Oh man, the answer to that is mysterious and beautiful.

Let's separate two things: romance and love. We think we want romance but we really want love.

We think we need another person to love, but the truth is, Love Is. It's present wherever you are, whatever moment. It's just, we usually have our heads stuck up our asses and so we don't feel it. Then we wander blindly around the world looking for our lost love. Which then gets distorted by notions of romance.

Or put it in another way

    The minute I heard my first love story,
    I started looking for you, not knowing
    how blind that was.
    
    Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,
    they're in each other all along.
    -- Rumi