Andye and Steven met by chance on the Paris subway.
(CNN) --
Andye had planned to spend just three days in Paris.
On the first day, she got on the subway train that would change her life forever.
It was September 2016. Andye, born in Haiti and raised in the United States, was 25 years old and finishing her master's degree in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
She was in that middle phase of a career where school is over, but graduation is yet to come.
"I decided, 'I'm going to travel for a month and then I'm going back to Amsterdam,'" Andye tells CNN Travel.
Andye planned a month-long adventure exploring Italy, Greece, Egypt, and India.
On the way back, she stopped by Paris to visit a close friend, Seyna, who lived in the French capital and looked after some of Andye's belongings.
"I got on the subway to go back to my friend's house, where I had left my bags," Andye recalls to CNN Travel.
"And that's where he got on."
"He" was Steven, a 26-year-old master's student from the Central African Republic studying in Paris and working part-time at a school.
(Andye and Steven have asked that only their first names be used for privacy reasons.)
advertising
When Steven boarded the train, the car was already full of passengers.
He was one of several standing passengers.
Meanwhile, Andye sat with her travel bag on her knees and her headphones on.
Steven noticed her right away.
"I thought she was really beautiful," Steven tells CNN Travel.
A love story that began on Valentine's Day in the Himalayas
A few stops passed, the car emptied, the seats were freed, and Steven ended up sitting across from Andye.
He didn't stop looking at her.
She also seemed to be looking at him.
Her eyes met continuously.
Andye also noticed Steven in the crowd of travelers.
"We kept looking at each other," he recalls.
"He would turn around to look at me and I would look away, and we were like that for about 15 minutes, looking at each other and looking away."
As the train sped through the Parisian streets, Steven tried to think of a polite way to strike up a conversation with the girl with the backpack.
He wanted to talk to her, but he was also aware that he had to respect her space and her privacy.
Meanwhile, Andye silently fantasized about the stranger in front of him.
He recalls that he was struck by her "calming energy."
"He had really nice, muscular arms. I was like, 'Wow, he looks like someone I could give a good hug to.'"
As these thoughts passed through Andye's mind, another one followed, sinking.
"I said to myself, 'What if it's my husband, but I'll never know? Because I'm going to get off this train without ever talking to him.'"
"Then at some point, when our eyes finally met, and neither of us turned around, I saw his lips move. So I took one of the headphones off."
meeting in the subway
Steven and Andye started chatting while on the same Paris metro train in September 2016. Credit: @DyeTravels
In French, Steven suggested that Andye move his heavy backpack to the now empty seat next to him.
Andye, who is fluent in French, replied that it was not necessary: the backpack was not heavy.
"Then I somehow didn't put my headphones back on, because I expected us to keep talking," says Andye.
"And so the conversation continued."
Steven asked her if Andye was a student, because of the backpack, and she told him about her studies.
Steven explained that he, too, was pursuing a master's degree.
"At some point, I had to get off the train to make a transfer, and he asked if he could get off with me. And I said, 'You can do whatever you want.'"
When they got off the train together, Steven offered to help her carry her backpack.
"I was a little nervous because I didn't know him and I thought I could probably run away with my backpack," says Andye.
"But my instinct made me feel comfortable enough to allow him to wear it."
The two waited together at the next subway station, with Steven holding the backpack.
Then they boarded the next train together and sat next to each other.
"We keep talking," says Andye.
"That's when we realized we were actually doing our master's in the same field of study. We were both studying sustainable development, and we started talking about it a little bit."
When the train reached Andye's stop, Steven got off with her and handed her the backpack.
They exchanged numbers, and then Steven asked if she could give him a hug goodbye.
Andy accepted.
"I thought it was really weird, because in France people just kiss each other on the cheek, they don't hug," Andye recalls.
"I was like, 'Wow, what if this guy reads minds? Because earlier I was thinking I could get a really nice hug from him.'"
After their hug, the two went their separate ways.
Steven, looking at his phone, realized that his detour from the subway had made him late for work.
Meanwhile, Andye met up with his friend Seyna and immediately shared the details of their encounter on the subway.
Later that night, Steven texted Andye and nervously waited for a reply.
