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Sylvia Jeffreys on her "old school, traditional" love affair with Peter Stefanovic.

When Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic stepped in to host the Today show over the 2013 Christmas break, their on-air chemistry was undeniable. Even the news presenter’s family began to suspect a romance was brewing.

“My sister and mum both sat me down after that stint on air with Pete and said ‘is their something going on, is there something there?’,” she confided in Show and Tell‘s Katie ‘Monty’ Dimond in a recent interview.

At that point nothing had happened, but when Stefanovic returned to his post as Channel Nine’s Europe correspondent he began to write, she said.

“We started pen-palling after that,” she said.

“It was just nice things, about having a nice time working together and wishing me well …  There’s something for a 33-year-old man to sit down and hand write a letter and post it to you. It doesn’t matter what’s in that letter but that’s a gesture in itself.

“You sign your signature on things and that’s about it, it was pretty special.

The “smooth move” from Stefanovic was the beginning of an “old school and traditional” romance, Jeffreys said.

POOL LOLZ

A photo posted by Sylvia Jeffreys (@sylviajeffreys) on

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Stefanovic would fly home and visit as often as possible, with older brother Karl once gushing about how well Jeffreys handled their “crazy” clan.

“She has been around a couple of times when Pete is home from London and everyone likes her. She is a beautiful woman and super smart and most importantly, from Queensland,” he said.

“It is a big thing to cope with the in-laws, usually there is always a dodgy uncle, but she has the crazy brother-in-law. It is early days and I don’t want to put pressure on it, I wish them all the best.”

Soon after returning to Australia full time, the couple moved in together or, more accurately, Stefanovic Jr moved into Jeffreys’ Sydney “sorority house” where she was living with her girlfriends.

Despite their busy schedules (and her 7.30pm bedtime), she says they still manage to see a lot of each other.

“He’s probably getting sick of me by now.”

Who said romance was dead?