Former teen actor AJ Perez will never be forgotten. Last April 17 marked his 7th year since he left. He was only 17 years old that time.
“A beautiful soul is never forgotten.” Always loved. Still missed. #0417 #ajperez ❤️Photo credit to @danekalbo with Angello Perez Gerry Perez Zenaida Roy-Almario pic.twitter.com/YSxIFz77hg
— AJ Perez (@ajperez17) April 17, 2018
Perez’s younger brother Gello expressed on his Instagram account how much he misses his kuya.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhq2vDSAcXc/?taken-by=gelloperez
He shares to WHEN IN MANILA how close he was to him.
I’ve always seen my brother kind of like “Superman”. Everyone knew him as “AJ Perez”, but I got to see his “Clark Kent” side. The side where we’d spend most of our time watching movies, arguing about who cheated when we’d play video games and messing around with our parents.
Although the amount of free time he had was limited, due to his showbiz career and school, he always made sure he could spend some time with the family as much as he can. Every day, I’d watch him leave to not technically save the world but to do what he loves and make people happy. He was my superhero and still is until today.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfS2DV2A8vZ/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfS1reJgRAF/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfS2EDcAhUt/?taken-by=gelloperez
We would have this unofficial family tradition of watching a movie every Sunday night since it was usually the time he was surely free. This would usually be after he performs in ASAP in the morning and we’d then look for the latest movie that was showing in the theatre. We’d sometimes end up getting the last full show, but we didn’t really care knowing that the next day would be a school day since what mattered to us was that we were spending as much time as we can together before he flies off to “save the world” once again.
Going through all these years never really felt like it was that long ago. I even made a mistake when I posted about my brother’s 7th year in heaven when I thought it had been 8 years. The length of how long it has been didn’t really matter to me because it still feels like the events that happened were just a few months ago. It’s true what people say that you do get stronger as days pass by, but it’s also easy to have those moments where everything comes back to you.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdF0lt4A20K/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba8dH-NnL6r/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWSQmvkAheM/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/BETAmVFHheG/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKqET24AX6g/?taken-by=gelloperez
I admit to having those kinds of moments, and I think that’s part of the process. Today, our family is still really close and we even continued our tradition of Sunday night movies, knowing that he would want that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BED2Rsinhap/?taken-by=gelloperez
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOcagYygUmh/?taken-by=gelloperez
We still think about him everyday and I’d like to think other people do too. I’d learn about how much he’s inspired people from the messages I’ve been receiving from the past years about how they still look up to him and what he’s done. I dream to one day be like my brother and hopefully inspire people as well, just like he did.
This is so touching! AJ would have been so proud of who you are today, Gello! <3
What memories do you have of AJ Perez? Let us know in the comments below!
