Here’s an epic love story to warm your hearts

Simbang gabi, basketball, DOTA, having dreams of working abroad. What could be a more modern Filipino love story than Tan and Tein’s?

Spanning 11 years, the couple is also  perfect example of that good ol’ Filipino saying, “Pagkahaba-ahaba ng prusisyon, sa simbahan din ang tuloy.”

Their love story started in high school, when Tan spotted Tein during Simbang Gabi. “Crush ko na siya,” he shares in the latest episode of "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho".

Tien on the other hand, didn’t give Tan much thought. He was not her type, and besides, she wasn’t even thinking of getting into a relationship.

It wasn’t a year later when they would finally meet each other at a basketball game and soon, get teased by their friends.

On March 3, 2006, Tan made his move. There was something about the date, he said, that emboldened him to ask her out. Lo and behold, she said yes. They quickly became a couple.

Three years after that, they broke up for the pettiest of reasons: they both played mind games on each other.

“Niloko ko siya, sabi ko ‘mag-break na tayo’,” shares Tein. Tan, thinking it would be cool to respond with a joke, agreed to the breakup saying he had fallen in love with a friend of Tein’s.

Hurt, Tein went for a rebound relationship... with Tan’s friend.

And the joke came crumbling down at them: Tan was hurt, Tein was hurt. She broke up with her rebound, and like most girls going through a breakup, Tein cut her hair.

He saw her, realized he still loved her, and courted her again. For a second time, the two went steady–until he got heavily into DOTA, and almost ruined everything.
“May date kami [pero] nakalimutan ko. Tapos hinanap niya ko sa bahay, pinuntahan sa computer shop, nandun ko,” Tan narrates one of the many instances that led Tin to proposition him: Dota o ako?

The DOTA season of their relationship made Tan realize that when a woman is upset, you don’t give her space. You go chasing after her. And chase he did. Tan won Tien's heart a third time.

But it doesn't end there.

Tein’s dreams of working abroad surfaced. “Plan ko talaga, bata pa lang ako, mag-abroad. Sabi ko, gusto ko mag-Dubai…sabi niya gusto niyang sumama sa kin kaya nagsabay ko kaming pumunta dtto,” Tein narrates.

Tein landed a job first, with Tan waiting five long months before finally getting a gig, and then another. “Nagpa-parttime po ako as coach sa basketball para additional kita rin po…syempre balak po naming magpakasal and bumuo ng family kaya kailangan doble kayod,” Tan said.

For the couple who got their start at a basketball game, and who experienced near-misses thanks to the mind games they played, it was only fitting for them to one-up their relationship at a basketball court, with a game.

Blindfolding his girlfriend, Tan told Tein the object of the game: shoot the ball using his voice as guide. What Tein didn’t know was that Tan was going to propose. “Nung nakita ko na nakaluhod siya, sobrang saya,” Tin says.

“Nung nakaluhod po siya, siya lang yung taong nakikita ko nun. Alam ko na baling araw, itong taong nakaluhod sa harap ko, iton yung magiging tatay ng mga anak ko. Ito yung makakasama ko panghabambuhay hanggang sa huling hininga ng buhay ko.”

“Yung iluluhod mo, ibibigay mo na sa kanya lahat yung paghulod mo nay un. Ready ka na ibigay yung sarili mo sa kanya, sa lahat,” Tan says.

Eleven years since they saw each other, the two are finally saving up and planning for their wedding. — LA, GMA News