MANILA, Philippines — Last October 30, while everyone else was busy with upcoming beauty pageants like Miss Earth or the launch of iPhone X, singer and actor Christian Bautista got engaged.
In an interview with Philstar.com on November 6 during the launch of Gabbi Garcia’s new music video and song, Christian recalled how he proposed to non-showbiz girlfriend Kat Ramnani.
According to the 36-year-old star, at that time, he was in Italy with Kat and found the perfect time to pop the question.
“I felt it was a good idea to propose in Europe,” he enthused.
But instead of getting down on his knees, Christian chose to do the proposal in private.
“N’ung andun na ‘ko sa picturesque backgrounds and signs, it felt staged for me. I felt na, gagawin ko ba ‘yun dito dahil maganda pam-picture? So, I proposed in the room. N’ung kaming dalawa lang. It was normal. It was us. We were in our plain clothes. We were ourselves.”
He just handed her a small paper bag with the ring inside and said, “Hey, I have a gift for you!”
“Ganun ka-simple!” said Christian.
When his girlfriend opened the bag, she said, “What’s this? Is this candy? Where’s the candy?”
Christian then replied: “No, it’s there.”
When Kat finally found the ring, she exclaimed, “Oh my God, what’s this? Is this what I think it is?”
And that was when Christian finally dropped the bomb: “Will you marry me?”
When Kat said “yes,” Christian felt very happy beyond words.
“I felt that it was time for both of us that we’re ready for the next step. I guess, you just feel it in your guts,” he enthused.
He said it is hard to tell if he has been expecting her to say “yes” all along. “Parang ang kapal naman ng mukha ko (if I expected her to say ‘yes’). Pero parang na fi-feel mo naman ‘yun eh. Whether engagement or ‘pag nililigawan, medyo sigurista ako. Hindi ako manliligaw or magpro-propose kung wala akong inkling na mag-yeyes s’ya.”
Christian and Kat met in a breakout game through common friends. They first became friends for a year before they became an item. They have been dating for two years before he has decided that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.
Besides that, he wants to be strong enough to have kids and raise a family, he said he wants to settle down because he finally found “the one.”
He realized through the years and through other relationships like that of his ex-girlfriend Rachelle Ann Go, who also got engaged to another guy early this year, that a person who is in love does not really find “the one.”
“You don’t find the one. You do your best to make each other the one. Pareho kayong nagtutulungan,” he noted.
“Kasi ‘pag sinabi mong ‘the one,’ parang sinabi mong s’ya ‘yung perfect, pero wala namang perfect. I’m not! You do your best para kahit may imperfections kayo magtutulungan kayo.”
He said he wants Kat to be his wife because “I know that we would support each other and help each other no matter what.”
He said he is lucky that she has been supportive of his career, though he admitted that there are those who fear that getting married might not be good for his career. “Some people are telling it’s going to close avenues, it’s going to bring down your market pero it (marriage) actually broadens it.”
He shared that he and Kat were able to make things work because they try to keep some things private. For example, they waited days before they publicly announced their engagement as they wanted to relish the moment just between the two of them.
But as soon as they announced it last weekend via a photo on Instagram, Christian said texts and tweets from family, friends and fans flooded.
“My friends, sina Mark Bautista, commented ‘Congratulations! Ginulat mo kami!’” Christian said.
The engagement ring he got her is what Kat has always wanted, he said.
As for the wedding, he wants it to be private and small. So far, he and his fiancée are yet to talk about specifics like date, venue and theme.
For those who also aspire to have winning #RelationshipGoals, his advice is simply “honesty is the best policy.”
“My friend, Richard Poon, said, ‘Be honest, be just brutally honest na ito ‘yung mga kailangan natin i-resolve, i-workout, i-work around…be real as much as possible! You’ll know naman if kaya n’yo or hindi eh,” Christian suggested.
“Ipakita n’yo agad kung sino kayo agad and ‘yung mga mistakes n’yo or weaknesses n’yo ipakita n’yo agad. But hindi naman ‘yung isang bagsakan, naku, mahirap ata ‘yun!”