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On Monday, James brought
Jeanne to school. Everyone gathered around them and agreed that
James and the new beautiful girl was a good couple. James put his
arm around Jeanne and took her to Eric.
"What up, man? Who's the chick?" Eric asked.
"You'll never know."
"So tell me!"
"You want to tell him, girl?" James asked Jeanne.
"Hi! I'm Jeanne." James and Jeanne smiled when they heard him gasp.
"The! the nerdy! nerdy girl?"
"The same, Eric! the same."
"Can I talk to you, James?" Eric took James away from Jeanne. "Dude,
what the hell is happening here? That's not Jeanne, right?"
"It is Jeanne! How can you live like that? How can you live with one
spontaneous idea stuck in your head? Can't you ever think about
Jeanne being beautiful and attractive?"
"Well! no."
"See? I knew this was a bad idea. But she loves you! Can't you
believe that? And I love her! so I'm letting her go to the one jerk
she loves. Peace, man," and with that, James walked away. "Good
luck, Jeanne." He stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. He tried
to stop the tears from streaming down his face. Jeanne! if you love
him that much! I'll let you go. I hope that jackass won't hurt you.
"So! You're Jeanne! The one I rejected?"
"Umm! Yeah."
"Well! I've thought about it, but I think I want you to be my
girlfriend."
"Your girlfriend?"
"Yeah." Jeanne couldn't believe her ears. Thank you, James. "So! do
you accept?"
"Of course I do! It's always been my dream!"
"Gosh! you have pretty weird dreams! Hey, you look cold. Here." Eric
took off his sweater and wrapped it over Jeanne. Jeanne was so happy
she was crying. Eric wiped her tears and comforted her.
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After school, Jeanne called James to thank him.
"Hello?"
" James! Thank you so much! It went so well between Eric and me!"
"That's! that's great, Jeanne."
" I owe it all to you. Let's go out for lunch or something sometime.
I'll pay." Jeanne sounded so happy.
"Jeanne, I don't think that'll be possible."
" Why not?"
"I'm leaving! to Korea."
" What about your parents? Why are you going? How are you going? I
just don't believe this!"
"My parents were dead a long time ago, Jeanne. I have enough money
to get on a plane to Korea."
" But! what about me? I thought you loved me!"
"Yes, I do. But you're in love with someone else and I don't want to
burden you. I want you to be happy with the one you love and not be
pressured by me. Tell Eric that I congratulate him and tell him
good-bye please. Bye, Jeanne."
Click!
Jeanne couldn't believe it. She was able to date because of James.
She was able to get attractive because of James. She was always
comforted because of James! And he was leaving her out by herself in
the big, hateful, hideous world. She felt suddenly so scared. She
dialed James's number again, but he disconnected the phone. She
finally knew who was important to her now.
She quickly dressed into the clothes James had bought for her and
ran outside. She was running for dear life to James's house. When
she got there, he was right there, in front of her.
Jeanne was so happy she cried out, "JAMES!" He turned to face her.
"James, how can you leave me like this?" James looked at her with
his soft eyes.
"I'm sorry, Jeanne. I have to leave. My cab's here. Bye, Jeanne."
James gave her a peck on the cheek and disappeared into the taxi.
She watched the taxi disappear into the curve and watched her James
gone! forever. She started crying and crying as if her life was
over. But it was! she was now alone in the world, with no one to
support her.
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-15 years later-
James came back to America as a successful lawyer. He came back to
America in search for the girl he had loved 15 years ago. Everyone
in Korea had questioned him. And now that he was back, he was able
to search as much as he wanted. But, little did he know there was a
problem with that.
"Eric?" James had called Eric. They were in touch the whole time
James was in Korea.
" Hey! What's up?"
"I came back to America, dude!"
" Oh! Umm! OK!"
"I want to ask about Jeanne. Is she all right?"
" You see, James. There's something about that you should know."
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this!"
" Well, I guess you can say she's happy and well."
"What do you mean?"
" She's with God, man. She's gone."
"Haha. Nice joke. I'm not kidding. Tell me where she is."
"DUDE! I'M TELLING YOU! AFTER YOU TOLD HER YOU WERE LEAVING HER, SHE
STARTED GETTING DEPRESSED AND GETTING STRESSED! IT WAS HORRIBLE,
MAN! WHY THE F*CK DID YOU LEAVE? SHE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE! BECAUSE
OF YOU, SHE HAD TO SUICIDE! WHAT THE F*CK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU
DUMASS JERK! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED HER! I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT GUYS
WHO FALL IN LOVE DO TO THEIR CRUSH! SH*T! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.
REMEMBER WHEN YOU CALLED ME A JACKASS? You'd better think again.-
Click! The phone fell from James's hand. He dropped to his knees in
disbelief. He just couldn't believe it. He felt like everything was
against him. He felt so angry with himself. He felt like ripping
himself up. He wanted to follow Jeanne up to heaven.
For days and days, James didn't eat a morsel of food. He started
getting so much stress.
-20 days later-
James was buried right next to Jeanne's grave. His tombstone read:
R.I.P.James Park
1980-2005
THE ONE MAN WHO LET GO OF A WOMAN AND LOST HER
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