Chemistry comes naturally to new Kapuso love team

LOUISE delos Reyes and Alden Richards

TAGBILARAN—The way Alden Richards and Louise de los Reyes teased each other on stage and charmed Boholano fans with a duet during the recent Sandugo Festival, it’s easy to think the young Kapuso stars are real-life sweethearts.

Despite this undeniable chemistry, the lead stars of the primetime series “One True Love” insist that they’re just good friends.

Louise is being linked to another GMA 7 talent, Enzo Pineda. Alden says he isn’t in a hurry to have a girlfriend.

“We don’t pretend that we like each other romantically for the sake of generating buzz,” Louise told reporters. “We may not end up together, but we’re open and comfortable with each other.”

Louise said she confides in Alden problems that she can’t tell other people. “And when I’m angry, he knows how to make me feel okay,” she said, “like a brother. We don’t even talk or ask each other what we like or dislike. We just click.”

Alden says he feels grateful that fans continue to support them, regardless of the status of their relationship.

At the moment, there are only three things on his priority list, said Alden: God, family and work. “I have no time for love,” he insisted.

The 19-year-old heartthrob said he still has much to prove, and so he doesn’t want a silly relationship booboo that may cost him his career.

He has only been in show biz for a year, but Alden is already being touted by drumbeaters as the next big leading man, after Dingdong Dantes and Richard Gutierrez.

Asked what he thinks people see in him, Alden said it’s probably his commitment to his job. “I treat every project as if it were my last. I always give my 100 percent. Maybe it’s just good timing. I get good roles. And I think I’ve managed to deliver not just to my directors, but to the viewers as well.”

Going sexy

There have been talk about Alden shedding his boy-next-door image to go the sexy route in the near future. He said he would need more time for that.

“I’m not confident enough. As much as possible, I always want to be prepared for whatever I do, para ’di mapahiya.”

Alden dedicates his success to his mother, who succumbed to cancer four years ago. “I’m living her dream. This is all for her. I owe everything to my mom.”

Like her screen sweetheart, Louise would rather focus on work and experiment with different roles. The young actress, who received her first big break in “Alakdana,” is interested in feisty contrabida parts.

Role models

“I don’t want to get stuck in the usual kawawa (aggrieved) roles. I stand up for myself in real life; that’s why I look up to the likes of Maricel Soriano and Jean Garcia,” she said.

Louise is a fourth year Foreign Service student at the Lyceum of the Philippines in General Trias, Cavite. Though juggling academic and show biz commitments limits time with her family, she said she has no plans of dropping either one for the other.

“I dream of becoming a lawyer someday. I love acting, but I don’t want it to be my be-all and end-all,” she pointed out.

For now, her goal is to finish her studies and grab whatever opportunity she can in show biz. “My career is just taking off; I can’t neglect it now,” she said. “Opportunities in this biz may come knocking on my door only once.”