The dater
Teddy Tong is a MuchMusic VJ. He helped to relaunch the channel as a digital platform and gain more than 4.5 million followers on TikTok. He has a 57,000-strong following on Instagram and has interviewed some of the biggest names in entertainment, from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to Shania Twain.
The dates
“I met my partner (social strategist Naomi Belay) at a concert in Toronto for an R&B artist named Blxst. I was working the concert for MuchMusic. I just remember hearing a voice say ‘Do you sing or something?’ Next thing I know I’m looking at her and she was stunning. I loved her smile and her style.
We exchanged contacts that night and a week later I messaged her, asking to hang out. She gets at me for saying I took too long to message her! For our first date, we went for oysters and wine at a restaurant that my cousin manages.
It was just refreshing when we had a conversation. I remember a night before I just called her and we talked for over an hour getting to know each other; it was really easy. I remember being nervous for the date and thinking … wait, am I crushing?!
We joked for the whole date, got to know each other more; I was already thinking about taking her on a second date on our first date. The memory that stuck out to me was we barely ate anything ‘cause we were just talking and laughing the whole time.
When we were first dating, we went to other concerts together. The best part is we just went to concerts with artists we don’t even listen to so it became our thing and really bonded us. The best date was when we went to a strip club — yes, the strip club! We just had fun anywhere we were; that’s how I knew we were a good match. Put us in any scenario and we made it fun for us.
We have been together for a year and a half now. How we became exclusive is a funny story. So it’s been months and we were hanging out all the time. We even did a cute little road trip to Montreal and were planning our next vacation while being on vacation. But one day we were on the road driving and I made a comment like ‘That’s my girlllll’ or something like that. And the convo went like:
Me: ‘That’s my girl.’
Her: ‘I’m not your girl.’
Me: ‘Ohhhh … what?’
Her: ‘You never asked me.’
Me: ‘Naomi, would you be my girlfriend?’
Her: ‘Yes.’
And then we just burst out in laughter. She had a point: I hadn’t asked her yet, but I always knew she was the one once we spent more time together.
Lately — and y’all are gonna laugh — but Costco, Ikea and HomeSense, that’s our spot. That’s another thing, the mundane things feel so fun and get us excited. Another thing that made me know I wanted her in my life. We also enjoy drive-in movies, cooking classes and hanging out with our dog.
Right now we are in the process of doing a lot of furniture shopping because we are getting ready to move in together, so that feels like our own little date that’s connecting us. We’ve been able to see what each other’s design preferences are — even though she’s the boss at decorating the home. We also like to try different breakfast-sandwich spots every weekend.
Doing activities together can truly help spark and maintain your connection: cooking classes, vacations, going to concerts together. (Choose an artist you both don’t know to make it funnier!) Road trips have also been memorable for us, just being in the moment for that sparked meaning and funny conversations.
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