Weekly Winner and Finalist
The Diamond Love Story Contest
Women's Journal 1993
Philippines

Note: I've been wanting to seek permission from the said Magazine to put this story on my website but I have no idea about how to reach them or if the magazine is still in circulation until now. Anyway, they have published this story in their magazine and thus, own the rights to this story.  I hope I don't get hanged, LOL, for putting the story here....

Also, I have a poem with the same title --THIS THING CALLED FOREVER, ha ha ha. The one you're reading now is the STORY VERSION This is *FICTION. The characters may have been distantly inspired by people known to me but nothing in the story has ever happened (in the places I mentioned in the story) in real life. I used the names of all my friends, though, to their delight, ha ha ha. Now, to the story.....

THIS THING CALLED FOREVER

Copyright ©2008Claire Louise P. Sienes

"Dear, I to Thee this diamond commend;
in which a model of myself I send.
How just unto Thy joints this circlet sitteth,
so just Thy face and shape my fancy fitteth.
My touch tries Thee as purest gold.
My touch tries Thee as pure though softer mould.
That metal precious is, the stone is true,
as true as, then, how much more precious YOU?"

     Someone had to be responsible for these famous words. I felt that whoever he may be, he had to be acknowledged for these words, I thought as I reached for the small velvet box and snapped it open. It lay there in all its splendour, the ring. A diamond flanked by Swarovsky crystals. The feelings were still there; the mixed emotions that always filled my heart with unexplainable joy whenever I opened the velvet box to look at it. This stone. The burning lines on a piece of paper already yellowed by time. How precious you are, I thought, holding the ring in my hands. How precious you are to the people whose lives you've touched, I said as I slipped it on my finger and once more, the memories came. Memories of that woman and what a lady she was.....

     She was beautiful, sexy, and elegant. She had a face you would want to look at forever-- dark eyes that were deeply set, well-sculptured nose, a sensuous and well-shaped mouth....and dimples. Those deep, charming dimples that graced her face everytime she smiled or curled her lips were the ones that held a powerful attraction for men. She knew it, but never really cared about it because she knew that real beauty came from within---the purity of the heart.

     Lynn del Campo was more than just a pretty face. She had the brains to go with it. The brains that won her a scholarship slot at the *Baylor University Medical Center in Texas, USA where she had her Residency training. Success, it seemed, came so early and so easy to this Davao-bred young doctor blessed with just about everything in life -- loving parents, friends, and a very comfortable life. Lynn del Campo...who would ever believe she was lonely?

     No one. She thought as she climbed out of her car and started to walk. She had no idea how lovely she looked that day in a violet-and-black designer coordinates, her long black hair cascading softly on her shoulders as she moved with fluid grace. Heads turned her way as she pushed the glass doors open and made her way to the reception area of a downtown clinic.

     "Not too many patients today," she commented to Elvie and Joanne, the Medical Technologists of the clinic.

     "Good morning, Doc," they greeted as she passed. "We're finishing up early today."

     "Yeah," Joanne added. "They all came early and in quite a number, too." Joanne smiled. Lynn smiled and moved on to Zeny Costan, the receptionist of the * Crisostomo Children's Clinic in downtown Davao City. Marie Crisostomo had been a close friend from Medical School and despite developing different interests -- Lynn in OB-Gyne and Marie in Pediatrics -- they managed to keep a close working relationship. Besides, OB and Pediatrics complemented each other business-wise as Marie first joked about it when Lynn came back from Texas three years ago.

     "Can I go in?" Lynn asked Zeny who was already clearing her desk.

    "Just go right in, Doc." Came the reply. "The child's the last one for the morning."

    The last patient for the morning? Lynn was puzzled as she glanced at her wristwatch and noted that it was only a quarter past 10 AM. Marie must be going somewhere, she thought as she opened the door to Marie's office. Some patient, Lynn observed. Marie was having a grand time talking to a child of about three or four years old. The child was clutching a Teddy Bear in her hands as she gazed up at Marie who obviously seemed amused with the child.

     "Child talk, huh?" Lynn chided a smiling Marie.

     "Indeed it is." Marie answered. "So young and yet so smart." She gestured to the child, a gesture Lynn followed closely. The small face that looked up to her was beautiful. Black, curly hair framed a heart-shaped face and long, dark lashes that revealed the brownest eyes she had ever seen. Lynn moved closer and realized that the child's eyes weren't brown as she first thought so. They were tawny.

    "What a beautiful child!" Lynn couldn't help but say out loud. "What's wrong with her?"

     "Asthma. Mild." Explained Marie. "She isn't used to the weather here, Lynn."

     "What's your name, Sweetheart?" Lynn turned to the child who smiled a smile so reminiscent of someone she used to know. Was it the smile? Or was it the eye color? Lynn shrugged the thoughts away and extended a hand to the child.

     "I'm Eloise." The little girl placed her small hand into the hand Lynn extended. That name. Was it mere coincidence? Lynn pondered. Don't be foolish, Lynn del Campo, she scolded herself silently. This is Davao City. "And why did you call me sweetheart?"

     Lynn's soft laughter filled the air. Amused by the question thrown her way, she smiled, "It's what you call someone you like." This was no ordinary girl, Lynn knew that and that knowledge became even stronger when she heard the child's next words.

     "Do you like me, then?"

     Trying not to sound surprised, she simply answered, "I do." It was impossible not to like a child so young and yet already too smart for her age. Well-behaved, too, she found out later when Marie explained that the little girl was brought in for consultation by her father. It appeared that Eloise still hadn't adjusted to Davao' s climate since their arrival from the USA a few days ago. Hence, her mild asthma. Marie said the child made no protests when her father told her he had to leave for a while and come back for her later after he made one very important overseas call while Marie examined her.

     "So, " Marie began. "Are you going to help me with my case study?" Marie was doing a study about Congenital Disorders and Lynn promised to help. Her experience in one of the top-ranked hospitals in Texas, USA was proving to be of great help to her in more ways than one.

     "I have the books in my car." She quickly told Marie, then made her way to the door. "I'll go get them now." Her hand was reaching for the door when it suddenly burst open and she just found herself staring into those eyes...those brown eyes and their depths that she never really seemed to fathom all those years ago.....

 .....of all people, why did it have to be,

    "Justin?"

TO BE CONTINUED....