DAVID + KATERYNA, TOGETHER FIVE YEARS
By taking care of each other in ways big and small, these twentysomethings became the best versions of themselves
They may only be in their mid-20s, but the way Kateryna Flores and David Donato began their relationship sounds a bit like an old-fashioned love song. The two met by chance — Flores wound up stopping by Donato’s house with a mutual acquaintance and was nervous because she didn’t know anyone else there. “While everyone else was chatting,” she says, “he mouthed to me across the room to ask if I was all right.”
Sinatra could’ve crooned it: they were strangers in the night, exchanging glances. That small detail — a moment of empathetic recognition— set the tone for everything that followed. At first, the two tried to keep their burgeoning romance secret. They’d steal kisses when other friends left the room or stealthily hold hands when they were out in public. “All we wanted was to keep our relationship in our little bubble, because it was the first place we actually felt safe,” says Flores. Before they met, Donato explains, they were both “in a dark place in our lives. Our relationship helped us become better versions of ourselves.”
Happily, the couple mustered enough trust in their connection to go public. They now think they’ve been together about a half-decade; it’s an estimate, because they technically never had a day where they became “official” …although their first real date involved ordering an absurd amount of food at Sneaky Dee’s. They recently bought a condo, which they share with a tiny, adorable furball of a pup and a magnificent collection of Hello Kittys. They’re deeply attached to one another’s families.
That’s not to say their relationship has been all sunshine and kittens. Flores grapples with chronic illnesses, including type 1 diabetes and epilepsy, that have sent her to the hospital on more than one occasion. “For months, I couldn’t even go to the pharmacy because my anxiety got the best of me,” she says. “I couldn’t push myself to take my medications, to go to appointments, to genuinely have love or care for myself.” Donato, she says, has been her rock. One time, mid-seizure, Flores found herself unable to communicate with paramedics. “But the only way I could let them know I was okay was by kissing Daniel.”
For his part, Donato says, “People are always astounded by how much I know about Kat’s health, from remembering her medication names and doses by heart to knowing how to turn off the beeping sound from an IV pump.” He’s there to answer nurses’ questions, and to help soothe her — in her sleep, when she’s having blood drawn. But if you ask him? He is forever grateful for his partner’s tutelage in how to be more vulnerable. As the old song goes, it turned out so right for strangers in the night.