In StarStudio’s April cover story, Angelica Panganiban shared the first time she and John Lloyd Cruz started gravitating towards each other outside work. Although they had the chance to work together in the movie 24/7 In Love, it was mere chance that John Lloyd witnessed Angelica’s emotional state when she called up her friends from the gag show Banana Split to comfort her during one of her crying bouts.

Jayson Gainza was quick to come to the rescue, but it just so happened that he was hanging out with John Lloyd Cruz at that time. “Pupuntahan kita…Ah kasama ko si Lloydie okay lang ba?” She replied, “Eh inaya mo na eh. Alangan namang tawagan mo ulit at sabihin mong ayaw pala niya.” As was detailed in the magazine article, Angelica cried her heart out to her friends while John Lloyd was just there, “listening intently but saying nothing.”

Since then, Angelica noticed that John Lloyd would always tag along every time she invited her Banana Split gang to come over to her house. This was around the same time speculations began to arise about them being an item, including their rumored trysts at her condo around May of last year—a hot issue made even more controversial in light of John Lloyd’s breakup with Shaina Magdayao.

Angelica tried to put a stop to this by telling John Lloyd about the difficult situation that she was in during one of their phone conversations. “Bakit ganon, bakit ako nadadamay, ayoko din naman madamay lalo na sa sitwasyon ko ngayon na nagmu-move on din naman ako.” According to the actress, John Lloyd was quick to assure her that she was not the reason for his breakup with Shaina. As it is, Angelica didn’t want Shaina to have the wrong impression about them. Angelica further told John Lloyd, “Sana alam din yun ng mga tao, sana alam iyon ni Shaina kasi ayoko din na ganon ang isipin sa akin ni Shaina.”

Angelica admitted that they started seeing each other more frequently after that phone conversation, to the point that her good friend John Prats (ex-boyfriend of Shaina; they became a couple in 2007 and broke up two years later) would give her dagger looks, asking why they’re always together. Angelica tried to downplay her growing feelings until such time she began to miss him whenever he couldn’t make it to their get-togethers

It was around July of last year when John Lloyd and Angelica admitted their romantic feelings for each other. John Lloyd visited her at home and Angelica’s mom and aunt left them in the dining area so they could talk. Apparently, the two had a prior disagreement, the source of which was the fact that they had unexpectedly fallen for each other. “Bigla na lang nag-I love you kami,” Angelica related.

The actress also revealed that she was actually the first one to say I love you, “Sumagot din siya agad, hindi naman niya ako pinahiya,” she said, giggling. “Walang pilitan na nangyari. Talagang parang lahat maayos, sakto, tama, tama yung pangyayari ng lahat.”

Grab a copy of StarStudio’s April issue to know more about Angelica’s love story with John Lloyd as well as her heartbreaking account of what really went wrong with her relationship with ex-boyfriend Derek Ramsay.