| Prologue |
| He loved Paula for as long as he could remember and when she finally said that he would go out with him, JC Chasez was the happiest man in the world. They were together for 4 years, 6 months, 12 days, 10 hours and 45 minutes. They were both happily in love with each other and everything was going for them. 4 years earlier, JC met Paula through a mutual friend at a party both attended. This mutual friend happened to be Lance’s girlfriend, Liz. From that night on JC and Paula were inseparable. JC took Paula to awards shows, as his date, they went away on weekend trips at least once a month. Finally when JC knew that he was head over heels in love with her, he was going to as her to marry him. It was their 4-year anniversary and he wanted things to be perfect. “Umm, Liz, I was wondering if you can get Paula at the airport when she comes back later on today?” JC asked Liz over the phone; “I want to get things set up for dinner tonight.” “Ok, I’ll pick her up and bring her to my house.” Liz said, “What time do you want me to bring her by the house?” “About 6:30 p.m.” he said as he jotted some information on a pad of paper, “I want everything to be perfect.” Liz smiled at his comment and they continued to talk for another 10 minutes. They both hung up the phone each saying that they would see the other later on in the day. JC grabbed his keys and rushed out his house to get some last minute things. At 3 p.m. Liz went to the airport to pick up Paula but she wasn’t there. She waited for 2 hours then finally called JC. “Josh, its Liz,” “Hey, Hun, did you get Paula?” he asked as he stirred the contents of the pot on the stove “She wasn’t here.” Liz said, “I waited for 2 hours and she never got off the phone.” JC nearly dropped the phone, “She…she wasn’t there?” “No, I’m going to head home though” Liz said, “I called her house and no one answered there either.” He sighed deeply wondering where his girlfriend could be. “Ok, go home and I’ll call around and see where she’s at. Thanks for waiting there that long.” “Ok, call me if you find out where she is.” Liz said. They hung up the phone. JC turned off the pots he had going on the stove and took the phone to his office and flipped through the address book that sat on top of the desk. He sat there for almost 3 hours making calls and all he got was the same response, “Sorry, Josh, we haven’t seen or heard from her in weeks.” He finally slammed down the phone at 9 p.m. completely frustrated that no one knew where she was, or they knew and they weren’t tell him. He rubbed his eyes, got up from the desk and headed to his room to try and sleep. 3 days later, JC still hadn’t heard from Paula and he was about to fly out to California to see if she was at home when he got a call at 3 a.m. on the morning of the 4th day. “Hello?” JC asked groggily “Josh, it’s Paula, don’t talk, just listen…” When JC heard her voice he sat up in bed and turned on his night-light, “Most guys would get the hint that the person that they are looking for doesn’t want anything to do with them if they don’t return calls and don’t show up for their 4 year anniversary.” She paused and took a breath, “I won’t be coming back to Orlando, not now not ever. We’re over, through.” With that she hung up the phone. JC sat on the bed; his mind was reeling from what just happened. He quickly dialed her number again and it rang 5 times before the annoying sound of the operator’s voice started talking, “I’m sorry, the number you have reached is no longer in service, please hang up and try the number again.” JC did that 3 or 4 different times, all of them resulting in the same automated response. The last number he dialed, he thought was Paula’s but it ended up being his best friend that lived 3 miles away. “JC it’s 4:30 a.m. why are you calling this early?” She asked when she picked up the phone. JC didn’t respond with words, all he did was sob uncontrollably, “JC sweetie, what’s the matter?” “Cyn, she broke up with me after 4 and a half years of being together.” JC’s best friend, Cynthia sat up in her bed and also turned on her night-light, “Josh, what are you talking about?” “Paula called me and broke up with me.” He said sniffing, “she said that she was never coming back to Orlando and hung up the phone.” He began to cry more. “Oh Joshie, I’m so sorry, I’ll be over in 15 minutes.” Cynthia said. JC and Cynthia both hung up their phones and Cynthia quickly got dressed. She grabbed her keys and jacket and headed to JC’s house. 10 minutes later, Cynthia pulled his driveway and rushed to the door. She put her key in the doorknob. “Josh, where are?” she asked “Upstairs” he said from under his blanket, “turn on the alarm before you some up.” Cynthia punched in the code for the alarm, turned out the lights and went up to his room. JC was bundled up in the middle of his bed with the remote in his hands flipping through the TV stations. The light the flickered through the dark room illuminated his face and you could see that his eyes were already beginning to puff and turn red from the short amount of crying that he had gone through. He stopped flipping through the station when he landed on one of those infomercials that sell the compact discs with love songs on it. He started crying again once the beginning notes of Mariah Carey’s When I Saw You started to play. Cynthia sat on the bed and pulled him into a hug and rocked him back and forth. She stroked his head and tried to calm him down, “Shhh, Joshie. It’s gonna be ok, everything will be just fine.” She rocked him back and forth until his breathing calmed and she heard him lightly snoring. 6 months later JC was beginning to get over having his heart broken by the woman he loved and thought loved him. He heard mutual friends that she was dating someone new and that “she seems really happy”. It was beyond JC how someone who was in a committed relationship for 4 years could so easily get back into dating…unless…no he didn’t want to think that Paula would ever cheat on him. They were happy, they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other, they wanted to have a family…kids. No those were all JC’s hopes and dreams. Paula never really shared those. Yes, she loved him, but she wasn’t in love with him like he was with her. She knew he wanted a family, but that just wasn’t in her life plan. Things changed drastically when Paula’s life plans changed from having no children but a marriage, to possibly being a single mother. |
| Chapter 1 (Coming soon) |