My True-Love Story

My name is Kim Young. I'm a happy and healthy nineteen this year. This is my very first story (but not my first "submission!")

My story begins five years ago, when our neighbors moved in next door. I'll always remember that sunny April afternoon in Omaha, when they climbed out of their sky blue minivan with out-of-state license plates.

They were Korean, a father, mother and daughter. Mom and Dad and I greeted them with open arms, and we really hit it off at once. Steve had just accepted a job at our nearby local hospital, Maggie was a housewife, and I caught their daughter sneaking peeks at me all through supper. For me as well, it was love at first sight.

We became inseparable. To my surprise and immense relief, her parents warmly embraced me into their family.

Annie at fourteen was a couple of years younger than I, lovely and petite. My blond, blue-eyed athletic good looks perfectly complemented her golden skinned, luxuriant black mane and her absolutely beautiful amber eyes.

We'd hold hands at Church, where my Dad would preach while Mom played the organ.

The only times we spent apart was when I'd be at football practice or she'd be at piano lessons. More often than not, she'd stop by the local library when I was working and just hung out until closing time. We'd walk home the long way, hand in hand. I thought I could never be happier.

Her Mom and Dad would teach me a few words of Korean, and I'd sometimes join Annie and Steve in the mornings and evenings when he taught her Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do. I learned to love beef bulgogi.

Our blissful world ended when a drunk driver in a pickup crashed into that same minivan on that rainy night in 2001. Annie and her mom were in the front, and thankfully didn't suffer. I was in the back, and spent five weeks in the hospital, crying out my eyes and my heart.

During my long recovery, Steve looked in on me every day. I'd often wake up and see him quietly sitting there in the darkness.

During that month, something deep inside me changed. My love for his family became an obsession, and I resolved to spend the rest of my life devoted to his happiness.