It began in July 2019, when Dina started working at Solareff — a small-town girl stepping into big-city life and finding her feet. From her desk in finance, she kept noticing Mathew in the open-plan office. Like a teenager, Dina started to crush on Mathew. For Dina it was like the open office was empty with only Mathew present. The noisy open office seemed completely silent.

Mathew noticed her as well, although he had limited spare time with his busy work schedule. He was most of the time out of the office, continuously troubleshooting active PV systems and dealing with difficult clients. Ultimately, Dina also caught his gaze. Mathew is not known to initiate verbal communication about his thoughts and opinions, but rather expressing it by taking action.

Not long after, did the unimaginable happen. COVID-19 plagued the world. Social distancing was implemented, resulting in empty offices of absent employees, changing routines overnight. Dina no longer saw Mathew every day. For Mathew, that season became all work and focus. Most engagement between Dina and Mathew, was usually admin related tasks. Dina needed something signed off — invoices, approvals, the practical things that kept everything running. Dina saw this as an opportunity to relentlessly engage with Mathew, by constantly following up. Apparently, Mathew liked the attention.

Two years later, people returned to the office. The paused visual stimulation was finally over and the embers started to flame again.

Shortly after we attended the year-end function — laser tag in the forest.

It was meant to be a fun day, nothing serious. But that is the funny thing about timing: it does not ask permission. In the middle of the laughter and the running around, Mathew fully noticed Dina — confident, outgoing, and completely herself. Dina, sitting opposite him at lunch, felt the same quiet certainty settle in. A small conversation topic about her nails turned into an effortless thirty minute conversation, and somewhere in that unexpected little moment, Dina knew she want to spend the rest of her life with Mathew.

After that, they started chatting regularly. Five minutes became twenty. Twenty became long conversations outside in the freezing winter — the kind where you do not feel the cold air due to the hot company. They thought they were being subtle, but the engineering team caught on (with a little help from the CCTV) and occasionally teasing them.

Operations and Maintenance never slows down, but Dina still kept popping into Mathew’s office. In his words, this “annoying” girl kept interrupting his work — until he realised he looked forward to it. One day, during a meeting, Dina walked in wearing a blue skirt. At that moment, Mathew knew. In that ordinary moment, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Dina.

From there, everything started falling into place. Mathew asked Dina to be his girlfriend, and life moved forward in the best way — building a home, sharing ordinary days, adopting their three cats, and realising how lucky it felt to have found a best friend in the middle of everyday life.

Then, on 4 July 2025, Mathew did what he always does when something matters: he arranged a weekend trip to Clarens, they strolled in a beautiful field surrounded by tall trees. With nervous hands and a steady heart, he got down on one knee and asked Dina to marry him.

And just like that, the quiet crush, the missed time, the forest laser tag, the office “quick chats,” and the blue-skirt moment all became part of the same story — a story that now gets to move into its next chapter.

Together forever.