"When she answered, I screamed and ran to my cousin," says Steven, recalling her announcing that Andye was the woman he was going to marry.
These co-workers fell in love when they shared a hotel room
Andye and Steven texted each other all night, trying to figure out if they could see each other again before Andye returned to Amsterdam.
She had a very tight schedule, and at first she suggested that it would be easier to meet in a few weeks, since after graduation she planned to return to Paris for a week before returning to the States.
"Even if we only see each other for a second, I really want to see you before you go," Steven wrote in response.
Finally, they decided to get together for a quick dinner on Andye's last night.
Steven wanted to impress Andye and take her out to a fancy restaurant, but Andye wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be home late, since she was traveling the next day.
They settled on a fast-casual joint, right next to the subway stop where they had first parted ways.
As Andye prepared for the date, Seyna made fun of their romantic encounter on the subway and plans for the date afterward.
"I was so excited for her to go out with him," laughs Andye.
When they saw each other again, both Andye and Steven felt emotional.
"I got butterflies in my stomach," says Steven.
"We did the usual greeting in French with a kiss on each cheek, also known as 'la bise,'" recalls Andye, who recalls trying to temper his excitement, given his impending return to the United States.
Inside the restaurant, the conversation flowed quickly.
"We started talking and getting to know each other a little bit," recalls Andye.
Steven went straight to Andye and explained that he was looking for a relationship.
"I thought she was like, 'Wow, first date, like you're doing too much for me.' But I appreciated her sincerity," says Andye.
"We kept talking and I had, again, that kind of calm feeling being around him."
Andye's original plan for the evening to be short didn't seem so important anymore.
He suggested that they go to the center of Paris to a bar.
Later, Steven walked Andye back to her friend's apartment.
Outside the door, they kissed.
Then Steven went back to where she lived, beyond the suburbs of Paris.
It was later than he thought, and the trains had already stopped running, so he walked most of the way.
Steven says that he didn't care, that he got carried away with the excitement and romance of the night.
Meanwhile, Andye excitedly told Seyna about the date and how well it had gone.
"The next day I left for Amsterdam, but we stayed in touch. He texted me the whole time I was in Amsterdam," recalls Andye.
Long distance
Andye returned to the United States, but kept in touch with Steven.
Credit: @DyeTravels
After graduation, Andye returned to Paris for a short stopover before returning to the United States.
Once again, she met Steven at the subway stop next to Seyna's apartment.
They got on the train together and went for a walk down the Champs-Elysées, through the Trocadero area and towards the Eiffel Tower.
Andye and Steven tried to see each other as much as they could during those days, often riding the subway together.
On one of those trips, Steven turned to Andye and told her that he didn't want her to come back to the States.
"Why?" Andye asked.
"Because I love you," Steven said.
"How can you love me? You don't even know me," Andye said.
Andye boarded his flight to the United States at the end of September, with no imminent plans to return to Europe.
"We didn't make any plans to meet up, but rather held out hope that we'd see each other again, at some point," says Andye.
"We decided we were going to stay in touch, and keep writing and talking," says Steven.
Three months later, Andye started working for an international organization based in Washington.
He soon learned that his job involved business trips, mostly to Guinea.
By chance, the flights used to include a stopover in Paris.
In March 2017, six months after their first meeting on the subway, Steven and Andye met at Charles de Gaulle airport for Andye's 24-hour layover.
In the intervening months, the two had been in constant communication.
But it wasn't the same as seeing each other again in person.
"Wow, this person really exists," Andye remembers thinking.
"We talk a lot, we hug a lot," Steven says of their reunion.
But in a short time they said goodbye again.
Andye's job was to travel to West Africa every three months or so.
He thought that he would try to incorporate a stopover in Paris for each trip.
But Steven felt guilty that Andye was the one who always traveled, since she didn't have a visa to travel to the United States, so she couldn't reciprocate.
"It was getting complicated," he says.
"Since it was always Andye who had to travel, I thought it would have been even more complicated later in the process."
Steven did not communicate these concerns to Andye.
But she sensed that something was up.
"I just remember that he was less attentive, very distant. And I said: 'Look, if you're not interested in this, let's finish it. I'm not going to chase you. I love you. But I don't like one-sided relationships. I would like this to be reciprocal. And Since it's not, I'm out of the equation."
