On Aug. 20, 2017, Quang Nhat Che went to Tapioca Express in Irvine, Calif., looking for a place to study. There he noticed Nicole Adrienne Yusay, working on her laptop and sipping on a drink he hadn’t seen before.
He asked the cashier what she had ordered and was told it was a chocolate milk boba, an uncommon choice among traditional Asian milk tea drinks. Intrigued, he ordered the same.
“I drank it, and it was awful,” Mr. Che said. “But I still went up to her, told her that I got the same drink to approach her, but unfortunately, I thought it was really bad.”
She laughed, and after chatting, they exchanged phone numbers.
A week later, they went on their first date to the 626 Night Market in Costa Mesa, Calif., which Ms. Yusay suggested. A food content creator at the time, she had been invited to attend. The food would be comped, but she kept that detail to herself. “I’ll admit, I was secretly doing a little test and wanted to see if he’d offer to pay,” she said. At the first stand, he reached for his wallet without hesitation.
They spent hours trying Asian-fusion dishes, talking about their careers, families and passions — not knowing they would one day build a life and a business together.
In October 2017, they became exclusive. Nearly two years later, in July 2019, during a trip to the Philippines, Mr. Che gave Ms. Yusay a promise ring on a small boat off a sandbar. Shortly thereafter, they moved into an apartment in Irvine, Calif.
In June 2020, early in the pandemic, Ms. Yusay began selling pre-owned designer handbags via live streams on social media under the name FashioNica, while still working full-time as a brand manager at a pizza chain. The side project gained traction, and by January 2022, she quit her job and became the chief executive of FashioNica, a live-streamed marketplace for curated pre-owned designer handbags and jewelry.
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Mr. Che joined in. “I saw that she needed help,” he said. “I was the technical brain, and she was the visionary. It felt like the right move to make as a couple, too.” In January 2024, he quit his job as a software engineer and joined FashioNica as the chief financial and technology officer.
“It meant so much, him leaving behind his path and going all in to support mine,” she said.
Ms. Yusay, 32, who goes by Nica, is from south Orange County, Calif., and graduated from the University of San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Mr. Che, 34, grew up in El Monte, Calif., and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
While building the business, they were also navigating a competitive housing market as they searched for their first home together. “Through every challenge, he remained supportive,” Ms. Yusay said. “ I realized I wasn’t just choosing a home, I was choosing my partner for life.”
On July 3, 2021, she thought they were picking up the keys to their new house in Rancho Mission Viejo, in the southern part of Orange County, but he had secretly arranged for friends and family to hide inside for the proposal. As she stood outside to pose for what she thought was a new homeowner photo, he knelt and proposed with an oval-cut diamond engagement ring.
They hired a wedding planner shortly after, but kept postponing while they grew FashioNica. In August 2023, they bought a second home in Orange County, where they currently reside with their two French bulldogs, Kingston and Louis. They are renting out their other home.
After nearly five years being fiancés, “I realized we were engaged longer than we were together as boyfriend and girlfriend,” Mr. Che said.
They planned their wedding in 90 days and married on March 14, at Monserate Winery in Fallbrook, Calif., before 119 guests. Ms. Yusay’s sister, Lauren Yusay, ordained through the American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated.
Ms. Yusay walked down the aisle with her mother, April Margaret Yusay, carrying a Cult Gaia antique brass clutch adorned with flowers. She donned a strapless wedding dress by Toni Matičevski; he wore a tuxedo by the Black Tux.
“To Build a Home” by the Cinematic Orchestra — a song they had listened to often while house hunting — was their first dance.
“For us, it was never just about moving into a home,” Mr. Che said. “It was about merging our lives.”
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