Does Oyo Boy see Mom Dina in Nadine?

It could be her uncanny resemblance to her mom, Dina Bonnevie, during her younger days. Or maybe it’s sheer serendipity — they are often thrown in each other’s company (first, in GMA’s just-concluded afternoon soap Ikaw Sa Puso Ko, and now, in the currently-showing Leya).

Whatever it is, Oyo Boy admits he is drawn to Starstruck Avenger Nadine Samonte.

"Who wouldn’t? It was her face that first attracted me to her," Vic Sotto’s son admits.

But while the 20-year-old Oyo Boy has gifted Nadine with a jewelry set and was said to have hang around Nadine’s tapings, he denies they are that way with each other.

For one, Oyo Boy, like most modern young men, doesn’t believe in courtship. MU (Mutual Understanding) is the name of the game.

"I don’t believe in putting one’s foot forward in winning a girl. I’d rather be myself. What you see is what you get. That way, there will be no regrets later," relates Oyo Boy.

His standard getup is a case in point. Unlike others his age and of his socio-economic level, Oyo Boy dresses simply. He doesn’t dress to impress. A plain t-shirt, pair of pants and baseball cap worn backwards (ala Robin Padilla) are enough.

The absence of pretensions extends to his outlook. "I don’t like plastic people," he shakes his head.

Nadine shares his sentiments. Oyo Boy’s leading lady in Forever My Love also hates people who pretend to be what they are not.

No wonder theirs is a chemistry, an electricity that do not need a true-to-life romance to bring out, on screen — big or small. The natural bonding is seen in Oyo Boy’s knee-jerk reactions to Nadine’s girlish giggles. At the Forever My Love presscon for instance, Oyo Boy didn’t hesitate in asking Nadine why she laughed when he answered a question thrown at him. His query sounded more like good-natured ribbing than a snide remark. And Nadine didn’t even have to explain herself to Oyo Boy.

This tacit communication is also one of the underlying themes of the romantic thriller Forever My Love. This time though, the interaction occurs between a ghost (played by Oyo Boy) and the girlfriend (Nadine) he left behind. So strong is their love, the two stay in touch even after the guy has died.

Possible? Oyo Boy and Nadine agree. After all, both believe in the supernatural.

Oyo Boy, who has more brushes with the supernatural than Nadine, attests, "Like my Mom, I have frequent encounters with the other world," he says. Oyo Boy recalls a time when he was four and willing to believe anything.

"I saw a dwarf playing around the pencil sharpener in our house. The sharpener just moved! The dwarf was even my playmate!" he recalls.

Nadine herself has seen a dwarf in her native Binan, Laguna. So loyal is her pint-sized friend he followed her to Sta. Rosa (Laguna), where she has moved in with her mom, and all the way to Germany, where she visited her Dad.

A film on the supernatural, therefore, is just a piece of cake for Oyo Boy and Nadine.

"I’m happy with the results," Nadine describes her first starring role in a movie.

Oyo Boy admits lying in a coffin as part of his role freaked him out a bit.

"I didn’t want to stay longer in that coffin than I had to. My cousin Miko’s death is still fresh in my mind. I’m not ashamed to admit I’m afraid of dying," says Oyo Boy.

Besides, previous films Singles and Kuya were of the feel-good kind. They did not require him to deal with something as grim as death and dying at the prime of one’s life.

At least he’ll have none of those morbid scenes in his next assignment, the Metro Filmfest entry Lastikman.. Oyo Boy will play the young Vic Sotto.

And this time, he won’t be scaring people with intimations of their mortality.