MANILA, Philippines - Even given the lethargy-inducing, gloomy weather last Thursday noon, your eyes would pop out of their sockets at the sight of Dr. Vicki Belo?s cleavage at Mi Piace, Peninsula. We were settling down to lunch with the celebrity doctor who was dressed in a pin-strapped tank top whose neckline was on a precipitous plunge. As the whole world knows, Dr. Belo has the body to die for (some indeed do die in pursuit of that body). That lunch it became obvious that apart from that, she also has a man to kill for (?).

The whole world knows the high-profile romance of Dr. Belo, 51, with a good-looking doctor who?s several years her junior. Dr. Hayden Kho is only 28. At lunch that Thursday he was her ?arm candy,? quite literally?they had their arms around each other so often that a power-lunch Mi Piace turned into such a cuddly cozy place.

It is no exaggeration to say that Belo reinvented the beauty industry in the country. She put beauty?the studious concern for one?s skin, face, body?in the personal agenda of millions of women in the country, and even among balikbayans. She?s invested in beauty technology ahead of her peers and hospitals.

And?the way she does marketing you?d think she invented that science. She is that good?and knows how to be talked about. On Aug. 8, for instance, she marks her 18th anniversary in the business by hosting a grandiose Venetian ball at Shangri-La Makati. (It was 18 years ago on Aug. 8 that she began work in her clinic.) Guests are asked to come in Venetian medieval costumes. More than 500 masks await them at the door.

The ball will have a grand surprise: Belo is flying in a celebrity, a stint that will cost her a seven-figure sum.

Since Belo sets the beauty aspirations for countless women, does she also paint their romantic fantasy of a middle-aged woman having a torrid romance with a young hunk?

How does she do it? That was not the lunch?s agenda, but we made it that nonetheless.

How does she keep a relationship with a man several years her junior?

?Perhaps because he?s mature and I?m immature,? Belo laughed self-deprecatingly while casting a syrupy glance at Kho.

Don?t they feel the age gap?

?No,? this time it was Kho answering. ?The only conflict is when we have parties to go to at the same time. It?s always her party we end up going to.?

Hmm, could a relationship be that unencumbered?

Whatever. But the two have been a couple for three years now?that?s a feat these days. ?Longer than my previous relationships, or the longest girlfriend I?ve had,? says Kho, whose longest romance before Belo was two years.

First meeting

The two met when both were judges of the Mr. and Miss Tomasian Personality (or UST); Hayden was once a Mr. UST. They hit it off after that.

Their initial problem was?how to break the news of their relationship to Belo?s children, and to Kho?s parents.

?I asked my son, would you allow me to date a younger man,? Belo recalled the candid exchange??It?s all right, Mom, basta not younger than me.?

Kho is older than Belo?s son?by six months.

That Belo was a good friend of Kho?s mom could have caused complications but it didn?t. Perhaps, some say, it?s because Belo is good and easy to deal with.

The two swear they don?t have to make tectonic adjustments to each other.

However, Belo learned one thing from the relationship: ?Now I know how to say I?m sorry,? she says.

?When I was young, I?d always prayed to God that I?d marry a doctor. But then doctors could be boring and not cute, so I ended up not marrying one. But then Hayden came,? says Belo who was married once.

The two say the beauty of their relationship is they share lots of things and can talk about anything.

Again, asked what advice she?ll give women on how to keep a relationship, she gropes for an answer. ?I don?t do anything deliberately,? she says.

And, oddly as it may seem, she gleans a possible answer from, of all people, her ex-husband Atom Henares.

?Atom says it?s because I connect with my man at many different levels?emotionally, intellectually, socially, sexcetera, and continue to grow with him in all different ways. Hayden says I love passionately. And I maintain the excitement and spontaneity while being deeply grounded.? TSS