PROMISES SHOULD NEVER BE BROKEN: JOY GONE! 1

Joe sighed while watching the ball in her hands. She sat there on the grass looking at the ball as she dribbled it slowly. She closed her eyes and looked up. Tears were threatening to fall down.

It had been five months. And today, it had been two hours. With her right hand, she combed her hair with her fingers. She sighed once more. He said he would be there… she waited… but he called at the last minute saying he would be late… she waited still…

Then, her phone rang. The caller ID said it was David. She sighed sadly and pressed the accept button. Somehow, she knew what he would say.

"Hello," she answered softly.

"Joe, it's David."

"I know. Your name's on the caller ID, jerk."

"Where are you?" David asked right away

"I should be the one asking that question," she replied.

"You're still there? I'm sorry. I can't make it today," he began.

Joe frowned. 'What else is new?' she thought.

David continued, "Christine bought the two of us tickets to a basketball game that will start at 8:30 tonight. We just finished eating dinner." Joe heard him sigh. "I know… I should have called you. Don't get mad at me. I tried but… I was in a dead zone… I just got one bar at this time… Please say you're not angry? And please for the love of God, go home. It's already dark and that place is kind of secluded … someone might try to hurt you."

She chuckled softly to hide her sadness, "I'm not angry." 'I'm hurt.' "No one would dare hurt me. And who told you I'm still there? I'm home already. You think I'll wait for two hours for a jerk like you to come to the court? You've got to be kidding me," she lied.

She heard David chuckle on the other line after hearing the word jerk. "Okay then… that's good to hear. Bye," he hung up first.

"Bye," she muttered softly even though the call had already ended.

Joe sighed again! Lately, that has been a usual occurrence. He will call and tell her he could not make it because Christine made some plans. Their Friday tradition is continuously being cancelled, over and over and over again. But what could she do? Christine was David's first girlfriend. Of course, he would rather spend time with his girlfriend rather than his best friend.

Still, she would patiently wait… hoping that she could spend even a short time with him. But time with him, currently, is a very rare commodity. She stood up and shot the ball into the hoop. It went in. She grabbed her water bottle and ran to meet the ball. She caught it and walked home. Tears slowly trickled down her face. 'Tears again?' she whispered and wiped them quickly.

*****

It was midnight. Kenji woke up from thirst. He walked to the kitchen to get some water. After going about his business, he felt sleepy once more. He yawned and decided to go back to his room and sleep when he passed by a silhouette of a person at the terrace.

He scrunched his forehead and headed in that direction. No one would dare steal from the Ji's estate. They have the most complicated and advanced security systems ever! His sight adjusted to the darkness and recognized it was Joe. She was sitting down on the floor, arms around her knees, leaning to the wall. The starlight shone on her and he worried after seeing a sad look on her face.

"Joe? What are you doing here at this hour?" he asked gently.

After hearing someone talk, Joe immediately wiped away the tears on her face. Kenji scrunched his forehead.

"Are you okay?" he asked again

Joe looked at him and smiled. "Yeah… Why are you still up?" she asked and turned to him.

Kenji chuckled. "Have you slept yet?" he asked and sat beside her.

Joe chuckled softly then sighed. "I can't sleep," she answered.

The pain was too much for her to bear. She thought she could go on pretending that everything will be alright. But the truth is the pain she felt, felt like her heart was swollen and was about to explode!! Every night she closes her eyes to try to sleep, her tears start flowing again. It's unbearable! She cried too much already!!!

There was a silence after. Kenji looked at her, "Did I tell you I'm a good listener?" He told her that made Joe chuckle. He smiled as well, "It's true. I'm ready to listen to you if you'll just tell me what's wrong. I might not be able to help but spilling the beans in itself is therapy. It will make you feel better."

Joe looked at him contemplating on whether or not to tell him her secret. She looked away again and smiled sadly, "He was not able to make it to our Basketball game again. It has been five months."

Kenji scrunched his forehead, "David?"

Joe nodded.

Kenji looked away and realized what was going on. "Do you love him?" He asked and looked at her.

Joe sighed and nodded, "But it does not matter because he will never look at me as a girl. I will always be just one of the guys or the best man," she said as tears started to trickle down, AGAIN. She's becoming such a crybaby.

She wiped it and continued, "But you know what? It was okay with me. I am not really dreaming that he would reciprocate. I can't just control being hurt." She put her arms over her knees and lowered her head atop those arms as she sobbed. "I just can't stop being hurt," she whimpered.

Kenji closed her eyes. He does not know what is more painful. Knowing that the woman he loves loves someone else. Or, seeing her in so much pain? All he knew was that it was breaking his heart.

But this time, he disregarded his own emotions and put his right hand on Joe's back to comfort her. She lifted her head up and straightened the way she sat down. She wiped her tears once more. "You okay?" he asked her.

She forced a smile even though the tears kept flowing down, "I cry like a girl."

Kenji laughed softly, "You are a girl. Why don't you act like one? Look, David sees you as a boy because you act like that."

"He's the one who told me to act this way," she said without thinking.

"Huh? Did you just say he told you to act like a guy?" Kenji asked again.

The tears stopped and she realized she just told Kenji their secret, "Uhhh…"

"Come on. Tell me, it's okay," Kenji insisted.

She sighed and looked away again, "It was a best friend vow we made when we were nine years old. He asked me to look, talk, and act as a boy."

"Why?"

"Because I'll get cooties."

Kenji could not help but laugh, "Okay… so you agreed because you are afraid of cooties?"

Joe shook her head.

"Then why?"

"Because I wanted to be a good friend."

"And you kept on with the act because now you love him?"

Joe looked up, "I'll do anything to stay beside him. Anything to make him happy. I'm hopeless, aren't I?"

Kenji gave her a faint smile, "And everything was going well but Christine appeared?"

"Christine is a very nice person… and David deserves to be happy."

"So you let go and ended up hurting yourself?"

"If it will make him happy," another tear fell.

Kenji sighed and pulled Joe in his arms. "Don't worry. If it is too painful, just tell me. I'll be a good friend and try to make you forget how painful it is," he said and gave her a reassuring smile.

Joe's tears continued to flow down. She sniffed and held out a pinky, "Pinky swear?"

Kenji chuckled. "Pinky swear," he said and received it. He tapped on his shoulder. " You can cry on my shoulder until you don't feel like crying anymore."

Joe needed not to be told twice, she buried her face on his shoulder and cried. Kenji looked up at the stars. 'If you only knew Josephine Chen….'