Michel and Maria met on a dating app in 2018. As it turned out, it also matches people with the same birthday: 2nd of February. Michel initially assumed Maria was joking when she told him.

They spent the evening of their first date walking around Heerlen looking at street murals. Maria had just finished her Masters in Arts and Heritage and had a lot to say about them. Then drinks, and more drinks, and somewhere in between they missed the concert they had bought tickets for. A first kiss, a walk to the train station, and Maria was back on the train to Maastricht.

Not long after, Michel packed his large apartment into storage and moved into Maria's tiny studio. Then a bigger rental. Then a house of their own. And somewhere along the way, luck would strike and bring Arya into their life.