Austin, Texas
Sue Ellen drank a cup of tea as she flicked through a bridal magazine; she was supposed to be focusing on visualising what kind of wedding she wanted, but all she could think about was the last time she had been engaged… Clint. She had no idea why, she loved JR and she was over Clint, she hadn't even seen him for almost a year now, but for some reason, the memories of her relationship with Clint kept running through her mind. With Clint, everything had been so simple, they were so open with each other, right up until the engagement, and then everything had crumbled and fallen apart. Coincidentally, that's also when JR Ewing entered her life. Of course, she knew that she was idealising her relationship with Clint, they'd had their own set of problems and their future never would have really worked, but still, for the most part, her relationship with Clint was one of the best times of her life. She hated herself for even thinking those thoughts, she was supposed to be in love with JR, he was everything she and her mother wanted in a husband, but she still had a small amount of unresolved feelings and emotions in regards to Clint. JR was stable and dependable and she loved him so deeply, but Clint was her first love and he would have done anything for her; the two men were on completely different levels in reality, but in her mind, she was confused. "No", she spoke aloud and Kristin looked up at her, wondering what could possibly be wrong in Sue Ellen's perfect little life now. "I'm going for a walk", Sue Ellen stood up and announced to her younger sister before she left the room, she needed to get away, she needed to think and clear her head, she couldn't continue on this path of thinking, it would be dangerous and disastrous for her relationship with JR.
Dallas, Texas
Sue Ellen readied herself for bed, still getting used to the idea that she no longer had to stay in hotels when she was in Dallas; not that she'd had to stay in hotels before, she'd mostly chosen to, not wanting to impose on the Ewings. Now that she and JR were engaged though, Miss Ellie had insisted that she start to act more like a Ewing and the guest bedroom across the hall from JR's bedroom was now 'Sue Ellen's room'; her second home, until the wedding when she would move into JR's bedroom, making it their bedroom and Southfork her home. It wasn't as if she had never spent the night at Southfork before, but tonight was the first time that it was in such a definite position; she was JR's fiancée, almost a Ewing, and that was something that really took some getting used to. JR promised her that one day, she would be the mistress of Southfork; he was the oldest son, the Ewing heir, and she would be his wife, one day all of this would be theirs. The window of her bedroom looked out at the acres and acres of Southfork land, it was beautiful and surreal; it still surprised her that she'd managed to get this lucky in life. There was a light knock on the door, but she didn't hear it, only realising that JR had entered the room as he placed a hand on her shoulder; "you were deep in thought…" he observed, "mm, I was just considering…everything", she replied distantly. JR didn't push her, she seemed to be preoccupied with thoughts and if she wasn't sharing them now then he didn't want to drive her away by interrogating her, "ok, well I came to say goodnight, so uh, goodnight", he gently kissed her cheek, "darlin', just remember that I love you". Sue Ellen smiled at his kiss and his words, he was such a sweet man with her, "I love you too", she turned and kissed him properly, breaking her deep thought process and focusing on the current situation, that was what was important right now.
Tokyo, Japan
Clint Ogden opened the door to his twenty third floor, one bedroom apartment in downtown Tokyo, he unpacked his three bags of groceries before he made himself a small bowl of miso soup and rice. He'd been living in Tokyo for about eight months and Japan was a lot different to America, but he was finally starting to get used to it. He'd taken a job with a large electrical engineering company in Texas after graduation and had quickly made connections that gave him the opportunity to work in Japan researching new electronics technology; he was learning a lot and he was silently confident that he would one day be able to support Sue Ellen in the way that JR Ewing did. Not everything he did was for Sue Ellen though, a lot of it was for himself, but on bad days, the thought of arriving back in Texas and reclaiming the heart of Sue Ellen Shepard did motivate him to do better and achieve more. He read through the pages of one of the two weekly newspapers he ordered specially from Texas; one newspaper from Austin, where he'd gone to college, and one newspaper from Longview, his hometown. The newspapers gave him the small connection to home that he needed to help him feel like he still belonged somewhere. His fingers finally reached the society pages of the Austin newspaper, it wasn't a section that he often read, but today, it was impossible for him to tear his eyes away. 'The Beauty Queen & The Oil Baron' the headline read, '…oil magnate, John Ross 'J.R.' Ewing, Jr. and our very own former Miss Austin and Miss Texas 1967, Sue Ellen Shepard, have made their first public appearance since they announced their upcoming nuptials last week. The couple were seen together at the annual Texas Independence Day ball…' Clint felt his stomach drop as he looked at the photograph of the couple; it took up almost half the page and was difficult not to stare at. Sue Ellen looked even more beautiful than she had when they were together, and he began to relive the awful night that he had finally ruined their relationship. It probably would have come to a natural end with JR Ewing in the picture and Sue Ellen's mother's interference, but he had fast-tracked their breakup with his own behaviour. Clint sighed, he'd really lost her, she was going to marry someone else and there was nothing he could do about it.
Austin, Texas
Sue Ellen didn't know why, but something inside her changed, it was as if it all became clear; she was in love with JR, she was going to marry JR, and she deserved to be happy. With JR, she had no worries about her future wellbeing or happiness, she would be part of a family like she always wanted, she would never have to worry about money or status, and she had the support of her own mother, the one person she was deeply afraid of disappointing. Clint had no place in her life anymore and she shouldn't worry herself sick thinking about the 'what ifs' of life. After her thoughts fell into place, she threw herself into visualising her wedding; what kind of dress she wanted, the guest list, the colour palette, the food, the entertainment, all of the aspects and things that she knew everyone would be judging her on. She felt like her old self, the wedding gave her something to work toward and plan for; her life finally had a purpose again.
To be continued…