Feelings for first love never wavered
Barry Hui fell in love with Kennis Lau when he was just 13 and his feelings for his first love have never wavered.
Barry, 34, an administrative officer at RTHK, and Kennis, 33, an accountant, were married on November 27 at ELCHK Faith Lutheran Church in Shek Kip Mei, followed by a banquet with more than 200 guests.
The couple went to the same secondary school but were in different classes. The then boyish-looking Kennis caught Barry's eye.
'She had really short hair and looked very sporty. I saw her on campus and we went to the same church. I felt happy every time I saw her,' Barry said. 'I was secretly in love with her, but she had no idea.'
Barry did not get the chance to tell Kennis he loved her before they graduated, and they lost contact when she moved to Australia in 2000.
In 2008, Barry learned that Kennis had moved back to the city, and met her at church. He realised that his feelings for her had not diminished over the years. A few months later, they met again at a class reunion.
'She was on my mind repeatedly after that meeting. I was very drawn to her smiling face,' he said.
They went out for dinner the following month and, in the summer of 2009, Barry finally told Kennis what he had not got the chance to say a decade earlier. 'I knew he was the one when he said, 'I love you' and held my hand that night,' Kennis said.
On October 1, 2010, the couple went to watch the National Day fireworks from the West Kowloon waterfront promenade. Barry got down on one knee and popped the question. 'I put the diamond ring on a heart-shape cushion and asked her to marry me,' Barry said.
Kennis, surprised and laughing to conceal her shyness at being proposed to in front of a crowd, said, 'Yes'.
