Love and . . . by Jen Kim

Author:Jen Kim
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510727878
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2018-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

YOU CAN’T FORCE SOMEONE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU, OR CAN YOU?

There is a consensus in self-help land and popular psychology that you can’t force someone to love you, despite the plethora of happy Internet testimonials from formerly brokenhearted men and women who credit Dr. Lukas, an alleged miracle-working spell caster in Nigeria, for returning their former loves to them.

There’s also Leanne.

I have never met Leanne, but I know everything about her. She was the ex-girlfriend of Joe before he and I started dating. Their relationship did not end well. She had moved across the country to be with him, only to have him break up with her shortly afterward. Naturally, she was hurt and furious—I didn’t blame her for that. But for everything she did afterward, I did.

Weeks into Joe’s and my budding romance, the phone calls began. At first, I didn’t think twice when he would disappear into a room for hours to talk to her. Breakups are painful, and sometimes the only thing that can get you through them is knowing that the other person still cares about you on some level. But soon the quality and quantity of the calls became so frequent and interminable that I wondered if he had taken a job as customer service rep for Comcast. His frequent disappearances began to affect our social life, too. He once left me stranded with another couple during a double date to take her call. When he finally returned an hour later, instead of an apology, he told me he had to leave. Before I could open my mouth in protest, he was gone. The other couple ended up taking me home. Sadly, my dignity wasn’t able to make it home with me.

Joe was still on the phone with her when I returned home. I was fuming, but he barely acknowledged me. For a second I wondered if he was upset with me. Like I was the one who ruined his evening and embarrassed him in front of his friends. Oh wait, no, I was the sane one. When he finally hung up, a look of gravity came over his face as he said, “Leanne threatened to kill herself tonight.”

The world stood still. I felt like an asshole. Yes, I had been humiliated and disappointed by the night’s activities, but none of it was going to make me end my life. Stricken, I asked him what happened. “She’s just having a really hard time right now . . . with everything,” he responded without looking at me. I assumed I was part of the everything, and he did nothing to reassure me otherwise. From that point on, our relationship hinged precariously on her moods, which gradually became more desperate and manic. Joe ceased being my boyfriend (or hers even), and turned into Leanne’s personal 911 emergency operator. He urged her to get professional help, but she always refused. As the weeks turned into months, it began to appear more like Leanne’s threats of taking her own life were really a manipulative scheme to win Joe back.

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