"The first moment I caught sight of my boyfriend, Tshepo... well, the story's very hard to relate without making it sound like one of those sagas where you roll your eyes heavenwards, but I guess I have to tell it like it is - so if your eyes end up rolling, they're yours, not mine!

"I remember locking eyes with Tshepo around seven years ago - we were at a mutual friend's house. I was still in high school and I guess he was as well. We looked at each other across a crowded room - just like they sing about in gushy ballads - and in those few seconds the world froze. At least it did for me. Something happened inside me, planting the seed of what would come fully to life only seven years later, and bring us to where we are today. I don't like to sound like a Mills and Boon paperback, but it really was a case of love at first sight.

"We met again on an annual holiday a whole group of our social circle always takes together. We connected again as friends, but I believe when two people are destined to be together, they're attached to each other by an invisible strand of love. They're fated to meet up, no matter where in the world they might be living or what their individual circumstances are.

My relationship with Tshepo's such a natural, inevitable part of my life that it's more like a memory of something begun a long time ago than a brand-new experience - although in many ways, it's new and exciting every day. I think the amazing comfort and familiarity we experience in each other's company makes us a perfect match. I always tell him my heart knew about him many years before we actually met. As a born-again Christian, I know I shouldn't be talking about reincarnation - but there really is a sense of knowing each other from some other place and time.

We've been together now for about 18 months and, after a couple of knocks, bumps and bruises, I love him more than ever.

I guess when God brings two people together through His spirit, getting along with and loving each other is as easy and natural as breathing. It's all part of a pattern designed by the power above us."

Veronica King, director and shareholder of Connemarq Consulting: What I did for love...

"I was just 22 and I'd been dating this guy since I was 18. He was my first serious boyfriend and I was really in love with him. He was working and suddenly I began suspecting he was seeing a colleague of his I thought was a psychotic banshee. I kept asking him about it, and he kept denying it.

"My suspicions were strengthened when one of his friends called me by her name one day. That was it - I thought he must be having an affair with her.

"Eventually I decided to conduct my own investigations and find out the truth for myself. You know, when you're at that tender age, you're determined to stare pain in the eye! There was a 10-pin bowling alley opposite his office, and one Saturday afternoon - when he hasn't made any plans to see me - I was sure he was with her and decided to catch them out.

"Very dramatically, I set out, feeling like something out of Murder she wrote. I sat inside the bowling alley entrance for three hours, with my nose pressed against the window pane, waiting the see them and pounce triumphantly. The people at the alley kept asking me when I was going to play, and I kept saying: 'I'm just waiting for my friends.'

"Needless to say, they never appeared and at the end of a long, lonely afternoon, I went home, feeling sheepish and depressed. The experience made me really embarrassed about my own pathetic neediness.

"On another occasion, I met a man who came from London and there was an instant, dynamic vibe between us. When he returned to the UK, we called each other constantly - my phone bill exceeded R5 000 in one month! I was also receiving two or three letters a week from him, and I was convinced this was the love of my life.

"In fact, I was so swept away by my grand passion that I actually flew to London to live happily ever after with him. Alas - as it so often happens with fantasies, it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. Let's just say the book of fairy-tales was dropped in the bath, its writing got damp and runny, and it was hard to see whether we were actually on the same page!"

Sibonga Zunga, disc jockette: My dream date...

"My man and I met in 2003 at Unisa. We were sitting at our desks, preparing for exams and he asked me to lend him my eraser.

"The next time we met, we shared a desk. I suddenly realised he was really good-looking, well-dressed and he smelt divine! He was very appealing.

"We exchanged numbers and started calling each other - a lot! We'd talk for hours at a time, and we never ran out of things to say. That was in March. In May, he had a birthday and I bought him a CD as a gift. On the 10th of that month, we became an official item - and I knew without any questions I'd done the right thing with the right guy. Previously I'd been quite cynical about love, bit this felt too right and natural to doubt.

"I introduced him to my family a few months later and at the end of the year, on December 15, there was a concert I needed to attend for work purposes. He'd been calling me throughout the day, telling me I was gorgeous - and then he called again and insisted we see each other, because he really needed to be with me. I explained I had to go to a concert, but agreed to meet him for a few minutes so we could touch base.

"As soon as I walked into his place, I noticed he'd gone to tremendous pains to prepare something special. He'd laid a table and prepared food, there was wine, flowers and soft music - the works, sisters!

"It was very beautiful and I was deeply moved by the trouble he'd taken to make me feel special, so we sat down and talked about our love.

"I'm a very emotional person and I just cried as he told me how much I meant to him and how I was the best thing that had ever happened to him. I kept glancing at my watch, though, because I knew I'd be very late for the concert. He noticed my anxiety and said: 'It's fine, you can go - but I just need to ask you something before you leave.' Then completely out of the blue, he took my hand and said: 'Would you be my wife?'

"I was stunned and exhilarated, and even more tears flooded my eyes! He took a ring out of his pocket, put it on my finger and we danced for a long time. I remember it so well - Kenny Latimore and Chantemoore were singing I do.

"Then he said: 'You know, you haven't answered my question yet...' I stared at him and shouted: 'Yes, yes, yes!' We hugged each other and carried on dancing. Needless to say, I never made it to that concert...

"It was the most romantic, unforgettable date of my life - and the magic will last forever!"

Mavis Dube, head of gift division at Tec Multimedia: Making a choice of the heart...

"Sometimes you're in a situation where you want to love and be loved so badly that you make bad decisions which aren't based on reality. You find yourself taking whatever comes your way. Without checking on the person's background, what he stands for and who he really is. I was in that space once, needing love so desperately that I just went for the first guy who seemed to be offering it.

"For the first month or two of our relationship, things went well and I was happy. However, at the back of my mind, certain things began worrying me - things that didn't feel right - although I tried to suppress them and ignore the tell-tale signs of trouble.

"For one thing, I began to realise this guy was basically dishonest and had no respect for me. He'd never arrive on time for dates and sometimes didn't call me for days. He also had a quick, glib answers about where he'd been that sometimes conflicted with facts I knew. But I pushed my concerns aside and found myself jumping every which way to accommodate him. I was very naïve - I believed if I simply loved him even more and made even more of an effort, he'd have to love me back, and that he'd change.

"After a while, all my friends started warning me to dump him. They told me he was treating me like a mistress and was bad news - but I didn't want to believe them. I made excuses for his behaviour and insisted they just didn't know him as well as I did.

"One day, though, a friend of mine told me she knew him socially and said he was definitely seeing someone else. I was so shocked, I cried for days. The pain was indescribable.

"Finally, anger took over. I felt humiliated, hurt, outraged - and I decided to confront him. I called him and told him I knew everything. He didn't have a lot to say, and four days later, he called and admitted he was involved with another woman. But then he told me he loved me, and wanted to have a relationship 'on the side' with me. This really threw me.

"For three days, I stressed over his offer and agonised about what to do. I really had strong feelings for him, but I knew deep down such a sordid arrangement wasn't worthy of me, and I deserved a lot better. I decided I wanted my own husband, who I wouldn't have to share with anybody else, and my own family - and I called him and told him didn't want to see him again.

"At first I was very lonely and really missed him - but as time went by, the wound began to heal. It took me months of soul-searching and pain, but I finally got there with my self-respect and dignity intact.

"That was the best decision I ever made for love - because self-love is just as important as romance, and is actually the first step towards it."

Image: Vanessa Grobler/True Love