The Decisions

By Seung Geel Hong

Eva expected Barry to propose to her soon after high school graduation, but Barry felt that he should help his mother to take care of his siblings until they had finished school. And by the time Barry was ready to get married, Eva was no longer available because of her career. They would not reconnect until after they had retired.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387599295

Book preview

The Decisions

First Edition

By Hong, Seung Geel (홍승길)

© 2019 by Hong, Seung Geel (홍승길)

All rights reserved

ISBN:  978-1-387-59929-5

1.  No Engagement Ring

Eva looked at her watch for the third time. It was approaching 5:30 p.m., and Eva was getting a bit nervous. This was the day for which Eva had been waiting for the past two weeks, and she soon would know if she would marry her boyfriend Barry.

Eva and Barry had been dating since the 10th grade, and they had graduated from high school a month ago. Unlike most of the other couples of their graduating class, they had not discussed their future. Nevertheless, Eva had presumed that Barry would ask her to marry him shortly after graduation, and since Barry had made special arrangements to take her to the high-class restaurant Alexandria, Eva felt confident that Barry finally had gathered up his courage to propose to her.

Eva looked at her watch for the fourth time, hoping that nothing bad had happened to Barry on his way to her house. Eva, then, got up from the couch and walked slowly to the front doorway. She opened the entrance door and looked through the storm door, looking down the street for Barry’s car.  Then, when she saw nothing coming down the street, she walked back to the couch and stood by it for five or six seconds before sitting down.

Just then, Eva heard Barry’s car approaching the house and then entering the driveway, whereupon she went to the door and waited for Barry to exit the car and start walking toward the house.

However, Barry did not immediately exit the car as usual. Instead, he remained seated behind the steering wheel and stared through the windshield, his eyes fixed directly in front of the car without seeing anything.

Eva wondered why Barry was not getting out of the car. She waited about 15 seconds and then opened the storm door.  She began to exit the house, but then she changed her mind when she saw the car door begin to open.

When Barry entered the house, Eva asked:

What’s wrong? Did something happen on the way?

Barry answered:

"No, I was just thinking about something. I’ll tell you about it later. . . ."

Eva and Barry went to Alexandria and enjoyed a fine meal of Alaskan king crab.

Afterward, they attended a concert at the Little Theater Auditorium. Then they stopped at a drive-in restaurant and had chocolate malted milkshake before