Is everlasting love a hot kettle on a cold stove, or a cold kettle on a hot stove?

Here’s another real-life love story that will hopefully make your heart simmer…

Dr. Jameson Chua is a renowned neurosurgeon, who graduated cum laude from medical school and aced the medical board exams. The son of a wealthy and conservative Filipino-Chinese couple, James acquired his own clinic right away and became one of the directors of the hospital where he also practiced.

He married the spoiled but dutiful daughter of his parents’ kumpadre, and told himself that one day, he would learn to love her. What is it they say about arranged marriages? You put a cold kettle on a hot stove and eventually, the kettle will warm up and turn red-hot. Whereas Western-influenced marriages are compared to a boiling hot kettle on a cold stove. Eventually, the hot kettle will become frigid as well.

James and his wife Miriam had two kids. But the cold kettle that was their union never warmed up. He found her moody and extravagant; she found him dull and too preoccupied with his work. To escape their frequent arguments, James would just avoid being with Miriam and Miriam kept threatening James that she would leave him.

One particularly bad Sunday at home, James decided to escape and check on one of his elderly patients, his Tita Paquita, mother of his high school classmate Chuck. When he opened the door to the old lady’s room, he saw the sweetest face he had ever seen. She was sitting on a folding chair by the hospital bed, and she smiled shyly at James.

Her name was Linny and she had James at “hello,” so to speak. Linny was married to Chuck, her high school sweetheart. Theirs was a smoldering kettle that unfortunately landed on a cold stove. As the years passed, the embers of their relationship flickered and died.

Sunday was Linny’s turn to watch over her mother-in-law. As fate had it, it was the same day James walked into the hospital room and into her life. Soon, James and Miriam, Chuck and Linny would go out on double dates, but James realized he was consenting to the double dates so he could see Linny more.

Chuck was reportedly a philanderer. After months of bonding with Chuck, James realized he was actually bonding with Linny. And Linny was falling for the doctor whose gaze alone already put her on a pedestal.

Linny eventually gathered up the courage to tell her mother-in-law Doña Paquita that she was leaving Chuck. To her surprise, the old lady said, “It is about time, hija.”

After she left the conjugal home, Linny was pursued by James, even if it was against the law of God and man.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Miriam made life hell for James. She filed cases against him in court and threatened to bring him to the cleaners. She warned him she could easily have his medical license revoked because of his relationship with Linny.

Linny’s son and daughter had started to love their Tito James, who was kind, gentle and very generous to them. He also knew when to stay in the background. Luckily for Linny, Chuck, who by now was dating a woman half his age, posed no problem to her relationship with James. Occasionally, Chuck would still flirt with Linny.

But Miriam was unrelenting. Faced with the revocation of James’ medical license, Linny told James she would just leave him. They should just move on and forget each other. Too much was at stake.

“It’s for your own good. You worked long and hard to be a doctor, and you have an oath to keep. Please leave me,” Linny begged James. But James said he would rather die than leave Linny, and that he couldn’t go on saving others if he couldn’t save himself first. “I’ve loved only one woman in my life and that is you,” James told Linny.

As James and Linny were contemplating their future — whether together or apart — they received news that Miriam was pregnant! Not by James, but by her gym instructor!

Miriam lost the moral high ground that gave her the ammunition to annihilate James. Embarrassed by her situation, she dropped her cases against the doctor.

Eventually, both couples got their annulments. Before Linny married James, she asked her kids if they still wanted her to reconcile with their dad.

And the kids looked into their mother’s eyes and asked, “But what about Tito James? Where will he go? Who will take care of him?”

That settled the question for Linny.

James and Linny started out a hot kettle — but they made sure they ignited the base of their relationship as well.

They are now grandparents, but the stove is, well, — let’s just say the kettle on top of it is still sizzling.

THE BEAUTY OF LOVE: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, love is at the center of PeopleAsia’s universe as the magazine unveils its special February-March 2014 issue this week. On the cover of PeopleAsia’s ‘Special Romance Issue’ are newlyweds, beauty queen Shamcey Supsup and businessman Lloyd Lee, both of whom share tales of their colorful trip to the altar. The Miss Universe 2011 third runner-up (who’s never had a boyfriend) and her doting groom give PeopleAsia an exclusive on the romance that transpired between them, before they finally tied the knot last Dec. 29. As Facial Care Centre’s brand ambassadors, Shamcey and Lloyd also share their beauty and fitness secrets as they prepared for the biggest day of their lives. (For inquiries, call Precy at 892-1854.) (You may e-mail me at [email protected].)