Your friend is quite right that you need to wait.
Partner-sponsored visas are only issued by INZ when they have clear evidence that people have been living together and sharing their daily lives, and they look most closely at the time immediately before the application. If they see you have been apart for two years, this looks to officials like a break-up of the relationship.
When you get back together, make sure you get very clear evidence AS SOON AS you are living together, then keep collecting proof of different kinds, even three or four items every week. Then INZ will take your application seriously after about three months. Even when your application has gone in, keep collecting proof, because they will usually ask for more evidence to cover the time of processing just before they issue the partner-sponsored work visa. Then STILL keep collecting, because you will need all that same evidence, plus extra time, to get up to 12 months' proof to be able to apply for partner-sponsored residence.