He is an inventor, so she has learnt to live with microchips, circuit boards, six computers, six printers and a giant photocopier taking up much of the space in their five-room HDB flat.

But Mrs Reshma Lhode, 29, says she knew what she was getting into when she married her husband Sebastien in 2005.

'It's a package,' she says dryly. 'I can't have him without the other stuff.'

The two met on an online dating site in August that year and got married within four months. Their speedy courtship is the stuff of legends in their circle of friends.

'Unlike other guys I've dated, he was completely honest with me right from the start,' she says. 'He's intellectual and very good at what he does.'

A geek at heart, Mr Lhode is a convert to romance. 'Before I came to Singapore, I didn't believe in soulmates,' says the Belgian native, now a permanent resident here. 'Then I met Reshma.'

Their interests, however, are completely different. Mrs Lhode, a pharmacist by training, reads romance novels by the likes of Nora Roberts and uses the computer mostly to check e-mail.

Mr Lhode, a consultant, reads technical manuals and tinkers with computer chips to create new gizmos. He is currently working on a gadget to store data from business cards.

But his geeky habits have rubbed off on her. She says: 'I'm more interested in technical things now. I never realised how useful technology was before until he made my computer work faster.'

Although he acknowledges that she does not share his passions, he adds: 'She remembers to ask and that makes me happy.'

They are expecting their first child and that has inspired Mr Lhode's latest project - scanning photographs of their late grandparents into the computer, so that their children would have a record of where they came from.

While she appreciates his thoughtfulness, she says there are also times when his geek nature can be a problem.

He concedes and says: 'I get so absorbed in what I'm doing sometimes. I was working on a circuit board from 10am and she calls me, saying: 'Where are you? It's 8pm and you're supposed to pick me up!''

He says she is too emotional while she says his rationality is a useful counterpoint.

He says: 'If Reshma is round and emotional, I am squarish and practical. Together we are a polygon - we are complementary.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.