Type: Flash Fiction
Category: Romance, College
By: Jeneffry L. Baguinang
Title: My Torn Ligament
Theme: Hope. When you are about to give up because something isn’t coming the way you wanted,
there’s still sun, that in the other side, doing its best to shine. Be it a love story or for life.
Characters: Shaina, Clint
Settings: College, Library, School Clinic
POV: First
Tenses: Present, Past
MY TORN LIGAMENT
It has been a week after I took my first step in college, and everything was new to me. I
barely made conversation with any of my block mates unless I must speak up. Even if only a
week just passed, my whole self is asking to shift to another program. I planned to take Nursing,
but luck was not in my favour and got admitted to Medical Technology. There’s no turning back
now, all should I got to do is to study hard. Lol, that’s very funny of me. Medical Technology is
so tough, trust me, from the bottom of my coronary artery, MedTech isn’t just for everyone. Not
until I first laid my eyes on him.
After a month, I made friends with a few, but I do appreciate it if they talk to me first. Aside
from being shy, my other business is being cute (they say, not my bad). It’s just an offbeat
feeling when they call my name, Shaina. Maybe it’s time for my name to shine in college it’s
Shine-na after all. Then, everything was repetitive, I failed every exam, glad that I passed some
of it. And I thought, maybe that will be a cycle for my entire semester in college. And his face
popped inside my mind. Call me anything you want, but he’s my love at first sight. He is a
student too in our college, from the Physical Therapy department judging from his uniform. He
looks so handsome and cute in his eyeglasses, maybe he’s smart also. He’s not that tall maybe
around 5’7 ft? He has a normal complexion and a bright smile which killed me when I first saw
him busy talking with his classmates beside the school’s chapel. And here’s me, hoping to meet
him again or even just getting passed by each other, enough to catch his name on his nameplate.
I’m this persistent.
Should I be thanking the school for bringing my love story closer to reality? It just
happened before September ended, I got a message from the school nurse for my physical
examination. So, I headed there on time, there were some MT, PT, and Nursing students too. The
nurse said that the 10 of us will be examined right away when the doctor arrives, but there’s only
nine of us during that time. I counted again, of course, and just nine of us. When suddenly the
door opened and finally, I saw that face also. My heart keeps racing, and I am feeling hot, too,
even when the room is air-conditioned. I behaved well. Yes, I’m a dalagang Filipina. When fate
is helping you, I cannot turn down the offer. To my surprise, he sat in front of me. As in, enough
to have a face-to-face talk. I grabbed my phone and keep myself busy, while my ninja eyes
secretly gazing his chest, no! I mean, his nameplate. Thankfully, I got to know his name. Now is
the time to stalk him on social media. See you, my prince, my crush, Clint.
Day after day, I keep on searching but failed to find him. He was too private, and our
schedules don’t get along. I haven’t seen him in three consecutive weeks. And the flame keeps
burning, my program demands sacrifices, I am struggling in academics. Maybe it’s time to say
goodbye to this untold feeling of mine. I’ll end this thing even it’s not even started. The midterm
is about to come, so I keep myself busy in the library trying to understand something most alien
to me. It’s now three days before the midterms, and while active studying, I lose track of time. I
forgot that I have a 2 pm class today. I rushed out of the library headed to the Arts and Sciences
Building. I am 6 minutes late now so I ran as fast as I can when I suddenly flip my left foot
sideways, and my foot is really in pain. If you’re a student, of course, the very first thing you’d
do is to look around and check if someday have seen that embarrassing moment of your life. I
got my hopes up when I saw no one. But when I turned right, I saw Clint running towards me!
What an embarrassing moment! He came closer, knelt in front, and asked me, “Are you okay,
miss?” I was speechless, of course. I can’t even utter a single word. “Your ankle is swelling, and
I see some light bruises coming,” he said as he examined my foot. If I can just grab a mirror this
moment, I’ll be seeing my blushed face. “You got sprain Ms., means that your foot ligament was
torn or stretched from the fall.” I cannot muster the words I’m going to say that time, all I had
was, “Ummm… thank yo…u,” “I’ll carry you to the clinic.” And that made my heart pounds so
fast, this is tachycardia! OMG, help me! He can surely feel the beating of my heart. I don’t know
what to do, should I hide my face, or act asleep, I don’t know, everybody’s looking at us. “It’s
okay Shaina,” those words hit me, how did he know my name? From my nameplate or ID? I
should be smart; I’m not falling into something like this. We arrived, and before he left me at the
clinic, he said something to me. And I never concentrated on the entire midterms.
Everybody’s fired up, cheering, selfie here and there, it’s stressing-free during Intramurals
after the hell week midterms. But I don’t know what to do, I can’t think well. I keep on
remembering what Clint said to me at the clinic. So, I decided. I asked my friends to join me to
watch the Men’s Volleyball game. Of course, they knew that I have a crush on him, they even
helped me find his social media accounts, but they are not aware of what Clint has told me that
time.
“Can you cheer for me during our game even if I am from another department?” No words
came out from my mouth as I was still shocked. “See you on intrams, Shai.” And so here I am
cheering for him, betraying my department. I cannot fathom what will happen next. I wish our
department would win, but they didn’t, so I’m in trouble.
“Let’s grab a snack after that if we win.” He said before leaving me from the clinic.
My friends were so shocked after Clint came into us, they were very supportive, we had a
picture together with Clint after his game. I admit that he looks so hot in his jersey. And that
marks the start of our love story. It happened that Clint had a crush on me first when he saw me
at the canteen. I cannot blame myself for melting inside, this is destiny after all. I can’t imagine
we are together now. After that snack, or let me say, a date, two months later I finally said “yes”
to him, being his girlfriend. And now we are celebrating Valentine’s day on our second
anniversary.
We are now junior students, both of us are busy with the professional courses we are taking.
Despite the limited time we have, we never failed to check on each other. I’ll never find another
like him maybe. He’s smart, talented, sporty, and all. He asks me questions about my exams, and
the loveliest of them all, he sings me a song before saying good night. I just want him to be with
my side as we face this career in the making of ours. But our story is not a happy ending, unlike
the fairytales, they lived happily ever after. Not for us. After we graduated and got jobs at
different hospitals, Clint was caught in misery. No, we both saw it. He acquired the coronavirus
disease from his workplace. He would certainly recover since he’s young and active, but the pain
he hides all the years came to a revelation. He has Grade II brain cancer, and the virus worsens it.
After a week of hospitalization, his body gave up. I lost him.
He is the one that got away. I acted strong, but deep inside, I feel pained and devastated. I
both lost him and the dreams we promised to each other. There’s no single time that I do not cry.
Everything keeps reminding me of him. And in his final moments in life, not seeing his family,
not able to say goodbye, or even receive encouragement from his loved ones. But life still goes
on for me, I have to live, for myself, my family and him. If I can love once again, that would be
grateful, and I would never forget this pain. “The pain that is worse than a thousand times of pain
from my torn ligament, the time when you first called my name.”