We're so mushy

cchar@sph.com.sg

For former VJ-host Teh Choy Wan, it is akin to finding the rainbow after the storm.

In the past, the Norwegian-Chinese Australian had been heartbroken from relationships that ended badly.

But a chance meeting with Singapore-based Indonesian-Chinese Michael Tanujaya at the Tanjong Beach Club three years ago changed her outlook on love.

The 35-year-old director of investments chased Teh hard from the get-go, and since they became a couple a month from when they first met, he hasn't failed to tell her that he loves her every day.

In her words, "we're so mushy with each other, I'm sure people find it sickening".

Teh, 32, will be marrying her beau - whom people have remarked looks like a K-pop star - in November at an al fresco setting in Gold Coast, Australia, in front of 150 of their closest friends and relatives.

The couple are now living together here, in their home near the city.

She told The New Paper: "What I really liked and found different about Mike was that he didn't play games. He wasn't like those guys who say they'll call you and take forever to do it.

"A few hours after we met, he asked for my number and asked me out the next day.

"Soon after we got together, we talked about marriage and kids. He's a kind-hearted man who still calls me 10 times a day and would text me just after he steps out the door."

Teh and Mr Tanujaya were introduced by a mutual friend, but she believes that it also boiled down to the right timing.

PRINCE

Teh, who has had three serious boyfriends before, said: "I think you have to go through a few frogs first in order to find your prince.

"I had got hurt in the past because I always went for the wrong person.

"When I met Mike, I had been single for two years and didn't have any expectations about being in a relationship.

"So he didn't fill a void, he was an addition to my life."

Last September, while on holiday in New York, Mr Tanujaya proposed to Teh in Central Park, which caused her to cry buckets.

This happened even though Teh already saw it coming as they had just come from an antique jewellery shop, where they had chosen and bought the 1945 diamond ring together.

What was hilarious about the proposal was the fact that Mr Tanujaya squatted as he did so, coining now what is known to the couple and their friends as "The Squat".

It turned out that as he was en route to bended knee, he suddenly realised that he was going to dirty his trousers and thus came up with a creative solution.

On what he loves about Teh, Mr Tanujaya said: "Choy's a sexy, intelligent girl who bakes yummy cupcakes. She's a little rough around the edges, keeps me on my toes at times, puts family above all else and sincerely loves me for the person that I am.

"I can see us growing old together, and going through good and bad times as a family."

Incidentally, Teh's twin sister May Wan, who made up the other half of famed former VJ duo May & Choy, also married an Indonesian-Chinese in 2009.

Older by just a minute, May said she was ecstatic and extremely honoured to be Teh's matron of honour.

At 1.7m tall, Teh, who has lost 6kg and now weighs 54kg from cutting out sugar, is busy preparing for her nuptials by searching for her wedding paraphernalia online.

She said: "After the wedding, Mike and I will be trying for a baby as soon as possible. My ideal is to have two kids, a boy and a girl.

"I know he'll be a great dad as he takes good care of May's daughters (four-year-old Leala and two-year-old Siena) when we're with them.

"I'm so excited about marrying him."

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"At that time when I met Mike, I had been single for two years and wasn't having any expectations about being in a relationship. So he didn't fill a void, he was an addition to my life."

- Teh Choy Wan, on Singapore-based Indonesian-Chinese Michael Tanujaya