Sébastien blushes at the mention of this anecdote dating back to 2003. It is Lam, his wife of thirteen years, who opens the memory cabinet, a broad smile on his lips.
“An hour after our first meeting, where we parted kissing in front of Notre-Dame, he called me to tell me that he missed me.
It's beautiful… ”The love story between Lam, 42, and Sébastien, 44, began just three weeks after they met through the
Parisian.
Then 25 years old, the young woman, originally from Quảng Yên, in the bay of Along, in the north-east of Vietnam, had accompanied, in mid-November, her friend Christelle to the Céliberté salon at the Porte de Champerret, in Paris (17th century).
Asked by our reporter Claire Chantry, like seven other hearts to take, Lam was described in the ad as follows: “Asian, smiling and shy, Lam lives in the Paris region and wants to cross paths with a man with a soft and clear gaze.
She has a weakness for men with green or blue eyes, in their thirties.
"
Two sports hearts
The main thing for her is that he is "kind, frank and honest" and likes going out, movies and music.
Athletic (she does swimming and karate), “she wants someone who is active and takes initiatives.
The type he especially does not need: the homebody.
"
The Debret family shares a passion for sport.
DR
With Sébastien, Lam is served.
The handsome blue-eyed kid, at the time a sales engineer, is a seasoned cyclist and triathlete.
With more than 50 victories to his list, the former champion of Picardy and Oise on the track has twice finished the EmbrunMan, French myth of long distance triathlon (3.8 km of swimming, 185 km of cycling through the Alps and a marathon on foot).
"I received 200 love messages and Sébastien's was the first"
In 2003, the Picard flashed on the beautiful Asian by opening Le Parisien.
“As there was his email address in the newspaper, I sent him a rather trivial message, remembers the blond.
I told her that she was brave to write this kind of article and that as we shared a lot of hobbies, if she wanted, we could call each other… ”
“My mailbox was blocked after receiving 200 love messages including statements like:
You are the woman of my life
, reveals Lam, who arrived in France at 14 as a political refugee.
Sébastien's was the first (smile).
"
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Everyone wants to marry singles
A week after the Céliberté show, our newspaper found our 8 singles to take stock of their quest for a soul mate.
"It's difficult to choose because people don't send photos, you have to imagine them," replied the employee in the trade.
I especially noticed Sébastien, a young man of 27 years of 1.87 m with blue eyes, who like me practices martial arts.
He wanted to meet me where I train.
"
Lam Debret (foreground, right) testified in our columns on November 15 and 22, 2003. LP
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Three weeks later, in mid-December, the very first time will therefore finally be organized on the forecourt of Notre Dame, where the young suitor will wait nearly 2:30 for his beautiful, stuck in traffic.
“It was a way to test it,” Lam quipped, with a burst of laughter.
“The following summer, she invited me to Vietnam when I had run out of life after a trip to Japan with friends,” remembers Sébastien, whom the sweet friend fondly calls “my Gaul”.
Lam and Sébastien Debret were married on June 2, 2007 in Verberie (Oise).
DR
A wedding in the Oise
The couple got married on June 2, 2007 in Verberie (Oise), the town where the young man's parents run a bar-restaurant.
The births of their eldest Andonia (12 years old today) followed by the birth of little Cyriel (8 years old) and in the meantime the purchase in Viroflay of the brasserie-tabac Le Village.
It is renamed Le Labriz, after the name of the Seychelles island where they spent their honeymoon.
“It was there that Andonia was designed, the lovers confide.
It has also been nicknamed Coco Fesse, the emblematic local fruit.
"
At Labriz, Lam also has her nickname: Miss Bo bun, in reference to the good dishes from her country that she offers to customers.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we have lost nearly 60 to 70% of our brewery revenues.
But in ten years, we have doubled our turnover, ”confides the boss who had nevertheless vowed never to do his parents' job.