Together since the age of 14: "My in-laws are like my parents; they've watched me grow up."

Architect Ignacio Morente Gemas had a very different adolescence than his high school classmates. He left home alone at 12, moving from the town of Antequera, in Málaga, to Cornellà de Llobregat. He was a tennis player and dedicated himself to elite sports, so in the afternoons he trained with the Catalan Tennis Federation and in the mornings he studied at high school. There he met Emma, his lifelong partner, with whom he and his wife have been together since they were 14. They are now 34. "She also liked tennis and taught young children. We started talking on Messenger one Christmas when I returned to Málaga for the holidays. Every night we connected and chatted. When Christmas was over, we met on a bench in front of the school and spent the whole afternoon." Since then, the couple hasn't been apart.

Well, physically, yes, since for many years they have had to live remotely. "Every week of the year I traveled around the world and we saw very little of each other. It was difficult, but she always supported me. She always has, she's always been by my side. I don't think I could have done anything I've done without her," says the architect, who explains that they began living together at 17 in Valencia, where he worked.

When he was 18, Morente Gemas suffered a very serious wrist injury. He had to undergo surgery, and suddenly his whole life changed. "I had to give up tennis. Back then, I was training eight or nine hours a day and traveling all over the world; I'd even dropped out of school. I had to rethink my life from scratch," recalls the architect.

A friend encouraged him to study vocational training, and at 21, he began a degree in architecture. When he was in his second year, Emma's father suggested they all live together. "My in-laws aren't my in-laws. They've seen me grow up; they're like my parents," he says. With their support, and Emma's as well, the architect designed the house that made him famous and where he now lives with Emma"Emma and I aren't just a couple, we've been life partners since we were little," concludes Morente Gemas.