Ai-Ai: Yes, it’s love!

Ai-Ai de las Alas is in love again. And this time, she says, it’s for keeps. In fact, she and boyfriend of five months, Wilfredo "Jun" Hinahon, plan to tie the knot this year or next.

They started out as friends at the badminton court, where he is a trainer, three years ago. Many things have happened in Ai-Ai’s colorful life since then. She fell in love with an American widower but the romance led to a split-up.

The veteran of failed relationships that she is, Ai-Ai didn’t waste time crying over spilled milk. She moved on and showed thoughts of love at the back of her mind.

She sought solace in the badminton court, where Jun was all too willing to guide Ai-Ai in letting her pent-up stress out by swinging her racket with all her might.

One look at Jun and Boy Abunda, Ai-Ai’s manager, told his talent, "He’s the man for you."

The words took on a power of its own. Slowly but surely, Ai-Ai fell for the 23-year-old Jun’s simple, quiet charm.

"Unlike most guys his age, he doesn’t go for gimmicks. E ako, graduate na diyan," she says.

The 19-year gap between them doesn’t bother her. She even loves cracking jokes about it.

"Eight years old ka pa lang, artista na ako!" she tells her boyfriend.

The fact that he hasn’t seen any of her movies doesn’t bother Ai-Ai as well. What’s important is that Jun will finally make her family whole and fulfill a longtime dream – having a happy home.

Jun, observes Ai-Ai, will not rock the boat – at home or elsewhere. He gets along so well with her three children, they already call him "Daddy."

But Jun’s most touching gesture so far involved something stars of her stature feel ticklish about: money. Ai-Ai asked him pointblank if he will sign a pre-nuptial agreement to protect her children. Jun’s knee-jerk reply was, "Yes. Wala naman sa ’kin yon."

Like a dark cloud that suddenly parted and revealed a surfeit of sunlight, Ai-Ai’s doubts vanished before she can even shed a tear.

That’s not all. Jun promised Ai-Ai: "I will build you a house in Ayala."

Jun knows Ai-Ai will give her house in Ayala Heights, Quezon City to her children, and another one in North Susana, also in Quezon City is to her mother. So his fiancée – no matter how much money she has in the bank – has no house of her own yet.

Their terms of endearment will make the most hardened of hearts melt. Ai-Ai calls Jun "LC" (for lucky charm); Jun calls his comedian-girlfriend Be (your guess is as good as mine: baby).

LC does seem appropriate, considering the upward arc in Ai-Ai’s career right now.

Sen. Bong Revilla cast her as his leading lady in Kapag Tumibok ang Puso Not Once But Twice with Miss International Precious Lara Quigaman. Ai-Ai figures in many highlight scenes where the enamored Bong runs after her as if she is the only woman left in the world.

Ai-Ai plays Sarah Geronimo’s adoptive mother in the ABS-CBN sineserye Bituing Walang Ningning. It’s Ai-Ai’s first sineserye ever.

She is also set to leave for the US where she will tour key cities to restage her Valentine concert with Rico J. Puno and Regine Velasquez.

It’s true: Ai-Ai couldn’t ask for more. And it shows. She is less frazzled, more at peace with herself and everyone she meets.

Just when she thought love is as elusive as the time she now spends at home with her children, it comes knocking at her door, bidding her welcome – quietly, persuasively.