Like most modern young people, our journey began on social media—specifically on Bumble. On a snowy April day, when Karl was visiting Estonia, someone named Kertu popped up on the popular dating app. As it later turned out, it was actually Gertu, but hey, catfish is catfish.

 

That first evening, our conversation lasted until the early hours of the next day. Since we didn’t seem completely terrible to each other, we decided to conduct an in-person assessment that same evening. After our first sweet kiss, K(G)ertu simply sent Karl home. That night, the truth also came to light—it wasn’t K & K, but G & K.

 

Following the successful in-person assessment, we agreed to meet again on Monday. By some miracle, Karl managed to convince Gertu to let him crash on her couch. That night, one thing became very clear—Gertu was definitely not chosen for her culinary skills because the meat she cooked could have been chewed on for a lifetime.

 

After answering about forty questions and having a long conversation, we decided to continue together—until morning, that is—since Karl had to head back to Belgium. A month later, Karl returned to Estonia to pick up his car—this was on May 21st. And what awaited him? A pile of IKEA furniture and an apartment without a single proper tool. After much struggling, the furniture was finally assembled—accompanied by “Armastus kolme apelsini vastu” a popular Estonian movie, playing in the background.

 

When the time came for Karl to leave again, instead of simply saying goodbye, Gertu decided, "Why not—I'll just ride with you to Riga and then head back to Tallinn." Just a few weeks later, Karl returned to Tallinn to celebrate Gertu’s birthday and take care of some things.

 

From there, we went back to Belgium together. In Belgium, Gertu met Stella and Mette for the first time. During that same trip she also drank two meters of beer. That’s when it became clear—we had to spend the summer together. Gertu decided that living at her new boyfriend’s parents’ place for an entire summer was an extreme sport worth experiencing. And during one of our rare trips away—to Tartu—we somehow managed to plan our wedding. We never wrote it down, though, and now no one really remembers the details. So, the wedding will be whatever we still remember from it.

 

By October, Gertu had already moved to Belgium. To be honest, neither of us really remembers how exactly we got to that decision, but one thing’s for sure—she never left! From then on, we started building our life together, until in 2023, when Gertu was visiting Estonia, Karl casually suggested going out for dinner. By the end of the evening, Karl had proposed to Gertu in Leuven—and believe it or not, she said yes.