Bea Alonzo, Dominic Roque’s love story started with, ‘tara, Japan?’

Before they were BeaDom, Bea Alonzo and Dominic Roque were just in the same circle of friends.

In an episode of GMA News and Public Affairs’ showbiz podcast “Updated with Nelson Canlas,” Bea said she never expected this romance at all. “Baka iyon iyong mga best types of love stories—na kapag hindi mo talaga inaasahan.”

Back in 2019, Bea was working on the film “Unbreakable” with best friend Angelica Panganiban.

Bea was single at the time and was given a two-day break for the November holidays. She decided to head to Zambales.

“I have to be there for Angel [for the shoot] and she wanted me to be [in Zambales] just to be out and about kasi nga single. Gusto niya parang maaliw din ako. She’s a good friend,” Bea said.

Days before her trip, she was texting with good friend and photographer Mark Nicdao who was also a good friend of Dominic. Mark made plans with Bea at his Zambales beach house and to visit Bea’s farm. Dom was also going on the trip.

“Si Dom, matagal na kami magkaibigan, 2016 pa lang. He would always go out with [our] friends, sila ni Paulo Avelino. Iyon iyong circle namin,” Bea said. “Magkaibigan kami but he was in a relationship, I was in a relationship, so as in hindi ko talaga siya nakita in that time at all.”

Then, Bea was suddenly given a five-day break from the film because many of her scenes were already done. To make the most of her free time, Bea decided to cancel the Zambales trip and head to Japan.

The day before her flight, Dominic texted, “B, Zambales ba tayo?”

Bea apologized and explained that she would be going to Japan instead. Dominic replied, “Japan? Kailan?”

Bea said, “Sabi ko, bukas. Tapos sabi niya ‘tara?’ Sabi ko tara!”

Bea felt it was just simple banter and had no expectations at all.

“And then nagulat ako because he went. He went to Japan. I was with my friend Nina. Tapos sabi niya, ‘uy nandito na ako.’”

In shock, Bea remembered, “I wasn’t really expecting that he would spend time with us because marami pa siyang friends na nandoon, parang common friends namin. And then we just found him to be there all the time lang for us, na parang spending time with us, kami ni Nina.”

Although they stayed at different hotels, Dom would go to Bea’s hotel to bring them coffee. Because Bea has a lot of male friends, she didn’t think too much about Dom’s actions.

“Hindi ako nagbibigay ng malisya, you know. Sanay ako na makipagkaibigan sa lalaki. Hindi naman na parang, ‘oh may gusto sa akin ito.’ Wala talagang ganoon. Hindi talaga ganoon.”

Their story continued while on a train ride to a restaurant. Bea at that time was attending writing workshops, and Dominic wanted to know the stories of her two scripts.

“Normally, hindi ko naman kinukuwento sa ibang tao kasi parang nahihiya ako.  Tsaka parang wala namang may interes to hear, so parang nagulat lang ako na, uy he’s interested to hear kung ano sinulat ko.”

Since they had a far destination, BeaDom had a lot of conversations on the train.

“Tapos sobrang nagugulat ako na nakatingin lang siya. Nagugulat ako na he was actually interested. Eh hindi nga ako sanay na may interesado sa akin or sa interesado sa lumalabas sa bibig ko,” said Bea.

She added that Dom looked genuinely interested in what she was saying.

“I had conversations with people na alam mo hindi naman sila interesado sa sinasabi mo. So parang siya talaga, pino-process niya sinasabi ko na parang pinapanuod niya iyong pelikula in his head kasi kinukuwento ko siya, parang pinipitch ko iyong pelikula ko,” she said.

“Hanggang sa napapatingin ako sa lips niya, sabi ko ‘oh my God ang cute niya, parang ang sarap naman nito i-kiss,’ parang ganoon.”

Listen to the full episode of “Updated with Nelson Canlas” with Bea Alonzo on Spotify. – Nika Roque/RC, GMA News