When actor-host Jeremy Chan went on a romantic getaway to Japan with actress Jesseca Liu, he had his ring and a proposal plan ready, but it was Disneyland, not Jesseca, who said no.
On the latest episode of meWATCH talk show Hear U Out, Jeremy, 41, told host Quan Yi Fong: "I sent an email to Disneyland asking if I could borrow a mascot costume for my proposal, but Disneyland rejected my request."
By then, the couple were already on their trip, so Jeremy carried the ring in his bag with him at all times, despite Jesseca's protests that he should leave the heavy bag behind in the hotel.
All's well that ends well, however, because the right opportunity presented itself to Jeremy on the couple's very last day in Tokyo.
Eating at the Tokyo Skytree, Jesseca, 43, said, "The desserts are really unique here," which made light bulbs go off in Jeremy's head.
Getting the waiter's attention with his limited Japanese and some hilarious miming, Jeremy finally managed to propose to Jesseca with a cake and "Will you marry me?" written on the plate.
"I had to get down on one knee, I felt that I had to show sincerity," Jeremy recalled, adding that Jesseca was in tears and could only nod her agreement.
Though the couple were engaged relatively early on in their relationship, they waited over a year to hold their wedding in Langkawi in 2017.
Back then, Jeremy had mentioned that they were waiting as he didn't have a car nor a house, and his career was nowhere near Jesseca's at that point.
Being a private couple, Jeremy and Jesseca only informed the media they'd gotten hitched after their wedding, at precisely 5.12pm.
"In my generation, 5-1-2 was slang for 'I love you'," Jeremy explained.
Playing into his age, he said that using numbers to approximate English words was all the rage back in the day. For example, "171554" sort of looked like "Miss u" on the pager.
Though he may have been worried about his career compared to Jesseca's back then, Jeremy explained that there are currently no divisions between who "brings home the bacon and who does the housekeeping" as they both do everything together.
He elaborated that he's in charge of getting household essentials, while Jesseca focuses on the cooking and household chores front.
"I'm the sort who always has to have a stash of things we use daily," he said. Even before the pandemic, Jeremy once got a good deal on toilet paper, so he bought a mind-boggling 80 rolls of it.
Not one to be accused of being the hoarder in the relationship, he added: "Jesseca collects bowls and plates, enough for 20 to 30 diners without having to re-use each more than once."
It's not just toilet paper and laundry detergent that Jeremy collects however, he also has an impressive collection of shoes as well as collectable toys.
"There's a story behind everything I collect," he said. One day in the future, if he were to go senile, Jeremy hopes looking at his collection would bring back fond memories.
He even has a Tokyo Skytree edition toy to commemorate where he and Jesseca got engaged.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.