Eric is writing a book called “How the Geek Got the Girl.” It’s basically about how a regular guy like him got Donita Rose — the girl of his dreams. (Photo by PINGGOT ZULUETA)

It was 1988 when an 11-year-old Eric Villarama first met his dream girl. She was the older sister of his good friend Paul and was two years older than him. He thought she was extremely beautiful and looked a lot like Audrey Hepburn. He often bugged his friends to hang out at Paul’s house just so he could get a glimpse of her, but Donita Rose barely knew he existed.

“One day I had the courage to write something. I professed my love to her in a letter, folded it up and walked over to her house,” recalls Eric. His heart was beating so fast when he saw Donita walking towards him, but before he could even say anything or hand her the letter, she just told him, “Drop dead.”

Eric’s heart broke. He cried for a while and tried to get over his childhood crush. But he did not stop “stalking” Donita at school. They both attended Wagner High School at Clark Air Base where Eric was a freshman and Donita was a junior. “She was always walking at a certain path so I knew where she would be. Every lunch period, I would situate myself where I could see her best,” says Eric.

He noticed that despite her good looks, the girl of his dreams had self-confidence issues. “The Donita you see now is so different from who she was before. That girl was shy and had her hair down most of the time. She’s gorgeous but you could tell she was an insecure girl,” he relates.

“Growing up, I was a really shy person,” shares Donita. “I had a look-alike in school and she was the most popular girl in school. I was the other girl who nobody ever paid attention to.”

“I did,” counters Eric. “A lot of guys did too.” But the girl was oblivious to her many admirers because of her shyness. Things only changed for Donita when she was discovered by Kuya Germs (master showman German Moreno). “The whole Clark Air Base was shocked. All of a sudden, I was the most talked about girl in school,” says Donita.

She discovered that she had a knack for making people laugh, what with her accent and natural ease towards people. In GMA 7’s That’s Entertainment, Donita became a hit comedienne and the shy girl finally came out of her shell.

In 1990, she auditioned to become an MTV V, which she describes as “the coolest job in the world.” She got the job and Donita became an overnight sensation. No one was more thrilled for her than Eric, and no one was as surprised as him on the night of December 2000 when they crossed paths again in San Francisco, California.

“I actually mistook her for her sister Suzanne,” laughs Eric. “I figured she’s a star now, so what would she be doing hanging out with us? But I was so excited! She looked tall and beautiful but I was taller than her this time. The roles were finally reversed!”

Donita thought something changed in Eric too. “I thought he was much more handsome now,” she coyly says. “What do you mean more handsome? You didn’t even know I existed before!” teases her husband.

The get-together that night led the group to Las Vegas. It was New Year’s Eve and after the countdown, couples started hugging and kissing each other. Donita, who was single at the time, uttered out loud, “I wish I had somebody to kiss!”

Eric heard the whole thing, but he simply froze. “I wanted to respect her. I wanted her to know it wasn’t just about the kiss,” he says. It was a good thing that he did not make a move then, for Donita insists she would never have liked him if he did kiss her.

During their Vegas trip, Donita shared her faith in God with Eric. “She is a Christian and I was seeking for a higher religion,” says Eric. He asked for her e-mail address just so he could keep in touch with her and learn more about Christianity.

After they parted ways, he promptly sent her an e-mail and in his postscript he wrote, “By the way, I overheard you on New Year’s Eve saying you wanted a kiss. Well, here you go. Here’s a picture of a Hershey’s kiss for you.” He got no response, and even sent the e-mail three times just to be sure Donita got it.

“I got nervous because I thought he was really cute and I might get distracted with my purpose. I did not want to be tempted in any way,” explains Donita. “With my ex-boyfriends, I would influence them to become Christians. But I noticed in my past relationships that whenever we’d break up, wala na rin ang faith nila. So my goal this time was not to choose the guy. God will choose the guy for me.”

Eric was not a Christian at the time and even though she liked him a lot, Donita figured she would not interfere with his faith.

On June 2001, Eric and Donita met again. Donita was busy launching her website. Because Eric is a web design expert, they got to spend a lot of time together. They became really close and Eric finally got to reveal his true feelings. He told her, “I loved you from the first day I laid my eyes on you. I’ve always been in love with you.”

Donita admitted that she liked him too but couldn’t bring herself to tell him that she was looking for a Christian man. She did, however, continue to share her faith with him. During a date at Country Waffles, she used a napkin and a pencil to explain to Eric the importance of eternal life.

