A post shared by Joshua Garcia (@garciajoshuae) on Apr 29, 2017 at 11:24pm PDT

Around two weeks ago, Joshua Garcia posted a sweet photo of him giving his onscreen partner Julia Barretto a tight hug while their friends looked on.

He captioned it with, "My queen," fanning speculations that they have begun taking their friendship to a next level and have started dating.

In an interview at the sidelines of the 48th Box Office Entertainment Awards held Sunday night, the actor shared to reporters what prompted this sweet gesture.

"Kaya ko sinabing 'My Queen' is kasi dapat itinuturing siyang queen dahil deserve niya iyon," he said of Barretto.

In previous interviews, the two have repeatedly downplayed suggestions and they are a couple. Both insisted that their focus remains solely on their blooming careers as of the moment.

Garcia and Barretto were the stars of "Vince & Kath & James," the highest grossing film in last year's Metro Manila Film Festival. They were also paired up for an episode of "Maalaala Mo Kaya."

Since then, Barretto went on to be included in the cast of the primetime series "A Love to Last," while Garcia will be part of the upcoming Dreamscape production "Kung Kailangan Mo Ako."

At the 48th Box Office Entertainment Awards, organized by the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Scholarship Foundation, they received the "Most Promising Movie Actor" and "Most Promising Movie Actress" awards.

Appearing to respond to Garcia's sweet words, Barretto posted a photo of them from the awards ceremony with the caption: "I'm glad to have shared this moment with you."

A post shared by Julia Barretto (@juliabarretto) on May 15, 2017 at 4:20am PDT