Yari and Mauricio could not get home to Italy and Argentina. Allyson proposed the “Tres Boludos” quarantine all together at her apartment in Chicago. They happily accepted, and spent another couple weeks together making focaccia, playing games, and drinking Aperol Spritzes (to kill the COVID, of course).

Then, somewhere between the COVID tests and game nights, Allyson realized she really didn’t want Yari to leave--and Yari realized he really wanted to stay.

With his clear COVID test, before flying home, Yari asked Allyson be his girlfriend and promised he’d return and go to school in Chicago. Two months later, he did just that—having sold his car, quit his job, and moved his life across the ocean, for school...and they’ve been together ever since 💕