Power couple Jeff and Melanie Oyas team up to run the day-to-day affairs of Rico’s Lechon, voted as the best lechon in the SunStar Best of Cebu 2016 People’s Choice online poll.

Mel and Jeff share their recipe for a relationship that works

THEY say that true love is simple: when it is meant to be, everything just falls into place. Such is the case for Jeff Walther Oyas and Melanie Grace Dionson-Oyas. Attraction came gradually when the two first met. But what they didn’t know then was how their worlds were more intricately woven together even before they knew each other.

Jeff and Mel met when they were both working as volunteer nurses at the Sacred Heart Hospital. Initially, Mel didn’t bother with Jeff. To her, he was “suplado” and a snob. Until such time, Jeff got around to talk to Mel, but only to ask if she could pair him up with someone to date.

Mel, who had a boyfriend that time, introduced Jeff to one of her best friends. “But my best friend wouldn’t go out with him if I wasn’t around, so if they went out on dates, I would chaperone them,” Mel said with a laugh.

During their last date, Mel’s best friend got sick, so they ended up being alone together for the first time. That was the start of their “getting to know you” stage. Mel had already broken up with her boyfriend, and her best friend, who was happy for them, moved on with another guy.

Eventually, Mel and Jeff got official and found out that their families actually knew each other from way back.

Jeff’s family used to own a mango juice factory in Talamban, right beside Mel’s house. Rico Dionson, Mel’s father and founder of Rico’s Lechon, used to work for Jeff’s family as their family driver.

“When we went to their house for the pamanhikan, so many people from my family wanted to go. Usa ka barangay mi didto nga namalay. The result? They talked to each other more than they talked to us,” Jeff said fondly.