- High school sweethearts finally tie the knot

Without second-guessing, Shamaldo Robinson said he knew from age 14 that he had found his future wife.

Shamaldo, who is now a firefighter, was in eighth grade at Claude McKay High School in Clarendon at the time. He recalled seeing a light-skinned, 'nice hair' girl named Shanta Fearon, who was in a grade below him. Fast-forward to 2021, and the couple are now man and wife.

"The first time I saw her the only thing that was going through my mind is that I have to marry this girl. She was just so nice and cute, every time I see her I said 'wow'," Shamaldo, 26, told THE STAR. "Sometimes we use to go to lunch together. All that time I was so in love, and asked her to be my girlfriend, but she never a give me no forward."

The two met through a mutual friend but Shanta, 24, had no interest in making Shamaldo her significant other.

"I wasn't giving him any attention, maybe I just wasn't looking at him like that; I just saw him as a friend," she said. "We lost communication in grade nine and then we became back friends a year later when I was in grade 10 and he was in grade 11."

It appears, however, that the universe had other plans for the two, as things worked in Shamaldo's favour. He was forced to repeat a year of high school, so the future Mr and Mrs Robinson were now in the same grade 11 class.

PREFECT MEETING

"We had a prefect meeting the summer and we linked up there again because he had to repeat a grade. This is where things really started. I knew he was getting somewhere when we started texting and came to school early to see each other," Shanta revealed.

Shamaldo said, "Me never happy suh to stay back in school."

"When I went to the meeting and saw her, only thing I could say is 'I'm a lucky man'. We never broke off our relationship or take a break from each other. We have our ups and downs, but not for long. We can't even malice each other and I don't argue with my wife," he said.

After more than a decade since first meeting , they officially became man and wife on February 20.

"When I saw her walking down the aisle, I had a flashback of everything, from the day I first saw her, up to when we got married," Shamaldo told THE STAR. "I just love everything about my wife, I love how she cook, how she can wash and mostly, how she can manage money. She nuh always just a spend, me can depend on her to always have a little thing saved."

As for Shanta, "I love the fact that my husband is a family guy, he is a caring person, always there for the people around him."

Other than bonding with their three-year-old son, the couple enjoy cooking and playing their favourite video game, PubG, together.