Vina Morales: True love always finds its way, even 21 years in the making

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The 48-year-old singer/actress/entrepreneur says her beau had been constantly thinking of her since they first met in 2001 in Hawaii while she was on a concert tour. She only found out about his efforts to get in touch sometime in 2022, or nearly 21 years later.

"My constant" is how Vina Morales calls her current partner Andrew Kovalcin, an American who runs an advocacy and public affairs firm based in Washington D.C. The 48-year-old singer/actress/entrepreneur says her beau has been constantly thinking of her since they first met in 2001 in Hawaii while she's on a concert tour. But she only found out about his efforts to get in touch sometime in 2022, or nearly 21years later.

"Hindi mo talaga masabi ang buhay natin (You can't really tell what's in store in our lives)," Vina said in a media huddle attended by DAILY TRIBUNE. She told of a simple act of checking out the message requests in her Instagram account eventually led to her reconnection with Andrew, whom she didn't know had been her longtime follower on the social media app. She wasn't following him, so his messages couldn't get through directly to her inbox.

"Dapat pala chini-check para makita ko kung sino ang nagme-message (It has to be checked to see who's sending messages)," she points out. "Andodoon s'ya (He's there). He's been sending messages pala. So sabi ko (I told him), 'Oh, sorry, I just read your messages.'"

Vina's long-delayed response started the ball rolling again for them. Andrew turned out to be aware of the Filipina performer's scheduled concert series in the United States with American singer-songwriter Jim Brickman. The concert series was set to run from July to September 2022 in key cities, including Miami in Florida state.

As the year drew to a close, Vina and Andrew, with Ceana and other family members in tow, flew to another tropical destination, this time on the Indonesian island of Bali, to welcome 2024.

Vina recalls Andrew asking her, "Can we see each other?," and she confidently replied, "Of course, we can see each other." She then shares what happened next: "So no'ng magkaroon ako ng (when I had a) breaktime sa (in) Miami after my show, pumunta s'ya doon (he went there). We spent days there in Miami. Doon nag-spark. (That's where the romantic sparks began)."

She makes it clear, though, that things didn't go smoothly at once. "There was this time na hindi kami nagka-intindihan (we didn't understand each other). He got busy, I got busy. When he found out na may (that I work on) Broadway ako, he went to watch me." She was referring to her month-long stint in the Broadway musical, Here Lies Love. She took on the special role of Aurora Aquino, performing a total of 32 shows, from 22 September to 22 October 2023.

"Doon na nag-start ulit (That's where it started again)," she adds, not without kilig in her voice. "Na-rekindle ulit 'yung spark kasi parang nawala din (sparks were rekindled because they sort of fizzled out) after [reconnecting in 2022]. So, he's my constant now."

Last December, Vina's "constant" came over to spend the holidays with her and her family. It wasn't Andrew's first visit in the Philippines, according to his ladylove, as he had taken a vacation here some years back. He also had a prior encounter with Vina's parents, who had accompanied the singer on her concert tour in Hawaii back in 2001. Twenty-one years later, he met Vina's daughter Ceana, now 14, in the Miami leg of the latest U.S. tour of the singer, who's a solo parent.

Then the trio, based on Vina's Instagram posts, celebrated Christmas on the island paradise of El Nido in Palawan. Her Yuletide post pictured her getting a kiss on the cheek from Ceana (on her left) and Andrew (on her right), along with the hashtags #grateful and #thankful in the caption.

As the year drew to a close, Vina and Andrew, with Ceana and other family members in tow, flew to another tropical destination, this time on the Indonesian island of Bali, to welcome 2024. Vina again shared a few snaps from their trip, tagging Andrew in all of them. In one late post, she thanked him for their Bali trip, saying, "I appreciate every single day of it! Thank you for everything. You are missed already."

Vina makes it clear, though, that she and Andrew are taking it easy as their relationship is "medyo bago-bago pa (still in early stages). But yes, she's spoken with his family members and she finds them "ang babait (very kind)."

"I really don't know where this will take us," she admits, trying to be realistic. "Kasi kung iisipin mo (If you think about it), 21 years, sino ang mag-aakala (who would've thought) after magkakaroon kami ulit ng (we'll have another chance at having a) relationship? Now I have Ceana in my life… "Hindi mo talaga masabi kung ano talagang story ng buhay mo. Siguro ito ang istorya ko (You can't really tell what's going to be story of your life. Maybe this is the story of my life)."

She then flashes a smile, so sweet and full of hope. "Basta ako (As for me), I'm open to anything. He's a good person, he's a good guy. Siyempre (Of course), I'm hoping for the best for us."