Kobe Paras has set the record straight: He and Kyline Alcantara are just friends.

In an interview with GMA News Online at the GMA Gala 2024, the Filipino basketball player said he hadn’t yet asked Kyline to be his girlfriend.

“We are great friends,” Kobe said. “Bakit girlfriend agad?” He asked, as if reasoning not to preempt him. “Nagtanong na ba ako?”

“We are just great friends right now, really close friends,” he emphasized, confirming Kyline attended the opening of his new tattoo studio, Nown Studio, earlier this week.

In May, netizens caught a whiff of Kyline and Kobe’s growing closeness after simultaneously posting photos taken at the same restaurant in Makati at nearly the same time.

It was followed by Kobe leaving a heart-eyed emoji on one of Kyline’s Instagram posts and reposting the aforementioned post on his Instagram Stories. He would like her other posts as well.

A month later, the two were spotted holding hands in BGC.