Remember when our parents said to never meet up with strangers we met online?

With her mother as companion, the then 25-year-old Cheryl Yap flew across the globe in 2012 to meet Donea Jonut Alexandru, her Romanian boyfriend who she met online.

It was crazy to many but she knew the risks she was taking and nothing could stop her from meeting the one who has her heart. Today, she's glad she took the leap of faith because she's now happily married to the love of her life! ♡

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Some of you might remember Cheryl's story. In 2016, the then 25-year-old left Singapore with her mum for Romania to meet her online boyfriend without her father's knowledge.

That day, Cheryl left home for 'work' at 9am (which was seemingly normal) while Cheryl's mum left home around 4pm with an excuse of saying that she's meeting her daughter for dinner. Mr Yap (Cheryl's father) did not know that it was them saying bye to him while they leave for Europe.

Photo from Cheryl Yap (Facebook)

As a taxi driver who works the night shift, Mr Yap left for work at 9pm and returned home the next morning at 5am only to realise that both his wife and daughter are not around. When they didn't pick up or return his calls, he knew something wasn't right and made a police report.

Mr Yap later found out through Cheryl's credit card bill that his wife and daughter had departed Singapore for Frankfurt, Germany and taken a flight to Bucharest, capital of Romania with a return ticket for April 16 2016.

At that point in time, he shared that his wife also brought with her 4 bank books with a savings of at least $40,000 and sG50 commemorative notes.

Love story picked up by Romanian news channel

Cheryl's love for Donea and her mother's support for her to fly across the globe was later also broadcasted on Pro TV, a Romanian news channel.

Photo from Pro TV

Meeting Donea's parents in Romania.

Photo from Pro TV

Donea (left) with Cheryl and her mother with next to him.

Photo from Pro TV

1 million subscribers on YouTube for Donea

Donea owns a channel called Zero.Miz-Kun x Nightcore Records where he promotes all kind of music for the nightcore community. Cheryl is helping him with the channel~

As of today, he have a total of 1,146,422 subscribers.

We understand that besides this, he is also a video game creator for Unreal Engine.

Walking down the aisle 

Fast forward 2 years down the road, 27-year-old Cheryl Yap now calls Donea, her Romanian boyfriend, her husband.

In a Facebook post on Sept 27, Donea shared a post titled #TogetherForever. In the post, he shared photos of his marriage with Cheryl ♡

After 5 years of struggling to be together, we have finally made the biggest step towards our future ♡

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Here are the precious moments they captured at their City Hall wedding @ Copenhagen, Denmark~

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

Though it may seem like Cheryl and Donea are enjoying their happily ever after now, it didn't happen so simply. It's a story of love and sacrifices, and the courage to take that leap of faith.

For someone with a comfortable life in Singapore who grew up in a traditional family, what Cheryl did is truly commendable and courageous! And we're so happy they have each other.

Photo from Donea Ionut Alexandru (Facebook)

If you're also in a long-distance relationship with someone you met online, we hope Cheryl's story gave you courage and more reasons to believe in love! If you know someone who's not too sure if their LDR is gonna work, share this article and let them know, love always wins.

Text by: Girlstyle SG