Life’s Challenges
by:
There was this one family whom you would think of describing to be almost perfect. This family was composed of three children. Each of them has their own story to tell. The eldest, named Quince, was a girl slowly turning into a lady who undoubtfully excelled in her chosen field – academics. Next to her was another girl named Ninny. Her cute name does not really describe her desire – music. The youngest was a little boy who dramatically excelled in sports. I used to call him Peter Lysander but I preferably call him Peter. They had a nice, loving and caring mother who was always concerned about the needs and safety of her three children. Their father was a generous and gallant man of wisdom who was willing to do everything for his family. They were just this happier and simpler family. Until one incident made everything change.
Despite of the unexplainable wealth of the family, they keep their feet on the ground. The siblings were all scholars on their school. At the age of sixteen, many were already courting Quince not only because of her intelligence but also because of her charming facial expressions. Boys of the same age as Ninny were also revealing their hidden admiration to the girl. But, as the only boy among the three, Peter would not allow anybody to go near his sisters. Despite of his young age, his desire to defend his siblings was very obvious.
Quince had five men who were very important on her life. Her father, her brother, her best friend named Jeremy, her crush named William and of course God who gave her wisdom.
One afternoon, news spread through out their city. Their parents were ambushed on the way home. All this time they don’t know that their businesses were experiencing bankruptcy and many inventors were getting angry because a large amount of money just went into nothing. As a result, their parents were ambushed. Their father was dead on arrival but their mother’s body was never found. Witnesses say that father let mother escape but armed men still followed her.
Quince was very surprised of what had happened. As the eldest, she holds all responsibilities now that their parents were dead. Quince cannot accept the death of her parents because of money. She got an investigator to look for the master mind of the ambush. Months passed by but the investigation failed and she just consumed more than half of their savings. All those times, Jeremy was always there to help her emotionally and economically. Jeremy had been admiring her more than just a friend but Quince never noticed.
On the first few months, the situation went well but as time passed by, Quince noticed that they were running out of money so she decided to sell their house for half a million pesos and just rent on a small apartment suited for the three of them. Quince budgeted their money and it will be enough for two to three years. After two or three years, she doesn’t know yet what will happen to them. Because of these problems, her grades got a little low but she promises to recover because she should maintain her scholarship. During those times, she never thought of her love life but unexpectedly, William proposed to court her and Jeremy was left alone. Now that Quince was in front of her childhood crush, Jeremy was out of place. Of course, he cannot easily surrender his love to another guy whom he thinks he was better and more deserving. He also courted Quince. At first, Quince was very shocked to discover that her best friend had long loved her.
During those times, she thought she was in the middle of everything. She had to think about school, the necessities of her siblings, and to guys who loved her very much. William was very different from Jeremy. William was just a simple guy who loved to play tennis. Many girls had a crush on him but he never talked to them. The only thing William can give them was a polite smile. He was quite snobbish so Quince never thought that of all girls in the campus, she will be the one courted by William.
Jeremy, on the other hand, was some kind of a knight in shining armor. When Jeremy is with Quince, no one can stare at them and no one tries to. Every time Jeremy feels that somebody was badly looking at them, he stares at them incisively. His eyes always mean something but for Quince, that is Jeremy’s best asset.
The only guy who can look at Jeremy the same way was Peter. This cute little boy scolds Jeremy for making everybody afraid of him. Jeremy reminded Peter that he is doing that for Quince. However, Peter insisted that no guy can go near his sister except him and their father. Quince heard what the boy said. She smiled but her smile was full of darkness. Months had passed but she never recovered from the incident. She promised herself that they will all finish studying. Days went well. Although there were little problems like when Peter accidentally had a sprain while swimming, when Ninny was wounded when the string of her guitar was broken and when Quince slipped off the floor while receiving an award from a contest, Quince still keep to manage. In fact, she was getting used to it.
After two years, Jeremy and William were already asking Quince to choose between the two of them. She was more confused now. She thought she never wanted to loose Jeremy but she also loved William. This can’t be happening! Like the Law of Impenetrability which states that no two objects can occupy the same place at the same time, she should not love William and Jeremy at the same time. Ninny knew the problem of her sister and she never dared to bother Quince also. Even Peter cannot do anything about it, he never experienced those things and besides he was a boy. To lessen the burden of their sister, Ninny took care of Peter and she also helped Quince in the household chores. Quince never asked her to do such things because Ninny’s hands were often tired of playing musical instruments. After doing the household chores, Peter’s role was to massage his sisters and entertain them by telling his make-believe stories.
