Teodora Maria Bun and Menchilou Deo Antopina started watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” like clockwork, collectively every week after they met in Singapore.
For further oomph, and typically with mates, they normally downed pictures — together with a thriller shot as soon as blended with durian, the notoriously pungent fruit — every time a drag queen on the truth competitors present carried out an incredible feat like a cartwheel, break up or loss of life drop.
“It’s a part of our relationship,” mentioned Ms. Antopina, 32, who goes by Mench.
She “tremendous preferred” Ms. Bun, 30, who goes by Maria, her very first time on Tinder one Sunday night in July 2020.
Ms. Bun’s inexperienced eyes in a selfie blew her away.
“It reveals her magnificence,” mentioned Ms. Antopina, who had arrived in Singapore on the finish of January 2020, a couple of weeks earlier than pandemic lockdown, to take a breather from her profession as an accountant in Cebu, the Philippines, the place she grew up.
For a change of tempo, Ms. Antopina, who graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in accounting from Cebu Institute of Know-how-College, obtained a job as a consultant for a concierge service in Singapore. She is now an unbiased accountant offering company and accounting providers to multinational corporations within the Philippines.
“I ‘tremendous preferred’ her proper again,” mentioned Ms. Bun, 30, a lawyer, utilizing the Tinder time period, and invited her over that night for some crimson wine.
Ms. Antopina, feeling a bit adrift in a brand new metropolis at a really unusual time, proceeded with warning. (She had counted on taking three-hour flights house to see household, however didn’t see them for the following two years).
“I had to ensure if she was actual or not, not a catfish” she mentioned, and requested if she may name her.
Reassured, Ms. Antopina took a cab from the place she lived in Sunhaven to Ms. Bun’s place a half-hour away on Keong Saik Highway, however en route Ms. Antopina, not a cat particular person, discovered that Ms. Bun had two — a Bengal, named Enkidu, and a Maine coon, Simone.
In the end, “they modified how I see cats 100%,” Ms. Antopina mentioned.
Ms. Bun, not like her, felt proper at house in Singapore.
“It was an excellent place to start out my profession and meet my closest mates,” mentioned Ms. Bun, who spent her final semester of legislation college there in an trade program by means of McGill College, from which she acquired a twin diploma in civil and customary legislation in 2017.
After legislation college, Ms. Bun, who was born in Romania and moved to Toronto along with her mother and father when she was 7, obtained a job as a junior authorized counsel at Avation, an plane leasing firm primarily based in Singapore. She is now an affiliate specializing in aviation finance at Milbank, a legislation agency in New York. She graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in worldwide relations and historical past from l’Institut d’études Politiques de Paris, in Reims, France.
“We simply talked quite a bit and drank,” mentioned Ms. Bun, as they sat on her balcony and took within the metropolis views on that first night time. Additionally they sang karaoke, and had their first kiss.
A couple of days later, Ms. Antopina returned to her condo the place they made dinner collectively: pasta, Ms. Antopina’s favourite meals, from scratch.
With borders closed and journey restricted, Ms. Bun booked her favourite suite for a staycation in August 2020 on the Fullerton Bay Resort on the town the place their Jacuzzi had a view of Marina Bay Sands.
“She made numerous constant effort,” mentioned Ms. Antopina, who moved into Ms. Bun’s place on the finish of the 12 months.
When the bars shut down, Ms. Antopina put up disco lights they usually danced to “oldies” from the ’80s, psychedelic world music and electro synthesis.
“We made numerous actions that may compensate for the loneliness of Covid,” Ms. Antopina mentioned.
In March 2022, when Ms. Bun accepted her job at Milbank, Ms. Antopina stayed behind in Singapore as a restaurant franchise supervisor. Nonetheless, they managed to observe “Drag Race” collectively on FaceTime every week.
“Generally considered one of us had pictures for breakfast,” mentioned Ms. Antopina, with fun, referring to the 12- or 13-hour time distinction.
In December 2022 they vacationed in Cebu, the place Ms. Bun met Ms. Antopina’s household. The next July, Ms. Bun obtained on one knee on a rooftop of their resort in Taiwan, because the supermoon rose over the Yushan mountain vary by Solar Moon Lake.
In November 2023, Ms. Antopina lastly joined Ms. Bun in New York. It was her first time in america.
“I met her on the airport with flowers,” mentioned Ms. Bun. She quickly took Ms. Antopina to Prospect Park to see the altering autumn leaves, which she had solely seen in motion pictures or on tv.
On March 8, the couple have been married by Shunya Togashi, a clerk on the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. That night they’d dinner with Ms. Bun’s mother and father at Delmonico’s, the place they loved the restaurant’s signature dessert, Baked Alaska.
“We launched my mother and father to our ‘Drag Race’ consuming recreation with pictures that night,” Ms. Bun mentioned, with fun.
