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A post shared by reginevalcasid (@reginevalcasid) on Aug 23, 2020 at 7:37pm PDT

MANILA – Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid have been married for almost a decade now but not a lot of people know that they had their first date when she was only 18 and he was 22.

In an interview with G3 San Diego for #LiveWithG3 on Wednesday, Velasquez took a trip down memory lane and shared her love story.

“Nung bata kami, I was 18 and he was probably like 22, nag-date kami. Pero it was a group date. Niyaya niya ako makipag-date. I was even with my father because I was young and taga-Bulacan pa ako,” she said.

Velasquez, however, said nothing happened after that first date because Alcasid thought she was still very young then and had no intentions of getting into a relationship.

While they have known each other since then, Velasquez said they only reconnected when she joined the GMA Sunday variety show “SOP.”

“We didn’t see each other for a long time until mag-'SOP' na. Parang tinuloy namin 'yung friendship namin dahil hindi ko siya nakikita masyado. Parang nagkaroon ako ng sarili kong mundo and nagkaroon din siya ng sarili niyang mundo. He eventually got married and had Leila,” he said.

At that time, Velasquez shared that she would always look for Alcasid every time she would arrive in the studio.

“He’s the first person I look for kasi makwento siya, marami siyang tsismis. Pag-upong pag-upo niya, ‘Anong bagong tsismis?’ At nakakatawa may bago talaga siyang tsismis lagi,” she said.

She also recalled that she did not want to do a duet with him because he always makes her laugh.

“So lahat ng duet ko, I would always sing with someone else. Nahalata daw niya. ‘Reg, sabi ni Ogie bakit daw hindi ka nakikipag-duet sa kanya. Kailangan niyo na talaga mag-duet kasi sumasama na 'yung loob ni Ogie.’ Sabi ko, okay sige. 'Yung first duet namin, 'yung blocking namin magkatalikod kami. Pero 'yung mga sumunod, I got used to singing with him again,” she said.

According to Velasquez, it took look time before she developed romantic feelings for Alcasid.

“Matagal. Basta nga ganun, parang he started calling me. Because we were just really friends. We had no intention of falling in love. We were just really good friends… Parang 'yung time na 'yun, ako na lang yata 'yung artista na walang cellphone. Nung nagkaroon ako ng cellphone, I think he’s one of the first persons I texted. I congratulated him, it was his concert. And then after that, we would have exchange na. Nagte-text na kami lagi. Sumunod dun 'yung tawagan na,” she said.

When Alcasid finally professed his love for her, Velasquez said it was something that did not actually surprise her.

“I was kind of expecting it and I was also kind of wanting it to happen pero hindi ako sure because he was married. And then it happened,” she said.

Velasquez admitted that it was very difficult at the start. “Hindi siya masayang umpisa. Madami kaming pinagdaanan. But in the end, it all worked out and now we are here. We are married,” she said.

Alcasid and Velasquez have a son, Nate. Alcasid also has two daughters, Leila and Sarah, with his former wife, Michelle Van Eimeren.