Fresh from her honeymoon to Europe, where she and fellow actor husband Jeremy Chan traversed Italy, Spain and Portugal, Jesseca said that a bird unexpectedly pooped on Jeremy’s head, just as they were contemplating whether to enter a restaurant in Florence.

“It was so funny because a huge flock of birds flew by suddenly, and before we knew it, there were bird droppings on Jeremy’s head,” Jesseca recalls with a chuckle. “Of course I had to laugh before helping him clean up!”

It’s clear that Jesseca is deeply in love – she married Jeremy in her hometown of Langkawi last July after a three-year courtship, and the couple has a rock-solid bond, though she jibes that Jeremy was “actually more romantic before we got married”.

“Once, he took me on a romantic date where we had a candlelit dinner on a rooftop, and he also proposed to me near a beautiful temple in Japan, overlooking a cliff – it was so beautiful, and he presented me with a cake with a ring on top. Nowadays, I don’t get that kind of treatment,” she jokes.

“To be fair, we’ve both been busy filming since we were married, so we didn’t always get to spend lots of quality time together aside from the honeymoon.”

Besides acting, Jesseca is also a shrewd businesswoman. She owns Bellis Spa, with three outlets in Langkawi, a café, and an Airbnb apartment, with her family helping to run the businesses. Still, don’t expect her to retire from showbiz anytime soon. “I think acting will always be my first love, and it suits my character because I relish the chance to try new things.”

This Chinese New Year is Jesseca’s first as a newlywed, and she is looking forward to starting new traditions with her husband’s family. “I usually go back to Langkawai to spend the whole Chinese New Year season with my family, but this year, I will be with my in-laws in Singapore, then visit Langkawi on the second day. I always look forward to my mum’s home-cooked dinners, where she will cook my grandmother’s traditional recipes and we’ll have homemade cookies as well. Sadly, my grandmother has passed on, but she lives on through her wonderful dishes.”

“My wish for the Year of the Dog is for my husband and I to enjoy our married life, grow closer as a couple, and for my family to have good luck and prosperity.”

Jesseca is currently filming Channel 8 drama Babies On Board, where she plays a gynecologist who ironically is struggling with infertility together with her husband, played by Tay Ping Hui. Babies On Board will air in May.

“I talked to real-life ob-gyns and IVF specialists to see what it’s like to work with pregnant women and deliver babies,” said Jesseca. “One thing that really struck me is how hard it is to be a mother. The doctors told me that mothers risk their lives to bring babies into this world, and sometimes, delivery is a life-or-death situation – which I never considered, because my sister had three kids and it seemed like such a natural thing.”

“For a while, I thought I didn’t want to have kids because I saw it as a burden. But when I see a child who is very well-behaved, it makes me think, ‘Maybe it won’t be so bad; I should have one too’. Because of my age, I don’t think I’ll wait too long to have kids – we will probably try for a baby in the next couple of years.

Jesseca says she and Jeremy aren’t in the habit commemorating V-Day. Her advice for couples? Don’t complicate dates, and keep things chill. “Spend some effort giving your other half small surprises, like going on a picnic together,” she says. “Jeremy and I don’t set overly-high targets for each other. Valentine’s Day isn’t something we celebrate, and we don’t go out of our way to make a big thing out of it, because every day can be Valentine’s Day when you’re treating each other well. We’re very open with each other, and neither of us needs much to be happy.”

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