Laís and Paul met on a cold January night in 2020 — with no warning and no intention, the kind of coincidence that only makes sense when you look back on it. They were each out with friends, each with their own plans, and neither imagined that an ordinary Saturday night would become the beginning of something so important.

After a softball game with friends, Paul and his group decided to head downtown for a few drinks. Their first choice of bar didn’t work out, because the bouncer wouldn’t let Paul in over his sneakers — a small detail that ended up steering the night in just the right direction. So they went on to Belfast Love instead, with no idea that one simple detour had already changed everything.

A few hours later, as the bar was closing and the last calls for drinks were being turned away, Laís reached the counter at the very same moment as Paul. Since it was no longer possible to order alcohol, she asked for a glass of water and, with a touch of boldness and humor, asked if he’d like to share it. They talked just enough to spark curiosity and interest, and before heading back to their friends, Paul asked for her number. He would later say it was the best decision of his life.

A week later came their first date: ramen, a game of pool, a few drinks and — sitting at the table with music in the background — their first kiss. More dates followed, including Laís’s first live sports game in Canada, until the world came to a stop. The pandemic kept them physically apart for a while, but they kept talking, laughing, and choosing each other however they could. On May 24, 2020, they officially became a couple.

From there, their story was built in stages and “firsts”: moving in together in April 2021, road trips across Canada, exploring Toronto, Laís’s first baseball and hockey games, weekends at Paul’s family cottage, and discovering that Christmas can indeed happen in 35°C — when Paul came to Brazil for the first time to meet Laís’s family in December 2021. In 2022, they welcomed Tobey, the dog who taught them about patience, partnership, and the kind of love that comes from building a little family.

Among so many adventures, a tradition was born: every year, in August, visiting sunflower fields — Laís’s favorite flower. And so it was that, in August 2024, in a quiet corner of a sunflower field, with cold champagne and a photographer hidden among the flowers, Paul asked Laís to marry him.

Six years after sharing a glass of water in a bar where neither of them had planned to be, Laís and Paul are now planning their wedding, excited for the next chapter — a chapter that is, at once, a beginning and a promise for a lifetime.