DO YOU remember your first crush?

Rhianna and Apono were just 15 when they sparked their secondary school romance.

Now, they’re both 28 and have been together for 13 years.

Rhianna works as a brand specialist and Apono works in client financial management.

Early days

Rhianna was first attracted to Apono because of his brains.

After noticing he was in top sets for every subject, she told his close friend she “sort of liked him” in typical teenager fashion.

When he heard this, Apono “pulled her for a chat” in a move we’re now likely to associate with Love Island. The rest is history. 

“The very first thing I noticed about her is that she is well-kept, neat and tidy,” Apono told The Voice.

“To this day, that is still the case.”

Jokingly, Rhianna says about her intelligent beau: “The thing that attracted me to Apono in the beginning, now starts to get on my nerves a little bit.”

The couple from West London often ate lunch together during school days, and these were their unofficial dates.

“I would get food and she’d eat off my plate,” says Apono.

When they left school, they stayed together and both went on to study at the University of Surrey.

First moments

The couple’s first official date was at Park Royal Cinema, something many West Londoners will relate to, and they have shared lots of important firsts together.

They were eachother’s first girlfriend and boyfriend. They graduated together and they bought their first home together.

The last move, for Apono was “one of the greatest moments we have shared together so far.”

Apono proposed to Rhianna on her 28th birthday, and for her, that marked an important step in their relationship.

“When he did his speech, obviously I knew he had the ability to be like all saft, but it was a very sweet moment and I wasn’t expecting it,” she explains.

Managing disagreements

However, getting married wasn’t always on the cards for this couple and it led to a rough patch in their relationship.

For Rhianna, marriage was important due to her religious family background. Some people from her church community were even unhappy when the couple moved in together.

“Being frank, marriage is not a necessity, I would say because you could easily live the same life together without being married,” Apono tells The Voice.

“We had a couple weeks of uncertainty, so we had to work through it. A lot of communication had to happen, and I had to consider what I really wanted when we were almost ten years in,” says Rhianna.

“I didn’t want to start again.”

Good communication helped them through their difference in opinion.

As they have grown together, they have learned how to interact and manage disagreements both large and small.

“I don’t think we really bump heads,” says Apono.

“I went through a time where I wouldn’t say things to him because I was almost scared of the answer,” Rhianna explains.

“Or I knew what the answer would be and I knew I wouldn’t like it.”

She notes that a lack of communication always makes a problem worse, so now she prefers to get everything out in the open.

“I would end up getting more and more p*ssed off and he’d obviously not recognise that I was annoyed,” explains Rhianna.

“You can just get angrier and angrier and then you start feeling like I don’t want to make dinner. You start thinking why should I feed him? It’s the little things like that and then it gets to a dangerous place.”

Apono tells The Voice he doesn’t do the laundry because he doesn’t want to get in the way of her hobby. She enjoys homemaking TikTok trends.

“We will both see that the laundry basket is full but yet I am the only who will put in the machine,” Rhianna tells The Voice.

In their relationship, Rhianna does do most of the cleaning, he admits.

Friendship

For Apono, Rhianna’s sweet nature is one of her strongest points.

“She is generally a nice person and sees the best in people,” he shares.  

“I feel protected around him,” Rhianna tells The Voice.

In their spare time, they enjoy watching movies and shows like 90 Day Fiancée.

“We are friends first,” they both say. 

Apono says: “It’s key that you like each other and you enjoy each other’s presence because there are people that are together just because of convenience.

“Those kinds of things are not going to last.”

Rhianna confirms this: “As he is my friend, I can talk to him about anything.”

Relationship goals

“Run your own race, comparison will rob you of your happiness,” says Apono. 

His fiancée agrees: “Don’t look at other people’s relationships too tough, because we’re all individuals, and everyone’s situation is unique. 

“Don’t try to emulate someone else’s truth.”

“Relationships are basically like a full-time job and you’re going to have to keep working at it. It’s not going to be easy and sometimes you are not going to like it, but overall you should enjoy it,” she adds

From their high school graduation to university graduation, Rhianna and Apono are an example of young love that has lasted and matured, and a successful couple who are thriving and building a beautiful life together.

Making Black Love Last is a weekly Voice feature.

If you would like to share your relationship, you can email [email protected]