Through the years, Maalaala Mo Kaya has indeed never failed to delight us and touch our hearts with inspiring, tear-jerking, and soul-stirring true-to-life stories of our various letter senders from across the globe. While most of the anecdotes featured were of the sufferings and hardships endured of our beloved Kapamilyas before achieving success, we were also able to witness beautiful yet tragic love stories at the same time.
As we currently observe Lent, let’s relive the five true-to-life romances that made us all kilig in the beginning then cried buckets of tears on the latter parts and ending, and restored our faith in true love.
Allanis and Hennesy, “Journal”
Those who have been in one-sided relationships arguably wished for them to be as blessed as Allanis (Barbie Imperial) whose admiration toward her crush, his classmate Hennesy (Paulo Angeles) was able to be reciprocated. As he started to court her, she waited for the right time to come by asking for a sign – if she would feel jitters once he utters his 200th “I love you”.
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Their relationship had been wonderful as they had already included each other in every plan and decision they made and had seen the future together. However, their commitment to one another got tested after they discovered that Allanis was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, which severely took a toll on her health. Nonetheless, Hennesy had remained faithful to her and tirelessly accompanied her every time she had to undergo dialysis and attended to all her needs whenever they’re together.
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Allanis’ ailment worsened and she later on succumbed to it. Letting her go might be difficult, but he still did for he did not want to see her suffer any longer.
Gab and Max, “Sunflower”
Despite being extremely different when it comes to their personalities, it was still possible for friendship, and then love, to blossom between Gab (Edward Barber) and Max (Maymay Entrata). Since they were still both young, his parents were highly against their relationship, which led to their break-up. They decided to be just friends, until they both confessed that they actually did not move on from each other, giving their relationship a second try.
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Unbeknownst to the young couple, that was not only the challenge that would hit them as Max developed osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. Despite the pain she had to endure and getting her left leg amputated, she still put on a brave face and a sunny disposition in front of her loved ones. She might have tried to push him away a number of times, but Gab refused and vowed to be always there for her, especially when she decided to go back to school. Not long after, Max’s condition worsened and she eventually died.
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Loving her might have caused him pain, but the days he spent with her would remain as among the best and happiest days of his life.
Aldrin and Angel, “Singsing”
Trust, faith, hope – these were the three things that Angel (Sophia Andres) had taught Aldrin (Khalil Ramos) throughout their relationship, which got tested a number of times. Despite being already engaged, his jealousy over her closeness with her boss affected him so much, which led to their quarrel and breakup. Although Angel had an affair with her boss, that didn’t hinder Aldrin from wooing her as he consistently visited her and looked after her regardless of being pushed away.
Soon after, the couple reconciled and agreed to tie the knot. As Angel got pregnant, it was revealed that she has a congenital heart defect. Months after giving birth to their firstborn, she had a cardiac arrest to which she failed to recover. Their marriage might have not lasted forever, but Aldrin still found delight on the thought of gaining an angel who would look over him and their child from above.
John and Aika, “Bituin”
Coming from a distressing breakup, it was difficult for Aika (Julia Barretto) to get into another relationship because of her immense fear of getting hurt again. But John’s (Joshua Garcia) persistence in pursuing her paid off overtime after she finally accepted his proposal to be his girlfriend. As their relationship continued to grow and be happy, they encountered a problem – the strong disapproval of her parents for his being unemployed.
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Fortunately, that didn’t last long as they eventually accepted him and they’re able to get on with their relationship happily, until Aika was diagnosed with leukemia. It made her grew hostile towards him as she constantly pushed her away for she didn’t want his life to just revolve around her. Much to her regret and devastation, John unexpectedly died in an accident during an out-of-town trip.
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His death might have left her heartbroken, but his unconditional and genuine love made her a stronger and better version of herself.
Rommel and Ani, “Tangke”
Despite knowing that a soldier’s life is always in danger, Ani (Kim Chiu) still chose to take the risk of loving and marrying Captain Rommel “Daredevil” Sandoval (Zanjoe Marudo), because for her, what mattered most was that he’s a good man, they genuinely love one another, and he would be a good husband and father.
Unfortunately, their several attempts of conceiving failed due to her polycystic ovary syndrome, but he never blamed her for that. Nevertheless, they had remained happy with just the two of them and even planned to do a lot of things once he got back from his mission. But that didn’t happen as Rommel died while fulfilling his duty of freeing Marawi from the clutches of the terrorist group and of saving the lives of the people and his squad.
May these moving stories of unconditional and genuine continue to inspire us and make us believe that this kind of love still is possible and exists.