Our love story began in early 2019 when we met on Discord through our shared love of music and gaming. What started as friendship quickly became something deeper as we spent more time talking through messages, calls and video chats. Despite living on opposite sides of the world, we realised we had fallen in love. We knew we had to meet, but making that happen was far from easy. Zain was living in Cape Town, South Africa, and worked extremely hard, taking on long hours and overtime to save enough money to travel to Melbourne. This required enormous sacrifice, as he was leaving behind his home, family and everything familiar to him for the chance to be together. When Zain arrived in Melbourne, we finally experienced life together. On New Year’s Eve, overlooking Melbourne from Lady Stonehaven’s Lookout in Kinglake, we decided to officially become a couple. Emily planned to travel to Cape Town in 2020 to spend time with Zain and his family. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Our plans were cancelled, borders closed, and we were forced into a separation that lasted almost two years. Not knowing when we would see each other again was incredibly difficult, but we remained committed and stayed connected through messages, calls and video chats. When the borders finally reopened, Zain moved permanently to Australia in 2022, and we have lived together ever since. Being able to share our everyday lives was something we had waited years for and worked incredibly hard to achieve. On Valentine’s Day 2026, Zain proposed to Emily in Melbourne, and we became engaged. Our love has been tested by distance, forced separation, sacrifice and hardship, but we overcame every challenge together. Now, we are flying to CPT to be married on 13th December 2026 in Paarl.