A week before her eighteenth birthday, Quince noticed that their savings were now not enough for one more year. Ninny knew this when she accidentally read the diary of her sister. She also became worried about it but what’s more important to her now was to celebrate the debut of her beloved sister happily. Together, Ninny and Peter had a secret fund raising in school to prepare for the celebration of Quince’s birthday. Jeremy knew this secret fund raising so he talked to Ninny and Peter because he volunteered to shoulder the expenses so they do not need to do such things.
On the other hand, William noticed the loneliness of Quince. When William touched Quince’s back to comfort her, Quince just cried and she told her problem to William. William understands what she feels. Jeremy saw them and he became jealous of William. He thought that Quince will choose him if she’ll just know that he was the busiest man on the preparation for her birthday. Jeremy just smiled – a naughty smile.
On Quince's debut, she was surprised to know that Jeremy and her siblings were actually preparing for it. She thought no one had remembered her debut. Quince embraced Jeremy for such extravagant debut party. During the opening of the gifts, Jeremy gave Quince a necklace. By the way, where is William? William was just there on one side of the table, staring at Quince. Peter approached him to ask him to play tennis together. William just smiled then a guy approached Quince. He was wearing formal attire and he gave Quince a title of a house. It states there that someone pitied the three of them so this guy wanted to help them. Jeremy was also shocked but Quince thought that he was just acting so she accepted the gift from the guy.
The next day, they all went to that house together with Jeremy. The house was quite big for the three of them and everything they needed was all there. Quince was very delighted to see all those things and she thanked Jeremy. Jeremy just accepted her gratitude. When Jeremy was gone, Quince heard a voice in her room. She was afraid at first but when the voice said that he was once the owner of the house, she thought of Jeremy. She thought this was one of his strategies again. That voice always warms her heart, comforts her in times of problems and encourages her when needed. Thinking that the voice was Jeremy, she was now sure that Jeremy was her true love. She now planned to tell the two guys who had won her heart.
Peter told Quince that it is not Jeremy because William admitted to him that it was him. Quince never believed because she never saw William and Peter together. All this time Quince does not know about the tennis tutorial of Peter with William. Ninny never told her. Because of what she heard from Peter, she doubted about the voice. She investigated by herself and did many experiments but she did not get any relevant data. She looked for a speaker in her room or any hardware that made her communicate with the voice. At last, she found something. She also found a very small camera on her room. This means that the voice was not only hearing her voice but also seeing all the things she was doing. She blushed a little.
On the other hand, Jeremy was also agreeing to every thing she says when she was telling their conversation last night. Jeremy was confident that Quince will choose him. He can feel it in her actions. Besides, he never failed to show Quince how he loved her.
The next day, she met William and Jeremy on the stairway. She asked them many things then she showed the small camera and speaker from her room. She saw Jeremy’s reaction and William’s reaction. Then she finished the conversation.
On that night, she asked her siblings if it’s just okay with them if their sister will have a boyfriend. Peter jumped out of joy when he heard this but he reminded her sister that it should be William. Ninny just smiled at her sister and told her that the most important thing is she’s happy. She invited the two guys in their house. Now, who is the lucky guy? Quince had made her final decision. She chose to give her heart to someone more deserving, to someone who never failed to show his love for her and to someone who will always be there for her. It was no other than William. William was very surprised to know this because it was already very obvious that he loosed the game. On the other hand, Jeremy was so disappointed. Quince hugged him to lessen his disappointment. She said sorry to Jeremy. Jeremy just whispered to her ears, “Promise me, I will always be your knight in shining armor and no one can replace me for that title.” He turned back then he told William to never hurt her because if he did, Jeremy will ask vengeance for Quince. William promised to Jeremy.
Now, they do not need to communicate with the speaker. Quince scolded William because she knew already that every thing she does in her room was seen by William. She asked William to remove those things from her room or else she will transfer to another room. William removed the circuits of the camera but not the speaker because he still wanted to talk to her whenever he wants. It’s just fine with Quince. William did not only took of Quince but also of Peter and Ninny. Quince never thought that she made the wrong decision of choosing William.
One day, when Quince was sent to the hospital because of high fever, Ninny saw someone they thought was forever gone. It was their mother. She was in comatose for five years already. After Quince had recovered from the fever, Ninny told her what she saw. They went to that room and talked to the doctor. It was indeed their mother. She survived the ambush but she was in comatose. Still, the children were happy to know that their mother was still alive.
William helped in the recovery of their mother. After two more years, she had finally waked up. She was very happy to discover that Quince was now a professional. She was proud of her very responsible daughter, Quince, and she was delighted to know that Quince has a boyfriend who can take care of her daughter while he was in comatose. Now they had the complete and happy family even without father.
