Perhaps Love: George Schulze and Mara Javier
George Schulze and Mara Javier are theater actors, and yet they didn’t meet through theater. “We met through mutual friends at a board game night at our friend’s house. We both discovered that we did theater. I was doing a show called La Cage Aux Folles at that time and he was doing Into the Woods, so we kind of connected on that. That’s how we got to know each other,” Javier says.
The couple, who has been together for a year and nine months, acknowledges that their meeting was a matter of being at the right place and the right time. “I’ve been in this industry for so long and it’s funny that we didn’t meet through theater. I knew most girls my age in my industry so to be there that night... I didn’t even want to go to, my friend forced me; she’s not normally there either but her brother forced her and we met that night. It was sparks from there. I messaged her and—there was one night when we were both out at the same time and we saw each other again and this time, we actually got to talk for a little bit and the next morning, I started messaging her properly and it started from there,” Schulze says. Just four weeks after they started dating, Schulze had to move to Singapore for three months for a show. “He asked me to be his girlfriend, kind of to just like make sure that everything for Singapore was set, that we would be together,” Javier says. “We had already talked about exclusively dating so I was about to leave for Singapore, and it just didn’t make sense to me that I’m leaving for months and we just started dating. (I asked her,) ‘Do you want anything more than that? She asked me what I thought a relationship was, and I think my answer won her over on the idea,” Schulze explains. “My view on relationships is simple: I don’t think that relationships are meant to be looked at in terms of the end game. “For me, there’s always a point to every moment in your life, there’s always a point to every relationship, even if it lasts a day or three years or a lifetime, every relationship is there for the moment for your decision to grow alongside someone else. “I told her that whether or not this relationship goes anywhere, what’s important is right now, I want to spend this part of my life, no matter how long or short that is, growing alongside you, and if that ends sooner rather than later, I’ll have no regrets because I’ll know that I would have taken from you the amazing qualities that you have and learned from them and I feel that I would have been able to pass to you too. So far, it looks like it’s here to stay so I’m happy about that.”
“His answer really won me over because when I met him I was really not looking to be in any sort of serious relationship,” Javier says. “I wanted to move abroad but when you find something that you can feel is palpable and you feel is exactly what you need and what you want, you just have to go for it. I think a relationship is in every moment that you guys are together, there’s always going to be a bit of conflict and compromise. It’s kind of meeting in the middle and finding that harmony and growing alongside each other.”
They say that opposites attract, and this seems to be the case, at least superficially. “I’m an extrovert and he’s an introvert, but we also have a lot of the same values, so in terms of how we spend time together. We do spend a lot of down time at home, but we also like going on adventures with each other. We’ll always have a date night where we’ll discover a new restaurant or we like planning trips outside of Manila. Travel is something that’s super important to me,” Javier says. “I feel like she’s been able to appreciate her down time a lot more because of me, and in a lot of ways, I’ve learned so much about exploring more in the other aspects, which I didn’t do before, because of her,” Schulze says. “Travel was always something I was a little intimidated by. It was not something I was exposed to a lot as a child. She introduced to me how accessible it was, and I’ve just grown to love adventures as well. Everything comes down to growth, and I think we’ve influenced each other towards a positive direction and the growth in our lives, every step of the way and that’s what’s important, and we’ve been keeping at it.”
Their outlooks in life are similar. “One of the things that I like most about Mara is that she is one of the brightest, most positive people I’ve met,” Schulze says. “You meet her in a room, and you already feel that there’s nothing hidden. What you see is what you get and it’s very bright, and it’s something I see and see myself wanting to have, and she’s really slowly been able to impart that brightness into me, and I really feel like a much lighter person now because of her, and I really appreciate that and love that about her.” Javier mirrors his sentiment. “When I first met George, one of the things that struck me about him was a sheer genuine honesty about him, which drew me to him. But getting to know him more, not only is he very honest—not just in a relationship but with everyone—he’s also very considerate and kind to all people from all walks of life. That’s what I love about him.”
It may have only been a little over a year, yet it seems that Schulze and Javier are enjoying a relationship deeper than most. Both are aware of this, saying that it’s been a conscious decision and effort. “I feel that in relationships, you have to be real about what you are and who you are. Learn to love yourself first and learn to understand what you’re looking for before you start looking around, because if you find someone who doesn’t give you what you want, you’ll frustrate yourself in trying to achieve what you want from that person when it’s not instinctive for them to give it,” Schulze says. “One of my philosophies for life and relationships, is it’s really important to surround yourself with people that will lift you higher, that’s why for me and him, energy is such a huge thing because when you spend a lot of time with certain people, you’re going to pick up their energy as well, their habits, their vernacular, especially when you spend as much time with someone in a relationship, so I think it’s really important to be around people who make you feel good about yourself and also make you want to improve and make you want to strive to be better, the best version of yourself,” Javier adds. It looks like Schulze and Javier have found that in each other.
This article was originally published in Metro Society
Photographs by JC INOCIAN
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