A Blessing and a Curse

Jonathan Jung-Hee Saburo Lee doesn’t know it, but he lives under a blessing and a curse. If he knew about the blessing, he might be even more successful than he is today. If he knew about the curse, he might just kill himself.
To fully understand Jonathan Lee, we have to look to his descendants. Jonathan Lee is descended from Genghis Khan, but that is not surprising as Genghis Khan was a huge slut. Perhaps it would be better if we focused on his parents: a flirty Japanese-American princess and a geeky Korean-American photographer.
Eugene Eujin Lee and Chelsea Hanako Takatsukasa got along as well as Korea and Japan got along. They had little in common. Chelsea came from wealthy family with ties to both the Imperial Family in Japan and the pineapple industry. She enjoyed shopping and was a big spendthrift. Eugene grew up poor and kept a miserly attitude even with his wife’s money and his successful photography store. Chelsea loved to travel and go to parties. Eugene preferred to stay home. They never got into each others interests: years after their marriage Chelsea still couldn’t work a camera, while Eugene never went to any of Chelsea’s performances at the community musical theater. They even looked the odd couple: he with his untidy clothes and big ugly glasses, she with her designer dresses and good looks. What they did have in common was they’re passion for each other and that seemed enough.
Chelsea’s family approved of the marriage, despite the difference in status and ethnicity. It didn’t matter that Eugene was Korean; after all, if her great-grandmother hadn’t become the mistress of pineapple baron in Hawaii, they might have been only half as rich as they were now. Her older sister’s elopement with a black man had also soften their resolve. After all, at least he was Asian. Also, though Eugene was poor, he was hard-working and had good business sense. He would and did make a good investment. Her parents and grandparents gave their blessing.
It was Eugene’s family that had a problem with their marriage. His dad was the most aggressive, lecturing Eugene about all the Japanese brutalities towards the Korean people. They had enslaved the Korean people for thirty years, taking their treasures and raping their women. His uncle died in World War II to free Korea from the Japanese. How would he feel about his nephew marrying the enemy? Besides, the girl was too spoiled and foolish to make a good wife and mother in his opinion. Despite his reservations, he still allowed the marriage and came to the wedding, though he gave the newlyweds a book about the Rape of Nanking.
The marriage turned diseased its first year but lasted through four children. The Lees had first had two sons, Michael and Brian, two years apart. Five years later they had a son, Jonathan Lee. Two years after that Chelsea had Rose, the daughter she had always wanted, and surgically closed down shop despite Eugene’s protests. When Jonathan turned fourteen, the marriage finally died.
The marriage certainly wasn’t happy when Jonathan was conceived that December night in Montreal. The Lees were on their disastrous second honeymoon. It was too cold and snowy for the native Angelenos and Chelsea was spending too much money and whenever she spoke French to a man Eugene thought she was flirting and got jealous. On December 9, after this one fight about a souvenir Chelsea bought, the Lees had bitter make-up sex. With Eugene on top of her, Chelsea thought about an old childhood friend of hers named Rose who died at a young age. At that moment, Chelsea came. The wheels were set in motion. On September 10, Jonathan was born.
The blessing and the curse came while Jonathan was still in the womb. Chelsea was walking down the street when she saw an old woman begging. This woman was a powerful witch, and could see into the future and the past. She could bestow powerful blessings and powerful curses. You might ask why such a powerful woman was on the street. The truth was that this woman had little control of her powers. Her visions just confused her to the point she didn’t know how old she was or what year it was. Her blessings and curses came out whenever she felt happy or sad, causing much trouble to those around her. Alcohol helped numb her powers, but that day she was stone sober. When Chelsea came along, she put tons of coins in the old woman’s cup.
“May your child succeed in everything it wants to succeed in,” the woman blessed.
It was only a few minutes later that the witch noticed that Chelsea had absent-mindedly giving her Canadian coins.
“Chink!” the old woman yelled at the disappearing form.
It was then the old woman bestowed this curse on the unborn child: The child will never succeed with its true love. While the blessing could be seen immediately for the bright young child, it wasn’t till Jonathan was 20 that the curse was realized.