Wednesday, October 20, 2010

How I Became Mrs Z.

As with many love stories, the love story of Hubby and I may seem nothing out of the ordinary except to those who experienced them of course. Nevertheless, I would still like to think of it as a beautiful love story that I hope to be able to pass down to my children and later on to their children and so on, some day.

As fate would have it, I was destined to meet my husband for the very first time on August 21st, 2000. I just came back from a job interview and was hanging out with my friend SW at her home in Bangsar. She then received a call from a guy friend of hers, A, who wants to meet up for coffee.

Here’s the thing, my friend SW has been wanting to set me up with her friend A, for as long as I could remember but I always refused. Back in my twenties, I was really skeptical about being set up with friends’ friends, blind dates and so on. At that point in time, I was 26, single and couldn’t care less about looking for a boyfriend, let alone think about marriage.

So after much persuasion from SW, I relented and agreed to accompany her for coffee with her friend A, at Austin Chase in Bangsar Shopping Complex. (BSC). In the car, on the way to BSC, I was fuming mad at SW for dragging me along with her to meet A. SW said that A wanted to catch up over coffee as they have not met up for quite some time. Though I know, it’s all part of SW’s plan for me to finally meet A.

We then arrived at BSC, parked the car and made our way to Austin Chase- nothing extraordinary yet so far but little would I know what's in store for me that fateful day. Upon arrival, we saw these 2 gentlemen sitting at a corner and one of them waved at SW. So I said to myself, that must be the infamous A.  Made our way to the table and introductions were made. The other guy accompanying A was his friend Z. (aka Hubby). SW and I then sat down opposite both of them and immediately proceed to order our drinks.

Hubby was the one who strike the first conversation. I would always remember the first question he asked me, the so-called “ice-breaker” - “Which part of Penang are you from?" (I don’t know why that was his first question of choice but he later told me it was because I had this “Bollywood/anak Mami Penang punya face”. I don’t know whether I should feel flattered or what.)

Between A & Hubby, Hubby was the one who was asking me a lot of questions. I was rather surprised by the turn of events as I knew that my friend SW wanted to set me up with A. Not that I was complaining or anything but I found myself enjoying Hubby’s conversations more as A seems to be more focused on staring at me than actually having a proper conversation with me.

As Hubby & I started exchanging personal stories, we discovered that we had a lot in common. He was born in Kuantan and I grew up in Kuantan. We seem to have many mutual family friends.I also found out that this one particular restaurant in Kuantan that I usually frequent for breakfast belong’s to his Uncle and I knew his Aunty quite well.

Besides that, both Hubby and I were law graduates from the UK, so we definitely had a lot to talk about, from the universities that we graduated from, the law subjects that we took, our favourite spots in London, his trip to Scotland, my trip to Scotland, the conversation topics seem endless. The best thing of all, he spoke perfect English with a hint of the Queen accent that I found rather charming. (Though I have never admitted to him about liking his accent, I told him that when we first met, I thought he was a "mat saleh celup". hehehe)

I really did not know what to say to A. After several attempts of trying to draw him into the conversations between SW, Hubby and myself, but with very little response from A, I totally gave up.I tried my level best to be as friendly as I could be. So I guess, SW’s attempt to play matchmaker between me & A did not exactly worked out as planned but a new chapter in my life was about to take its course...

Before I knew it, the time came for us to leave. I admit that I really enjoyed meeting Hubby and since we seem to have many mutual family friends, I decided to ask for his handphone number. Since I already exchanged numbers with A, I thought it was only fair that I did the same with Hubby. (Because of that, up till this very day, Hubby always tells everybody that it was me who made the first move by asking for his number and not vice versa. (Okaylah Sayang, whatever makes you happy. :p)

I went home happy but never gave much thought about meeting up with Hubby again.

Imagine my surprise the very next morning, when I received a text from Hubby.
“Good morning. It’s me, Z. We met yesterday. I really enjoyed meeting you. Perhaps we can meet up again, soon.”

Okay, I admit that I was beyond please to receive Hubby’s text. I replied saying that I enjoyed meeting him too. Immediately after I replied his text, he called and asked me out to dinner that very night itself. I know it was too soon to be going out with a guy that I just met the day before but I nevertheless agreed to meet him for dinner. He mentioned about this really nice “nasi lemak” place in Kelana Jaya that he wants to take me to.

