MY Korean Jagiya star Heart Evangelista was near tears after finishing the duet with her leading man Alexander Lee.
It was late in the afternoon at SM City Bacolod during the Masskara Festival, and fans filled the activity center and the surrounding areas to the brim. Others even made rounds on escalators just to catch a glimpse of the stars. All of them, however, shrieked just the same from the mere mention of the names of the two stars during the undercard performances, to the moment they arrived at the venue. When Heart and Xander finally took the stage, they almost brought the roof down.
“Oh my God,” Heart whispered away from the mic after singing the theme song of the GMA romcom she headlines, visibly overcome with emotion.
Hours prior to the performance, the actress admitted in a news conference that she was overwhelmed with how the audience received My Korean Jagiya and her pairing with Xander, especially at this stage of her career.
“I’m on my 19th year in showbiz, I’m 32 and I got married. I didn’t think anybody would get kilig seeing me with somebody else. Parang it doesn’t usually happen,” she said. “In fact, a lot of people said over my casting ‘Why her? Parang ’di bagay, kasal na siya,’ ganyan.”
But Heart started to notice things turn for the better when she got more followers on social media. Before, people mostly followed her because of her style statements. Now, it’s a lot more diverse with constant interaction, constant tweeting, constant mentions.
“I’m so grateful,” she said. “This is why I really make time to go to mall shows and try my best to meet everyone who watches, because for me, that’s priceless—for people to appreciate what I do after so many years.”
Like Heart, Xander had his reservations coming into the project. The former member of the Korean boy band U-Kiss said he was worried whether people would the like their show, considering it was an original concept, unlike GMA’s most recent prime-time hits of sequels or prequels. My Korean Jagiya is a first time ever “KoPino” or Korean-Pinoy collaboration, or, quite simply, an experiment.
So far, Xander likes what he sees. “We never really expected this. On mall shows, we thought that the reaction would be like this,” he said, drawing his hand horizontally across his eyes. “But each time it’s higher and higher and higher.” Heart chimed in and said they even fight tears when they see people go wild over their love team. “Every time, our tears are like, o, ayan, malapit na, nandito na, pero, baka sabihin nila, ‘Ay corny naman kung umiyak ‘tong mga ito,’ ‘di ba? But then, it’s been overwhelming.”
The pair didn’t even get on the smoothest of starts, at least on Xander’s end. The 29-year-old actor said he accepted the project because his manager sold it to him as “never done before” and that he knew of GMA from his guestings with U-Kiss on Party Pilipinas and Walang Tulugan with the Master Showman. He knew little about his costar Heart, but a lot of his classmates in international school did.
They told him stories about her, mostly about how beautiful she is. When the two finally met for the first time, Xander was speechless. He was shy and even avoided making eye contact with Heart, only looking at his costar at the forehead, nose and cheeks, but never the face.
“I was expecting Heart to be more cold, like a diva, because that’s how it is in Korea. Seniority is important,” Xander explained. “But when we met, it was the exact opposite. She’s really playful.”
The two have fostered a strong relationship since, not only on-cam but off of it. Heart said they’ve become comfortable with each other. Sometimes, Xander even comes over for dinner. Asked if he’s eventually planning to move to the country, the actor said he’s actually going back to Korea next week and get rid of his apartment there to find a new place here.
“There’s no point of paying rent there. I’m always here.” Is he planning to move in for good? “Why not?” he said. Xander keeps his focus on My Korean Jagiya for now, as he waits for more projects. Meanwhile, Heart said she’s intent on taking a break after the show, which premiered in August, to focus on getting pregnant.
“I’m really going to focus on the baby-making project. I’m going to make it a priority,” she said.
Heart married Sen. Francis G. Escudero in February 2015, and she said that married life isn’t as different or as difficult as she thought it would be. “Parang nothing has changed and I feel like I’m even growing more now that I got married. I feel like I didn’t marry a senator. He’s so supportive of my work. I consider myself very lucky.”
The actress said she’s also planning to channel her energy to her other endeavors after My Korean Jagiya. She’ll be working on her 2018 painting collection, apart from commissioning work for hand-painted designer bags, as well as launching her own home line and clutch-bag line.
But for now, Heart is set on seeing through My Korean Jagiya, teary-eyed on jam-packed mall shows or otherwise. “I just didn’t think that people would like me the way they like me today because of this show, and for that, I’m so grateful.”