She marked the napkin with a dot and said that the dot represented life on earth while the rest of the blank space represented eternity. Donita told Eric that he felt unfulfilled because he was investing so much on the dot instead of eternal life. The conversation pissed Eric off, and it bothered him so much that he thought about it for the rest of the night. “I was mad at her but there was truth in what she said,” muses Eric.

That night, he struck a deal with God. He got a Bible and told God, “If you’re real, it’s going to go in the only verse I know which is Ruth 1:16-19.” When Eric opened the Bible, he immediately got goose bumps because his finger was on the book of Ruth. It took him around five seconds to locate the verses, and after that he began sobbing like a baby.

“I wasn’t crying because it was all so romantic. I was crying because I felt like it was God talking to me,” he says. He called Donita and told her about his experience. Donita might have acted as a catalyst to Eric’s faith but ultimately he became a born-again Christian in his own terms. This pleased Donita and she knew that God has just found the right man for her.

Eric proposed to Donita on December 27, 2001. He took her to a not-so-popular park in San Francisco called Land’s End. He even created a storybook which he entitled “The Peasant and the Princess” which relates about their love story. There was a white cloth hidden on the last page, and when Donita took out the white cloth, Eric asked her what it symbolized. Donita immediately guessed it meant “surrender.”

The white cloth symbolized their relationship’s surrender to God, and using that same cloth, Eric knelt in front of Donita and asked her to marry him. But she didn’t say yes right away. She asked him, “Have you asked my parents, my pastor and his wife?” When Eric affirmed all the names, Donita finally cried and said yes.

The couple even underwent pre-marriage counseling just to master the kinks of marriage. With the help of their pastor and his wife, they tackled issues they didn’t even know were present in their lives. They also went back to their old high school. Donita remembers, “We went to the 2nd level of the school. I looked down and Eric told me, ‘I know that spot. That’s where you would stand every day with your backpack over your right shoulder and you would stare down at everybody.’ At that time I thought, “I’m going to marry my stalker! He orchestrated the whole thing!”

Eric and Donita got married on June 9, 2003 at Bacara Resort, California. Eric and Donita even recall that after their wedding kiss, a flock of seagulls flew by.

Married for seven years now, the couple admits that every day is still an adjustment for them. They divulge that they still have fights and even compare themselves to a poodle and a pitbull when angry (Eric’s the poodle, by the way.)

“All the battles and arguments we’ve had to go through only made us decide that we want to learn from our mistakes,” says Eric. On the flipside of their passionate fights are equally passionate moments with their five-year-old son Joshua Paul. “We’re like little kids with JP. We love spending time with him and asking him how his day went. Nakakatawa talaga ang mga stories niya,” shares Donita.

And despite their erratic schedules (Eric works as an inspirational speaker while Donita is one of the hosts of Umagang Kay Ganda), the family makes it a point to spend quality time together, be it watching a DVD at home or having dinner.

“Every day is an exciting journey because you never know what’s going to happen yet you already know the happy ending is there,” says Donita. With their love for each other and God in the center of their family, the peasant and the princess are sure to have a happy ending.

On Childhood Crushes

He said: She doesn’t remember me. I wished she would just notice me. I wouldn’t want to watch every move she makes but I always wished she’d look at me with that look. And I always planned the situation in which she’d look at me or talked to me. I always thought about these things, but every time I’d have the opportunity to do those things, I’d back out.

She said: I didn’t know him but Eric and my brother and their friend would hang out together. I sort of knew he had a crush on me. Whenever I would pass by them, they’d stop talking. Then after I have passed by, they would giggle again. I didn’t think much of him then because I wanted an older guy.

On Love and Faith

He said: She was a Christian and back then I was seeking for a higher religion. She was on fire; she’s really passionate about her faith and I was impressed by that.

She said: With my ex-boyfriends, I would influence them to become Christians. But I noticed in my past relationships that whenever we’d break up, wala na rin ang faith nila. So my goal this time was not to choose the guy. God will choose the guy for me.

On Parenting

He said: Donita’s the best mom ever. Every husband would probably say that about their wives, but I saw how she treats our son. I know that they have a strong relationship. Every child is gifted or has the potential to be gifted and she simply brings out the best in him. She does all things out of love for JP.

She said: Eric makes life so much fun and interesting for JP and me. He’s a creative guy and he comes from a very loving family that is why he makes life an adventure for his son.