Most people have heard of the friend-zone and many who have experienced it know that once you’re in it, it is difficult to move in to a romantic relationship. Fortunately for Glenmore Park couple, Michael Collins and Marisa Rojo, they were able to take their relationship to the next level and have finally gotten engaged after over ten years of coming in and out of each other’s lives.
Their love story started one Friday night in 2008 at the Penrith Ice Palace, where both happened to be hanging out with a group and they just seemed to hit it off instantly as friends. After a few months, Marisa asked Michael to accompany her to her school formal – as friends only as she enjoyed having a guy best friend to get a male perspective. It was on this night, however, that Michael realised he was in love with the stunning brunette as she descended the stairs in her black and white dress looking like a Hollywood movie star. Marisa says she knew she loved Michael a lot sooner but naively thought it was the type of love that two friends shared.
The pair remained friends and went on with their lives, both having other partners and almost moving away from each other. But for some reason every couple of months they would pop back into each other’s lives one way or another. They did not actually go on their official first date until 2016 and even then, Marisa didn’t realise it was a date until afterwards.
It was not until Michael attended Marisa’s cousin’s birthday celebration that she finally realised he was the one. “It was the first time Michael had met any of my family and he just blended. He was beaming with pride to be my boyfriend and he wasn’t afraid of all their questions. He knew he wanted to be with me, he wanted to be a part of my family” Marisa explained. Michael believes that fate kept bringing them together, a sentiment held by both their mothers who claim they both knew that in the end, Michael and Marisa would be together.
Last month, the couple were staying in a cosy cabin in Bilpin enjoying a bottle of red and an antipasto platter by candlelight when Michael gallantly got down on one knee and asked Marisa if she would marry him – to which the answer was, “Yes, a million times, yes!”. The newly-engaged couple plan to get married in Autumn 2020, preferably on a golf course somewhere, and plan to start their own little family soon after.
Article by Sara Drebber