Why Kyla is feeling Rich

The first time they went out to dinner, Kyla recalls that Talk ‘N Text forward Rich Alvarez unwittingly wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she cried.

“Nabigla ako,” Kyla is now saying as she sits for this interview, Rich’s arm lovingly wrapped around her shoulder, at the house of Rich’s parents at the Loyola Grand Villas down the road from Ateneo and Miriam College. “Pero nag-sorry naman s’ya,” she adds, giving the shy Rich a loving look and a gentle pinch on the cheek.

That was six years ago.

That was also how Kyla felt last week of January when Rich proposed to her at a restaurant where he invited members of his family and those of Kyla’s. Everybody was prepared to partake of a sumptuous meal, not knowing that Rich was about to spring a big surprise on them.

“Nabigla ako,” says Kyla, “even if I was suspecting all along because I noticed that he was nervous, para s’yang kinakabahan. I knew that he was going to propose but I wasn’t sure that he would do it that night.”

Did Rich drop the engagement ring and let Kyla retrieve it from the bottom of a champagne glass? Or did he hide it inside a slice of cheesecake and let Kyla “accidentally” find it (hmmmm, while stuck between her teeth as she took a bite)? No such drama, according to Rich who is so tall (more than six feet) that Kyla looks like a tween beside him.

“I just slipped it into her finger,” he admits, blushing while Kyla instinctively holds her finger and tenderly caresses the ring.

I ask Rich how much the ring is worth and Kyla answers before he can.

“The amount is immaterial; it’s the thought that counts,” she says, again taking a look at Rich. “All the while that he was putting the ring in my finger, iyak ako nang iyak. Nabigla ako, eh. Things happened very fast.”

About time they sealed their six-year relationship legally.

“During all these years,” boasts Rich, “we have never fought.”

Kyla promptly corrects him.

“We did…once. But it was a short fight. We made up after only a few minutes.”

Kyla claims that Rich is her first boyfriend but Rich is mum about how many girlfriends he has had so far.

Asked if she guards Rich’s every move, like what his opponents on the hardcourt do, Kyla says that she doesn’t have nor need to.

“He’s faithful,” she sounds certain. “Mabait ‘yan, eh.”

Doesn’t she feel jealous toward the girls who gravitate around Rich?

“No,” shrugs Kyla. “I know him very well.”

Neither is Rich affected by guys (there are a lot of them) keeping interested eyes on Kyla or, sometimes, by Kyla’s somewhat “sexy” manner of dressing on the GMA Sunday variety show Party Pilipinas.

“It’s part of her job,” says Rich who adds that he won’t stop Kyla from pursuing her career after their wedding.

Although Rich has proposed, he and Kyla have yet to set the date of their wedding but it will be this year for sure, here in the Philippines.

As Kyla and Rich walk down the aisle on that special day, somebody (if not Kyla herself) will sing Beautiful Days which she has specially composed for him and which she dedicated to him last Sunday on Party Pilipinas where he appeared as guest.

Already, the would-be couple has a house to start their own family in. Rich’s parents have actually built two houses connected to each other. The parents live in one, just the two of them, Rich’s siblings having settled abroad. Rich lives in the adjacent house which he will be sharing with Kyla after their marriage. No, even if they are engaged, they don’t live together yet. Kyla is conservative, you know.

After the interview, the sweethearts take me on a quick tour of their future love nest, so far not completely furnished yet.

“I don’t even have a ref yet,” smiles Rich. “I don’t cook. I get food from my parents.”

Kyla surveys the house and says that she has an idea how to make it a home, furnished with love and care.

Asked to kiss as a parting shot, Rich and Kyla oblige but only if I cover them with my notebook. I do but remove it as soon as their lips meet…tenderly! Watch video interview

TheSapul sa Singko guys and gals (back row from left): Martin Andanar, Amy Perez, Chiqui Roa-Puno and Erwin Tulfo; and (seated also from left) Mike Templo, Lia Cruz, Shawn Yao, Makata-tawanan and Lourd de Veyra. (Not in photo is Benjie ‘Tsongkibenj’ Felipe.) Photos by RICKY LO

Dear Kuya Erwin, Kuya  Martin and Ate Amy

Move over Ate Charo and Tita Mel, a new batch of tagapayo is onboard.

They are none other than Kuya Erwin Tulfo, Kuya Martin Andanar and Ate Amy Perez who are collectively known as the “love experts” as they dish out pieces of advice in Love Hurts, a new segment on the Kapatid Network TV5’s morning show Sapul sa Singko.

It’s a refreshing touch to an otherwise uptight morning show which usually reports grim stories about killings and kidnappings and some such horrors that don’t go well with your morning coffee and hot pandesal.

Billed as “naiibang serbisyo publiko sa balat ng telebisyon,” Love Hurts, as the title implies, consists mostly of love stories e-mailed by televiewers, reenacted by co-hosts Chiqui Roa-Puno, Shawn Yao and lawyer Mike Templo, as narrated and directed by Lourd de Veyra. Segment hosts Lia Cruz, Benjie Felipe and Makata-tawanan (of Talentadong Pinoy fame) also “act” every now and then.

It’s a fun segment, a light way to start your day despite the diurnal problems that don’t seem to go away.

Kuya Erwin and Kuya Martin presumably give their payo from their own experiences, delivered good-humoredly. Ate Amy, an expert tagapayo on the Kapatid hit show Face-to-Face, acts as the devil’s advocate.

Sapul sa Singko airs daily, Monday through Friday, from 5 to 8 a.m. Watch it.

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