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Romance and the Towers

Grace Alegre and Ildefons Cua found romance at the south tower. Fresh out of graduate school from the University of Massachusetts, Ms. Alegre applied for a job as an accountant at Metropolitan Bank and Trust on the 17th floor, where Mr. Cua was the accounting manager, in 1986.

"She didn't get the job, but she found a husband," Mr. Cua said. They married shortly after the interview and she became Mrs. Alegre-Cua. They have two children, Nicole, 13, and Patrick, 9.

Mrs. Alegre-Cua did not have any trouble finding employment elsewhere. Two weeks after the interview, she was hired at Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Company, where she worked for 14 years, most recently at 2 World Trade Center.

The only reason she did not get the job at Metropolitan was that the position had just been filled recently and Mr. Cua had conducted the interview as a favor to the general manager, he said.

"She was very smart," he said, "but I couldn't hire her. I don't know if we were in love right away, but I was interested because of her beauty and sweetness."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 1, 2001.