“And we created you in pairs…” - Quran 78:8

We met at work, it was my first day and Amine’s second day. I thought he was the most handsome man in the whole place. He walked confidently, had beautiful eyes and a killer smile. We would coincidentally see each other on “smoke breaks” and started chatting about random things. He shared he was born in Morocco and came to the US in 2017 and I shared that I was an insane Puerto Rican woman born and raised in Hoboken. We got along based on our differences: me teaching Amine how to be a red blooded American and Amine teaching me about Islam, love, family, food, European and North African history, the French language and Moroccan Arabic. We were both emotionally unavailable, so we remained friends. We started seeing each other more often as the days with each other were far better than the days we were separated. After 3 months of hanging out in groups of friends, we moved forward and went on a solo date to Ani Ramen in Jersey City. We were inseparable since, finding joy in learning new things about each other. During Ramadan 2022, I asked Amine to stay at my place so I can cook for him breakfast before sunrise, and after those 30 days we didn’t want to be apart! On July 30th of that year, he got down on one knee and asked me if I’d be his wife forever! I screamed my acceptance and now we live everyday in love and in faith.