Guess what? My first date with Hubby was at a nasi lemak stall (it was not even a proper restaurant) in Kelana Jaya. I was surprised that Hubby took me there but I was not complaining. The food was good, the company was excellent. What more could I ask for? (Hubby later confessed that he purposely took me out for dinner at the stall as he wanted to see what kind of person I really was. He wanted to see whether I ni sanggup makan kat warung or not, whether I ni jenis “high maintenance” or not.) Guess I passed the first date with flying colours. :D

After that first date, for the next two weeks, we spent every waking hours (outside office hours) together. During that first 2 weeks together, we knew that we were beginning to really like each other, more and more so with each passing day. No words of love were exchanged yet between us. After all, it has only been two weeks. Too early to be exchanging "I love you", right?

However, by the end of the 2 weeks, Hubby surprised me by saying, 


“I see us growing old together. Let’s get married” (with his accented English that I found so charming.)

I went like…. “Huh? Are you serious?”

Hubby said, “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”

I then asked him, “Isn’t it too soon? We’ve only known each other for 2 weeks.”

He said. “I already know everything I need to know about you.”

At that point in our relationship, neither of us has met with each other’s family so when Hubby said “let’s get married”, it seems a bit far-fetched.

I then looked at him and said. “ Are you really serious? Were you actually proposing when you said let’s get married?”

“Yes, I was. So, what say you?" replied Hubby.

A lot of things were going on in my mind at that particular moment in time. Wondering what my parents were going to say especially since they have not even met him. (Come to think of it, they haven't even heard about him yet) Would they be able to accept Hubby as their son in law, would my siblings like him, would his family accept me, well the list was endless.

But with all that worrying going on inside my head, I don't know what came of me, I then looked at Hubby, smiled and said, “Yes! Let’s get married”.

Just like that, we unofficially became engaged. No exchange of rings, family members were not in the know of each other’s existence but we both already agreed to spend the rest of our lives together. Call us crazy or what not, but after knowing each other for only 2 weeks, we knew that we we so right for each other.


Fate huh? It does work in mysterious way I'd say....


It was only after the unofficial engagement that we both finally met up with both of our families. Alhamdullilah, both families agreed to the marriage even though we haven't known each other for that long. We became officially engaged on December 30th, 2000 at my family home in Kuantan, 4 months after the first day we met.


Ten months after the official engagement, we got married on October 20th, 2001. Exactly about 1 year, two months from the day we first met.

That’s how I became Mrs. Z. :D

End of story.

p/s: To my darling Hubby of 9 years, “Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary My Love. I am so looking forward to growing old with you.”

10 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary babe..u looked hawt! hehehehe

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  2. happy anniversary kak sui & hubby!!! :)
    May Allah protects you and your family forever with the best of iman, hidayah, health, wealth and happiness. AMIN...

    :)

    p/s: beautiful story... :)

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  3. happy 9th anniversary sui darling! you are soo lucky you know! love, nita xoxo

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  4. Happy anniversary darliling..who thought a cup of coffee would change your life forever eh?

    I promise to love you till the day I leave this world....

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  5. mrs Z: happy 9th anniversary mr n mrs Z....

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  6. happy anniversary to both of u.
    sweet gile cerita ;)

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  7. Hi, I stumbled on your blog while googling on "wedding-anniversary-halal-fine dining-singapore" hehe.. and I love this entry so much..I have goosebumps all over my neck when I read the proposal paragraph..that was soo sweet and romantic.. :) Happy anniversary!!

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  8. Dear Cosmic_GurL, Ayu, Nita, Kaiser Soze, Zaza, & FrH:

    Thank you so much. Love you all. xoxo

    Ribbon Clown:

    Hi there! Welcome to my humble blog. Thank you so much for your kind words and wishes. :)

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  9. hi Mrs Z,

    I was actually smiling while reading your stories.
    mudahnya pertemuan jodoh u....lucky u..

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  10. Hi Pulut Coco.

    "Pulut Coco"? That's so cute. :)

    I guess it's true when they say that jodoh pertemuan di tangan Tuhan. When I least expect it, tiba-tiba Tuhan pertemukan jodoh with Hubby. I am indeed very lucky. :)

    Thank's for reading this entry. I'm happy to know this particular entry made you smile. :)

    Take care.

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