POE-SUMAYAO

Down to the Essentials

- SARA SIGUION-REYNA

Josh Poe and Kat Sumayao first met when they were 7th graders through their common friends. “The peak of our adolescent years!” says Kat. “We got close by talking almost every day until the wee hours of the morning through YM! and Multiply until we both started having feelings for each other. Both of them were too shy to ever really admit their feelings until Kat's best friend Catz convinced Josh to tell Kat what he felt for her birthday party. She convinced Josh to sing to me on stage in front of all of our friends, so he can give me this necklace which he had bought during one of his family trips abroad. The necklace has a beautiful quote written on it: Dance like no ones watching, Sing like no ones listening, Love as you've never been hurt and live today like it's your last – to be honest, I was in shock and extremely kilig but I didn't know how to process it cause I thought we were too young to be in a relationship then, Kat remembers. They decided to stay friends and grew closer and get to know each other on a much deeper level. When they were older, they decided to take their relationship to a new level. We definitely had our ups and downs but because we were able to build a foundation from being best friends first, we learned to constantly push each other to become the best version of ourselves & always chose one another in any situation we were faced with. This, in turn, allowed our relationship to flourish into what it is today,” she says.