Gathered in Paris
Andye and Steven reunited in Paris after a few months apart.
Credit: Yann Guidon / Photon Therapie
A couple of months passed.
Andye and Steven did not speak during this period, but both thought of each other often.
Meanwhile, Andye was planning a trip to Paris to visit Seyna.
“I'm usually the kind of person that when it's over, it's over. But with him I felt like this was more of a break than a breakup of sorts,” says Andye.
"I had my friend Seyna contact him to see if he was okay, as I hadn't heard from him, and told her I was going to France for a week's vacation."
Steven and Andye arranged to meet.
"We talked a lot. We went out dancing and then we were back to how we were before," she says.
"I was in Paris for at least four or five days and we spent most of the time together."
Steven says that seeing Andye again after months of silence "rekindled a fire" inside him.
"At that point I said to myself, 'If I don't make it work, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life,'" he says.
The two were able to talk candidly about the situation, and Andye explained that she didn't mind always being the one to travel, since she could fit the visits into her work trips.
They parted on stronger terms.
"After that visit, I felt very comfortable and confident in our relationship, but I think it took me a while to get excited again," says Andye.
The relationship faltered again when Andye returned to Washington.
When they got back together, Andye was adamant: she told Steven that they both had to be 100.
"I told him, 'Look, I don't have time for games. If this is what you want to do, it's not for me, I was very strict with my limits. I said, 'Look, if you're serious about this, here's the number. from my mom. Let her know you're serious about her daughter.'"
Within a week, Steven had sent a long paragraph to Andye's mother.
"I tried to tell him a little about myself," explains Steven.
"I told him I was serious about Andye."
Steven's message had the effect of taking Andye and Steven's relationship to the next level.
They began to talk about the country they could live in in the future and about marriage plans.
Andye and Steven's temporary breakup strengthened their relationship.
Credit: @DyeTravels
The next time they met again in France, in November 2017, Andye built a week's vacation into his layover.
"He came to pick me up and brought my favorite chocolate croissants to the airport," she remembers.
"He knows I'm addicted."
It was during this trip that Steven proposed to her.
"When I met Andye, I felt at peace, in tune with all the elements of nature," says Steven.
"But when I wanted to propose to her, I felt a rush of different feelings. I wondered what I would do if she said no, and at the same time I was excited that she would agree to be my wife. I was nervous and shaking inside."
Andye accepted Steven's proposal.
"I had the same sense of calm that I had the first day I met him," Andye says of the moment he said yes.
The couple kept the news to themselves for a while, first telling Seyna, Andye's friend who lives in Paris, and later Steven's best friend.
The couple decided to enjoy the engagement for a while and not rush into marriage.
They continued their long-distance romance, and the following summer Andye spent four months in France with Steven.
She had quit her job and was in the middle of a short break, regrouping and figuring out her next career move.
"It was a really wonderful summer," says Andye, recalling the time he spent with Steven, his family and his friends.
During his time in France, Andye also looked for a job in Paris.
But this turned out to be more complicated than he expected.
Andye and Steven had thought that the sensible thing for Andye to do was to move to France, after all, Andye was fluent in French.
But after she had trouble finding a job in France, the couple began discussing the possibility of living together in the United States.
Almost a year later, in July 2019, Steven's fiancé visa was approved.
To celebrate, Andye and Steven went to Haiti.
While there, they were inspired to plan their own wedding celebration there.
Two strangers met on a dance floor in New York 24 years ago.
This is what happened next
Moving to the United States
Andye and Steven got married exactly three years after they met on the subway.
Credit: @DyeTravels
Steven and Andye started life together in the US in a small studio apartment in Washington.
They had a small wedding in a judicial office on September 16, 2019, the third anniversary of their meeting in the Metro, while anticipating a larger celebration in Haiti the following year.
Both Andye and Steven were delighted to be living together after years of long distance.
They created a company together, Afrayiti, which creates handmade clothing from African fabrics.
Shortly after, covid-19 reached the United States.
Steven lost his job, and Andye initially caught the virus and was hospitalized.
He recovered physically, but battled anxiety for some time afterward.
