Text SUMMER LEE
To math tutors Aven and Kim, love is no art or science, but a simple formula: perseverance to the power of two who are hopelessly in love.
Four years ago, Kim Aw had just turned 21 when she first met Aven Choo, 12 years her senior, at the yoga centre where she was working as a consultant. There was no immediate chemistry or physical attraction. To her, he was just another customer signing up for yoga lessons.
It was only later, after he had turned up for his yoga sessions for a few months, that they found themselves progressing from exchanging pleasantries to discovering more about each other and their common factor: interest in mathematics
“Despite our age gap, we are not very different in terms of character. But we did not really know we would end up in marriage. We just thought we could give the relationship a try,” said Kim.
They started dating around six months later and their feelings for each other grew exponentially. Aven subsequently stopped patronising the yoga centre, but not before poaching Kim to join him as a teacher at his tuition centre where he taught mathematics at secondary school level. And when they were not crunching numbers, they would be visiting the national museum where he proposed.
Said Kim: “There was this magnetic board stuck with utensils. While I was not looking, he formed the words ‘marry me’ on the spot with spoons and sauce dishes.”
The mad rush for wedding preparations did not start until three months before the wedding day. Tensions ran high when rain poured throughout the day during an outdoor shoot arranged by their pre-wedding photographer, Kelvin from Lightedpixels. Even though they were carrying umbrellas, it left Kim with a blotchy gown and a heavy heart. Fortunately, the photos turned out fine with skilful touch-ups that made her gown - and her - look immaculate.
Kim was never an easy catch for Aven, especially when her father had initially disapproved of their relationship due to their 12-year age gap.
“But Aven was very persistent. He would join my family gatherings and slowly win my father over,” said Kim. “It took about a year for my dad to start acting friendly.”
After four years of courtship, things did not get any easier even on their wedding day in May this year.
“When we went to pick up my bride, her ‘sisters’ made me and my ‘brothers’ do many crazy stuff. One particular stunt was to perform pole dancing on a bamboo pole, which I did until my whole suit was wet with sweat,” said Aven in good humour.
Putting his yoga skills to good use, Aven cast aside his decorum and sportingly gyrated against a bamboo pole as two of his groomsmen slurped cola from a 1.5-litre PET bottle through a thin rubber hose. “He was not allowed to stop until they finish the drink,” Kim giggled.
Their wedding banquet, thrown at the Grand Hyatt, was an aureate picture of red and gold – an interpretation of the Spanish theme by their florist Wee Lee from Fiore Dorato.
Besides the mathematically-inclined couple, the guests also did their sums to maximise the utility of their red packets.
“At the end of the night, most floral arrangements were gone, taken home by our guests as souvenirs,” said Kim, whose mind is now probably taken up by two numbers – her November honeymoon in Europe, and her integral other half.
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