Lovelier the second time around

“I’m proudly her boyfriend.” This was Luis Manzano’s big revelation when asked about the real score between him and Angel Locsin during his exclusive interview on Buzz ng Bayan last week.

I always enjoy talking to Luis because of his honesty, wit and deadly sense of humor.

He enthused, “I am very, very happy. Grabe how happy I am! Ang pinanggagalingan noon is faith — faith that there is something called ‘in God’s perfect time.’ It proves that every smile or every tear you go through in life has its reason. And you’re supposed to be who you are no matter what you’ve experienced in the past, whether it be happiness or a low point, you’re supposed to be there for a reason.”

How did their reconciliation start? “In fact looking back, I don’t even think I got to greet her noong Christmas. Alam ko, nabati ko ang family niya pero to send her a text, I can’t even remember if I did. Pero siguro a few days after Christmas, that was when we started texting again. Very simple lang. Greeting lang.” Luis went to Angel’s house last New Year but she was already sleeping.

Luis felt that a bit of the old spark was rekindled after they exchanged text messages but he admitted that he did not know if she felt the same way. “May konti na. I’m not sure if it was reciprocated but at least on my side, meron. Pumunta ako noong New Year. I spent time with her sister and her friends. Nagkataon kasi that they had a New Year’s party. Maybe a few days after that, that was when everything fell into place.”

Some people might think that Angel made the first move after she admitted that she is still in love with Luis. He came to her defense, “Some people believe that because when she first came out on TV saying na mahal pa niya ako, na I had no idea, that it was the first time for us to talk after so long. That’s wrong. We were already talking, we were already spending time with each other, we were already enjoying each other’s company once again.”

Some may consider it as pure coincidence while others may see it as destiny that Luis and Angel parted ways with their former relationships. Luis set the record straight that Angel was not the reason why he broke up with Jennylyn Mercado. He also denied that he caused the split up of Angel and Phil Younghusband.

“How is that even possible? For three years na walang text, walang kahit ano. In fact, Angel was even scared to see me for the first time dahil iniisip niya na there would be so much negativity between us. That’s why we also didn’t want to see each other. Naisip namin na kapag nagkita kami, it would breed negativity. We were on that stage. So how could I be the reason of their break-up and how could she be the reason of my break-up?”

He related that there was a time when they did not get to see each other even if they had adjacent dressing rooms in ABS-CBN.

He added regarding his separation with Jennylyn, “Jen and I know the real reason why we broke up. Our families know the reason why we broke up. Our friends, people close to us know the reason why we broke up and we are definitely sure it’s not Angel. She was never a factor in the break-up.”

Now that they are giving love a second chance, can we hear wedding bells in the near future? “This year, maybe not. In 2015, we’ll call you,” he said.

Luis might have had his fair share of hits and misses in his lovelife but he still believes in the magic of love. He shared his learnings: “Relax. No matter what life throws at you, sit back, relax, have faith in yourself, have faith in destiny, have faith in God. You only love once, why get scared?”

Luis and Angel prove that indeed love is lovelier the second time around.