It’s been four years since local artistes Hong Ling and Nick Teo started dating.

Nick and Hong went public with their romance about a year–but don’t expect wedding bells to be ringing for them anytime soon, if ever.

Speaking with a local news outlet earlier this week during the imaging session of her new Channel 8 drama My Guardian Angels, she opened up on the inevitable subject of love, relationships and marriage.

Hong does intend to take her relationship with Nick to the next level, but her rather unexpected confession was: “Actually, I don’t want to get married leh.”

Cue the dramatic freeze frame and record scratch effect. What? Surely there isn’t trouble in paradise?

Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. The 25-year-old actress explained with a shrug, “I feel like I’m already very comfortable with him and with how things are, so whether we get married or not doesn’t really make a difference.”

For the record, neither her beau nor her folks mind this untraditional decision of hers.

“I’ve told my parents about this before, and my mum was like, ‘Oh, very good ah, no need to get married.’ They think it’s not a bad idea to be single, even if you do have a partner,” she shared. “I believe Nick respects my choice as well.”

Image combo shows Hong Ling, her boyfriend Nick Teo and niece

That said, the couple has definitely discussed a life together in the future – it just doesn’t necessarily involve a ring and certificate. Starting a family is also almost certainly not in the picture because, well, as Hong Ling bluntly admitted, she hates kids.

“I find them too noisy and mischievous! I’m quite introverted and don’t really like to talk much, so when kids bother me I just feel like hitting them,” she chuckled (relax lah, that last remark was an exaggerated figure of speech).

Even her own niece is not exempt. “She’s okay,” Hong Ling shrugged. “I don’t dislike her but I still find her troublesome at times, so I’d just avoid her then. (Laughs)”

Nick, on the other hand, makes more effort to entertain the little girl. “He does treat her very well – perhaps he finds her very cute? I don’t even play with my own niece, but Nick can spend two to three hours just sitting there with her – I can’t take it after five minutes! (Laughs)”

With an attitude like that, it wasn’t surprising to hear that one of Hong Ling’s biggest concerns about working on My Guardian Angels, in which she plays a young single mother, is dealing with her onscreen son.

“Kids tend to be more playful on set so they might not take work very seriously; I mean, they’re kids after all, so that’s one area that I’m a little worried about,” she mused. “But I heard that my kid is about seven years old, so I think he’ll be a bit more well-behaved, which puts me at ease.”

Her tendency to keep a distance from children also won’t stop her from being a consummate professional, as she voiced her plans to try her best to form a good relationship with the boy. She also told her co-star and fellow kid hater Edwin Goh, who plays her baby daddy in the show, that they should put their prejudice aside, immerse themselves in their characters as parents, and really love their onscreen offspring.

Well, who knows? Perhaps this role might be able to change their minds about little ones.