For IT project manager Nicholas Wong, finding love after age 40 was a piece of cake - cheesecake, actually.

Three years ago, he became smitten with his then colleague Noelle Chong, despite a 12-year age gap between them. Then, they were working in the same IT company. Mr Wong, now 47, was in the software delivery department and Madam Chong, 35, was working in the sales department.

Half of his friends were already married by this time, whereas he had been single for the previous five years. His last relationship, which lasted about six years, had ended; he went on dates occasionally, but had not hit it off with anyone.

One weekend, he sent Madam Chong a work-related text message. She happened to be baking an Oreo cheesecake at home and offered to take a slice to the office for him.

They met for breakfast - and cake - in the office pantry the next day. They discovered they both liked in-line skating. On their first accidental date (friends they were meeting backed out at the last minute), they ended up in-line skating together for an hour in East Coast Park.

Several skating sessions, movies and meals later, Madam Chong began to "suspect" that Mr Wong liked her. He sent her flowers on Valentine's Day.

"I began to have some feelings towards him after we spent time together," she says. "I realised he was someone I was rather comfortable with and we shared a common interest."

Mr Wong asked Madam Chong to be his girlfriend in 2011, about six months after they had shared cheesecake in the office pantry.

He says: "I was attracted to her beauty at first. Then we got along pretty well and have common interests. She is someone I can confide in."

Madam Chong says: "Our age difference never bothered me at all. He is very down- to-earth and easy to get along with. He is an honest kind of guy - husband material."

Nor did their age gap cause any concerns in her parents.

Madam Chong left the company in late 2010; Mr Wong, the following year.

Says Mr Wong: "I met Noelle at the right time. I was prepared to settle down. We got along very well and I wanted her to be a part of my life." On her birthday in late September 2011, he proposed to her minutes after midnight along the Esplanade waterfront.

She knew it was coming. Mr Wong had sought advice about the ring from a friend and she accidentally read one of the text messages.

She says: "He was showing me something on his phone when a message popped up. I did not pretend not to see it."

The couple had a laugh about it.

Still, she was at a loss for words when he got down on one knee and slipped the one-carat diamond ring on her finger. "I did not say yes immediately because I did not know how to react," she recalls. "After he put the ring on my finger, he reminded me that I had not given him an answer."

They were married six months later, on Mr Wong's birthday in March last year. About 120 people were at their wedding at a function room in One Degree 15 Marina Club.

Last November, their daughter Natasha was born. The family now live in a four-room flat in north-east Singapore.

Mr Wong says: "It is great to have found a companion. It is a very different lifestyle compared to singlehood. Busy but fulfilling."

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