Their story begins at Wits University, circa 2009.

Mwezi was a campus nomad even though he should’ve been spending more time at the John Moffat with the other Architecture nerds.

Lale was a political studies student with a home at the Cullen Africa Library, and if you were lucky, you could find her catching sun and conversation with her friends on the benches before they head back to study. After being introduced by a mutual friend, this stop would become a regular for Mwezi on his campus meanders.

Amongst her friends he became “oh! that Mwezi? The guy who has a bit of soft spot for Tlaleng”. However, it would take a couple of years and twists in the road for anything to truly happen.

Fast Forward to the serendipitous meet cute: It’s 2018 and cupid is up to his old tricks, Mwezi is combing through Johannesburg for love and Tlaleng is combing her hair for work.

Another mutual friend wouldn’t stop waxing lyrical to Mwezi about how cool her roommate is. Eventually, the wall broke and he obliged her requests to invite her much vaunted friend to 86 Public, and well guess who that was? Tlaleng! Mwezi’s old crush from varsity.
The immediate charm offensive started only to be off-ramped right back to the friendzone. It was from then that Tlaleng became the first “friend” to get the braai, birthday and “any other excuse to see her” invite.

Then the quiet time of the pandemic and social distancing came, and the phone conversations became longer and longer. In October 2020, during less restrictive lockdown rules, Mwezi convinces Tlaleng to have one day of “just say ‘yes’ to everything” he had planned on her birthday. After that, he didn’t leave her alone for 7 consecutive days. In November of the same year, he finally had the nerve to ask her to be his girlfriend, and she agreed. After 5 years of the best of times (travel, tear filled laughter, the birth of their nephews, shared musical taste and a deep appreciation for potatoes in all forms) and the worst of times ( catching COVID twice and isolating over Christmas 2020 , loss and grief ) in November 2025, Mwezi proposed and again she agreed.