Our Story
It is a gift to find one’s best friend and soul mate. What makes it more special is to spend the rest of your lives together. This is our story – how we have unwittingly prepared ourselves for the past 14 years to be each other’s perfect match.
ONE FINE DAY
We’re guessing that only 1 in 1,000 actually remembers their first day in high school. But for us, June 5, 1995, our first day in Notre Dame of Greater Manila is not at all forgettable… as it will prove to be the beginning of something really special.
Notre was Bryan’s turf being the class valedictorian in grade school. Tina, also the valedictorian of a nearby school, is a stranger to this world. We are what most people would consider natural competitors. Despite this, there was an instant and mutual interest in each of us to be really close friends. Looking back, “really close friends” is a huge understatement, much much bigger than us.
HIGH SCHOOL HIGH
It was an instant friendship, and then an instant best-friendship… talking for hours on the phone over school stuff, about classmates, our families, almost about anything… anything but our feelings for each other.
Not surprisingly, we had always been an “item” in our class, in our batch, and yes, even in the faculty… and oh, even in our families sometimes… probably because we’re “hindi tao, hindi hayop” but “bagay na bagay.”
Tina had some “steadies”, but it never prevented us from having 4 to 5-hour conversations everyday pouring out our self, our soul to each other. When asked to describe the person he’d want to spend his life with, Bryan would always say that she must be someone he can talk with for hours without feeling bored and for the past 14 years, this is what we have.
We never knew we will end up together, but we do know that our friendship was built to last.
TOGETHER AGAIN…
We started our UP years apart – Tina in the College of Engineering and Bryan in the College of Business Administration. Once in a while we would stumble on each other in our GE subjects and would go together every time we attend high-school-related gatherings.
With Bryan’s help, Tina was able to transfer to CBA a year after. This time of course, we had more chances of doing things together.
We went in the same classes, belonged in the same groups and organizations, and even went to the same company for our internship. This allowed us to grow together but also apart since Tina was then in a relationship. However, this did not in any way wane our friendship.
For our board exams review, we entered the same review center and resided in apartments that were just literally a few steps apart. Everyday we would meet to hear mass at the UST church before going to our review class. It was in one of those review days when Tina and her boyfriend broke up. Of course, Bryan was there at her worst moment being her crying shoulder (literally).
AWAY BUT NOT QUITE
Since both of us were working in Makati, we rented the same apartment together with a few of our classmates.
These guys are really good friends who have always been fans of our “should-be” relationship. We did not succumb just yet, but of course it crossed our minds – millions of times.
However, in 2005, Bryan had to move out as he was assigned in Batangas. It was difficult for both of us, as it would mean being away from our best friend.
But distance was not a hindrance, Bryan would invite Tina and some friends to Batangas and he would always visit Tina in Manila. We had separate daily lives at this juncture, but never did we fail to talk to each other. We see each other during poker nights at the Espinosa’s, in college reunions or a close “barkada” dinner especially during Christmas.
WE STARTED A JOKE…
In May 2007, we played a little joke on our friends to pretend that we were a couple, and it wasn’t difficult convincing them to believe us!
A couple of days after that, we had a difficult time sleeping one night thinking about our joke... Tina fell asleep about past 3am, and interestingly, Bryan on the other hand, woke up around past 3am thinking about the very same thing!
We agreed to become a couple via email on May 31, 2007 (our official anniversary) but with a caveat that this will be “for real” only when we see each other and not laugh about it. If we see a single smirk, then it’s a sign that this is all a big joke – laugh about it forever, but never tell anyone of this anecdote.
On June 2, 2007, we met in Tagaytay. It was our first date and ironically, that single instance when we didn’t smirk even if we were dying to burst into laughter was the beginning of our being “kame.”
. . . THAT STARTED THE WHOLE WORLD SMILING =)
Now, everyone is saying that we are destined to be together. We don’t know about destiny but if it was destiny to have been together for more than half of our lives so far, then we don’t mind sharing some forever years more.
