If Darren Wong had been on time, he would never have met his wife.

In April 2002, Wong, then an MBA student at the University of San Francisco, was so late for a monthly alumni luncheon he almost didn't go. But he had wanted to hear the speaker, an alum who helped start Hong Kong's Star TV.

"When I got there, I was looking around for my friends, but at that point the lunch had already started," said Wong, 34. "And there just so happened to be one open seat."

That seat was next to Evonne Lau.

Lau, who had just applied to the school's MBA program, went to the luncheon to meet other students and alumni. She didn't expect to meet her future husband.

"The whole time I was thinking, 'How am I supposed to get his phone number?'" recalled Lau, 35, with a laugh. "That was on my mind the whole hour. He was so cute. I wasn't even paying attention to the speaker."

After the luncheon, she got his business card, then e-mailed him the next day, asking if he could show her around the campus. That way, she thought, maybe they could get to know each other better — and maybe she could find out if he was single.

Wong, on the other hand, had no idea of her intentions.

"I wasn't quite sure if she was just being curious or if she was interested in me," he said.

But when she started prying about his personal life, her interest became clear: "Yeah, I started to get that feeling," he said, laughing.

Two weeks later, Lau found out she was accepted to the MBA program. She called Wong to share the good news.

That's when Wong made his move.

He had been going to salsa classes with his friends and invited her to come along.

"The rest," he said, "is history."

After four months of dating, the couple decided to vacation on Maui. That trip changed their lives.

"I joked with Darren that maybe we should get married on the island and move there," said Lau, a certified wedding consultant. "But I never thought it would happen three years later."

After two years of dating, the couple got engaged rather unceremoniously. No poetry, no surprise, no ring. A few months later Wong moved into Lau's two-bedroom apartment and they started planning a wedding at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider the next year.

But just before their June 5 wedding, Wong got word that his request to transfer to Maui had been approved. He would start his new job as an activities sales manager at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa the week after their honeymoon on Kaua'i.

"The whole entire week during the wedding, people kept asking me, 'Are you nervous about the wedding?'" Lau said. "And I said, 'No, I'm nervous about the move.' "

Right after the wedding, they flew to Kaua'i for five days, then headed back to San Francisco to pack. They were on Maui the next week.

"We were on three islands in two weeks," Lau said.

The couple quickly found a three-bedroom rental in Kihei to share with their two long-haired Scottish Fold cats, still in quarantine on O'ahu. If they're not unpacking — or getting rid of stuff Lau has collected over the years — they're exploring their new home. They already have a favorite eatery, Da Kitchen, and try to catch the sunset every evening.

But they're quickly realizing that living in Hawai'i isn't a vacation every day.

"People always say, 'Wow, you're living in paradise. Do you go to the beach every day?' " Lau said. "But it's just like anywhere else. We're doing laundry and grocery shopping. Really, it's everyday life."