The unlikeliest pair.
Born in Texas but Argentine by heart, Maximo grew up in Texas, Japan and Argentina -- spending his young adult years keeping Austin weird and playing tennis and of course, growing his brain so he could contribute to the tech world as a responsible adult.
Andrea, born and raised in Singapore, had always dreamed of seeing the world and learning about different cultures -- which she did through farming adventures in Canada and regional programs in Myanmar, Japan, Cambodia and Thailand. "Not America, for sure" were her famous last words. In 2022, the tech world called her to Austin and landed her in the Metaverse y'all.
In the world of Virtual Reality (VR), Andrea continued to be the quiet one who never speaks in meetings while Maximo was described by many as 'Measurement Guy'. Both were driven and single-mindedly focused at work - resulting in a professional relationship our then manager could only describe as "great collaborators".
One fine work trip in Chilliwack, Canada where they had nowhere else to go after work (and also where Andrea had funnily once farmed at), a friendship started to bloom between Maximo, Andrea and our friend... Stephen (not our Steve - we love him) as we climbed the Grouse Grind (just a team bonding walk), ate extremely spicy ramen and cycled around Stanley Park. "I have bro friends at work!!" Andrea told her mum...also famous last words.
That December, we both suddenly realised we were humans outside of work and started talking about anything and everything. After about a month of endless 'hahahas' on text, we finally met in person at work to the most awkward group lunch at work ever.
As strong believers in ripping the band-aid of awkwardness off, we then had our first date in PJs one icy winter night with Maximo's cats (the only way Andrea can be incentivized to be social) and proceeded to spend everyday together since then.
The unlikeliest pair but somehow were meant to be.