"I got really nervous to the point where I didn't leave the house for three months," Andye recalls.
"I didn't even set foot outside our apartment door."
During this time, Andye says that Steven was very supportive.
"I would not have survived this pandemic if it wasn't for him."
Steven says that there is no one other than Andye that he would want to spend lockdown with.
The wedding celebration in Haiti was cancelled, so the couple spent their time cooking, sewing and designing together.
As the pandemic subsided, Steven encouraged Andye to rejoin the world.
She thanks you for your patience during this period.
"I was so scared to go outside and he pushed me to take baby steps," says Andye.
In the summer of 2021, the couple moved to Florida, drawn by the idea of more space, warm weather, and proximity to the beach.
They feel, says Andye, "at peace" in Florida.
A romantic comedy in real life
Andye and Steven feel like fate has brought them together.
Credit: Yann Guidon / Photon Therapie
Today, Andye and Steven are still living in Florida and planning future adventures together.
Since the world opened up, they have visited Tanzania, Zanzibar and Costa Rica together.
When their wedding celebration in Haiti was cancelled, the couple decided to start a tradition where they plan a vacation to coincide with their anniversary.
Right now they are in Mexico celebrating the six years of their meeting in the subway and the three years of their wedding in court.
"One of the things that's symbolic, and I don't think he realizes, is that when we travel, he likes to ask me [if he can] carry my backpack," says Andye.
Steven has been carrying his backpack "since day one," Andye says, laughing.
Although Andye and Steven think they were fated to meet on the subway that day, they both have moments when they marvel at what happened.
"There are days when I say to him, 'God, I'm married to a stranger I met on the train in Paris,'" she says.
"And if I had been late for the train, what would have happened?" says Steven.
"It is fate that has brought us together."
When Steven and Andye tell others how they met, they often tell them that their story is like a romantic comedy.
"Honestly, I feel like I'm living a romantic comedy with him," says Andye.
"Especially as a black woman, you don't often see international love stories with black women or men in them.
And I think sometimes when I think about it, I'm like, 'Wow, I'm living my own romantic comedy.
I don't need to see it on TV, this is it."
1 of 10
|
The meeting in the subway: Andye was in Paris for three days.
On the first day, she met Steven on the subway.
It was a trip that would change her life forever.
Graphic by Alberto Mier, CNN.
Photos courtesy of @DyeTravels, Yann Guidon / Photon Thérapie and Getty
2 of 10
|
Parisian romance: Andye and Steven got to talking on the train and exchanged numbers.
"I got butterflies in my stomach," Steven says of his first date.
Credit: @DyeTravels
3 of 10
|
Long-distance relationship: Andye returned to the United States and the couple began a long-distance relationship.
"We decided we were going to stay in touch, and just keep writing and talking," says Steven.
Credit: @DyeTravels
4 of 10
|
Quality time: In each of their encounters, the couple made the most of their time together.
Here they are at Fort de Joux, a French castle.
Credit: @DyeTravels
5 of 10
|
Next steps: Steven proposed to Andye in November 2017. "I had that same sense of calm that I had that first day I met him," Andye says of the moment she said yes.
Here is the couple in New York together.
Credit: @DyeTravels
6 of 10
|
The wedding day: Andye and Steven were married in court on September 16, 2019, the third anniversary of their meeting on the subway.
Credit: @DyeTravels
7 of 10
|
Traveling together: Andye and Steven originally planned a wedding celebration in Haiti, where Andye was born.
Covid put an end to these plans, but the couple was able to visit Haiti earlier this year.
Credit: @DyeTravels
8 of 10
|
Adventures around the world: The couple loves to travel together.
Here they are in Costa Rica in 2021. Credit: Fabiola Soto Rodríguez
9 of 10
|
Chance Encounter: "There are days when I'm like, 'God, I'm married to a stranger I met on the train in Paris,'" Andye says. Here are the two of them in Tanzania in 2021. Credit: @DyeTravels
10 of 10
|
Hollywood in real life: People often comment that her story sounds like something out of a romantic comedy.
"Honestly, I feel like I'm living a romantic comedy with him," says Andye.
Credit: @DyeTravels
infatuation