For someone who tests 100% introversion on the Myers-Briggs test, and claims to be a really quiet person, Sin Yi actually surprised me. She must have an adventurous streak to her, since she had ideas of traipsing across construction sites to this relatively deserted amusement park that is called I-City for her pre-wedding photos. Both Eric and Sin Yi are really laid back and easy going people, and I got along with them so well at the first word! Eric claims to be the romantic one in the relationship (says that he cries while watching sappy romance movies) and so he didn’t have a problem cuddling up to Sin Yi during the shoot and giving puppy-eyed looks to her.
Jamie assisted me during the shoot because I was pretty heavily pregnant then, and I was really glad to have her there! We totally enjoyed ourselves that day. Thank you for putting up with our quirky ideas, standing on tables and doing all sorts of fun things!
Their Love Story:
Sin Yi: The first time I heard of Eric was when I first moved to Sunway, and my mom told me there’s a boy my age across the street. Being sixteen at the time, my mind was filled with teenage romance possibilities. However, when we met for the first time, at the neighborhood coffeeshop, both dressed in ratty pasar malam clothes, my first impression, honestly, was “okaay…”.
Eric: I was set for a JPA sponsored college prep program in INTEC Shah Alam. Right before attending, mom told me that our next door neighbour’s daughter will also be in the same batch of selected students! So our families decided to get together over dinner and have a round of introductions for the both of us. Frankly I think the both of us came away a little disappointed that we weren’t the smoking hot guy/girl next door that we dreamed of before our meeting. But… she sounded like a fun person and it seemed like we were going to become fast friends in college :)
Eric: Fast forward a couple of months later. In INTEC, we’re usually hanging out together in our group of 7 friends. It wasn’t until a year in that we figured out that we had real good chemistry going on between the both of us. We enjoy each other’s company, finish each other’s sentences, and chat online till the late nights. End of the year we fell in love and as far as ‘hanging out’ go, seven became two.
Things became complicated towards the end of the program because we weren’t sure which part of the US we would end up in. While waiting for decisions we both decided not to commit into a serious relationship until we knew more. Personally I was determined to keep our feelings alive. Thankfully we both ended up in Chicago and after a rough ride on the emotional rollercoaster, we fell into a serious relationship with one another.
Sin Yi: I think what sealed the deal was when we both ended up in universities in Chicago. Being faraway from family, adapting to a foreign city, coping with college life, definitely made us rely on each other more. Although we had different groups of friends in our respective colleges, I was always looking forward to the weekend, when one of us would travel two hours by train to visit. Having someone whom I could laugh and cry with, and understands BOTH my Chicago and Malaysian experiences, brought great comfort to me in college.
Sin Yi: Going through ten years together, we are pretty inseparable now. Even from the start, I discovered that we are very alike: we are both more logical than emotional, and we both value the same things, and are impatient about the same things. We also share the same brand of humor and we have occasional telepathic powers. Over the past ten years, I think we’ve only grown even more alike (I hope in a good way!). Based on how we have comforted and helped each other over the years, (Pancakes when experiments fail! Keeping each other company on a crappy 10 hour KTM ride!) I think we make a stellar team, and will help each other along no matter what the future might bring.
Credits:
Photographers: Grace & Jamie
Location: I-City, Shah Alam, Delicious & Urban Fresh, Setia City Mall