KOTA TINGGI: The 26-year age gap between Muhammad Danial Ahmad Ali and his teacher, Jamilah Mohd, did not stop them from falling in love and getting married.
Danial, 22, said he did not expect to be attracted to Jamilah, 48, when they first met.
Their story caught the attention of many after Danial shared a video on social media showing their journey from a teacher-student relationship to being married.
Danial, who works at a water company and lives in Felda Air Tawar 2, said he first met Jamilah in 2016 when she was assigned to teach his class Malay language subject in Form Three.
Despite liking her personality, he said their relationship at that time was just a teacher-student relationship.
"I considered her only as a teacher even though I liked her caring attitude and close relation with students, from the first class to the last class."
They lost contact after Danial entered Form Four, but they met again in the teachers' room.
"My wife taught my class for a year, but we lost contact after I entered Form Four.
"We did run into each other in the teacher's room. I greeted her and said hello, but that was all," Danial said when contacted by Harian Metro.
He shared that he started to become interested in Jamilah after she sent him a birthday message when he was in Form Five.
"Since then, we became close and love bloomed," he said.
Danial said he plucked up his courage to express his feelings, but Jamilah refused due to her status as a teacher and the age gap between them.
However, he refused to give up and tried to find every possible way to communicate with her until she finally accepted his proposal.
Jamilah was unsure how long the relationship would last, but Danial said his determination eventually won her over.
"Despite not knowing her house address, I went looking for her. It was destiny that I found her house. Then, I met her and had an honest conversation with her.
"Thanks to their (the elders') blessing, we agreed to get married and the initially planned (marriage) was in 2019 and then changed to 2020.
"However, the wedding date was postponed to November 21, 2021, due to the Movement Control Order.
"We got married at the Jamek Bandar Kota Tinggi Mosque and had a small ceremony by inviting family and close friends," said Danial, who kept the relationship a secret from school friends until his marriage.
Danial considered himself grateful to be blessed with a partner at a young age even though his partner is older than him.
"Age is just a number and I will try my best to carry the responsibilities as a husband," he said.
Jamilah said ever since being separated from her ex-husband back in 2007, her focus was only on work and not establishing a relationship with any man or considering finding a replacement.
"There were people who wanted to get to know me, but I did not want to. I was content with rejecting and avoiding my current husband after he expressed his feelings to me," she said.
"However, I could not avoid it because God has chosen him as my soulmate.
"My husband came with confidence and he was serious and did not hide our relationship from his family. That is also one of the reasons why I accepted his proposal," Jamilah added.