The next time you dine at the 3pm Dessert Cafe in Langkawi, Malaysia, be prepared to be served personally by local actor Jeremy Chan and his actress wife Jesseca Liu.

While this may not be new to frequent customers there, Jeremy, 42, told AsiaOne in an interview recently that they are delighted to serve their customers and will sometimes snap photos with them at their request.

"We prefer to interact with our customers and understand their preferences," he shared.

'I will help with those things that we can do by ourselves'

Besides the cafe business that they set up, Jesseca, 44, also owns homestay J's Home, scented candles and fragrance business Je3story and spa business Bellis.

Jeremy confirmed that the third Bellis spa outlet was recently opened in Langkawi.

He said: "Jesseca has been busier recently because she has to fly between Singapore and Malaysia to manage the businesses. For me, I will help her with whatever I can… Whenever we go back [to Langkawi], I'm her free labour."

He added that when they are not in Langkawi, Jesseca's mother helps to oversee the businesses. They have no plans to bring them to Singapore at the moment as it would be "tough" to handle on top of their schedules.

When asked if Jeremy assists in managing the businesses, he shared: "Not really, I feel that I am not very good at making business decisions. I provide some comments, but don't interfere because, after all, they are Jesseca's businesses."

So instead, he contributes physically to them — by using his strength.

"I help to build and move the shelves and other things. I am more hands-on. I have also helped paint the walls before. I help with those things that can be done by ourselves," Jeremy shared.

From husband to 'brother-in-law'

While Jeremy does not manage his own business in real life, he does run a fruit stall in his new drama, Once Upon A New Year's Eve, where he plays Cai Yiming and brother-in-law to Jesseca's character, Zhou Chenxi.

The drama centres around wealthy businessman Cai Yiren (Qi Yuwu), who is sent back in time to see his deceased wife Chenxi again. Though he can't change her fate, he is determined to accompany her in her remaining days and repair his relationship with their children, which was ruined in the present because of Chenxi's death.

Yiren's brother, Yiming, dotes on his niece and nephew and wants to help Yiren out with their family business. However, his personality clashes with Yiren's more serious demeanour. Yiming's reckless nature also causes more problems for Yiren to resolve.

An accident one day leads to Yiming being chased out of the family home, following which he starts his own fruit stall business.

Jeremy shared that although he and Jesseca had worked together on four drama productions before, he still found it "quite awkward" playing her brother-in-law at the beginning.

He said: "There were times when I called her 'da sao' (sister-in-law) and the crew were laughing because they thought it was quite funny. I think there is a challenge here, because when I look at my 'da sao', the kind of affection that I have for her is different from the affection that I have for my wife. So I was quite concerned that my gaze would betray me.

"I have to keep telling myself that she is my 'da sao' now. She is a very respectable and capable woman, who supports the family and takes care of everyone."

Luckily, Jeremy shared that they only have about two scenes where they had to interact as their characters.

"I think if we had more scenes together, it would have been more problematic," he added.

Once Upon A New Year's Eve premieres on Jan 18 and airs on weekdays at 9pm on Channel 8. It is also available on demand for free on meWATCH now.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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