….
However, Regal kept Sakura's name unchanged, as it works in English, and there's a symbolic resonance to cherry blossoms that stayed in the script.
The protagonist: Elliot Marsh. Seventeen, introverted to the point of isolation, someone who'd learned to navigate life by not participating in it. He read books during lunch, avoided social interaction, kept everyone at arm's length because it was safer that way. Not because of trauma or dramatic backstory - just because emotional connection required vulnerability he wasn't willing to risk.
The female lead: Sakura Minami. Also seventeen, half-Japanese and half-American, outgoing and warm in ways that seemed effortless. But her cheerfulness wasn't naive - it was deliberate, a choice she made every day despite knowing she was dying. She had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic disease over a year ago, given maybe another year to live, and instead of withdrawing from life she'd thrown herself into it with desperate intensity.
The story began with Elliot finding Sakura's diary in a hospital waiting room - not snooping, just picking up a book someone had left behind. The first page revealed her diagnosis, her prognosis, her decision to tell no one except her immediate family.
When Sakura discovered he knew, instead of being angry or scared, she was relieved.
Finally, someone she could be honest with. Someone who knew the truth and wouldn't treat her like fragile glass.
She made him a deal: keep her secret, and she'd show him how to actually live before she died.
What followed was a friendship that shouldn't have worked - the girl who lived like every day might be her last, and the boy who lived like nothing mattered at all.
They challenged each other. She pushed him to take risks, make connections, stop hiding behind books and solitude. He gave her honesty, someone who saw past her cheerful mask to the fear underneath.
Slowly, inevitably, they fell in love.
But the script never flinched from reality: she was dying. No miraculous cure, or last-minute medical breakthrough. Just the steady march toward an ending they both knew was coming.
The climax wasn't dramatic.
Sakura simply collapsed one day and left before the ambulance arrived.
And Elliot was left with her diary - her final letter to him hidden in the back pages, explaining everything she'd never said out loud.
That she loved him.
That knowing him had made her remaining time meaningful.
That she wanted him to keep living, to honor her memory by actually participating in life instead of watching from the sidelines.
The final scene showed Elliot months later, sitting in a coffee shop with Sakura's former best friend - a girl he had never spoken to before Sakura's death, who had also been grieving alone. They talked, laughed, and connected over shared loss.
And as the camera pulled back, showing Elliot actually engaging with the world around him, the title finally made complete sense:
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas.
Sakura's wish to consume his strength.
Elliot's need to absorb her vitality.
Two incomplete people finding temporary wholeness in each other, even knowing it couldn't last.
….
Watching his team read through the script, Regal had tracked their reactions with clinical interest.
Gwendolyn had been smiling through the first act - charmed by the developing friendship, by Sakura's infectious energy and Elliot's gradual opening up.
Around page sixty, her smile had faltered slightly. The reality of Sakura's condition becomes more present in the narrative.
By page ninety, she had stopped smiling entirely. Reading faster now, hoping for something that wasn't coming.
The final twenty pages, she had read with tears already forming, knowing where this was headed but desperately wanting to be wrong.
Samantha had taken longer to finish, reading methodically even as her expression grew increasingly devastated. When she closed the script, she'd dabbed at her eyes with tissue and said quietly. "It's beautiful. And I hate you for writing it."
Darren had read the entire thing in stubborn silence, jaw clenched, refusing to show emotion until the very end when he'd muttered 'fuck' under his breath and reached for tissues.
Simon had made it to page hundred before breaking down completely. He had finished reading while actively crying, which explained why he was currently still weeping into his arms.
And Rock—
Rock had read silently, stoically, giving no indication of his reaction until Regal had looked back and seen the tears tracking down his face.
When Gwen finished, she'd just sat there for a long moment, staring at the last page.
…and after that?
The dream began.
"Why would you write something so tragic!"
"Maybe... maybe you should just stick to writing action and mystery films."
Gwendolyn continued, her voice hitching. "Love stories and romance are supposed to be wholesome!"
"Is it not wholesome?" Regal asked carefully.
"It WAS!" Gwendolyn pulled back just enough to look at him with red, puffy eyes. "And that's exactly why it's so painful! They were so good together! They were so—"
This is what led to the current situation.
….
Present | Conference Room | 5:45 PM.
One by one, they left.
Samantha stood first, script tucked under her arm. She didn't say anything about liking it or not liking it - just nodded once at Regal and walked out, already pulling out her phone to probably call someone who could help her process what she'd just read.
Darren followed a few minutes later. "I need a drink." he announced to no one in particular. "Several drinks. Maybe an entire bottle."
"It's not even six PM." Regal pointed out.
"I don't care. This script requires alcohol to process." He paused at the door. "It's good, by the way, really good. But I am still going to need that bottle."
Simon eventually pulled himself together enough to stand, though his face was blotchy and his eyes were red.
Then it was just Regal and Rock.
Rock stood in his usual position near the back wall, tears now drying on his face but still visible. He hadn't moved to wipe them away, hadn't acknowledged them at all.
Regal gathered his own script and notes, shoving them into his bag while trying to figure out how to address the current situation.
Rock approached silently - because of course he did, the man moved like a ghost despite being built like a tank - and held out a water bottle.
Regal took it. "Thanks."
Rock didn't leave. Just stood there, waiting.
"You want me to go talk to Gwen?" Regal said. It wasn't a question.
Rock nodded once.
"I was planning to anyway." Regal took a long drink of water, then pulled tissues from the box on the table and handed them to Rock. "Also, take these. Someone your size doesn't look right while crying."
Rock accepted the tissues with the same neutral expression he wore for everything, dabbing at his face with surprising delicacy.
Regal headed for the door, then paused. "For what it's worth…. I am glad it affected you, all of you. That means the story works."
Rock nodded again, and Regal left him standing there in the empty conference room, probably processing emotions he didn't have vocabulary for.
….
The hallway was quiet, most people having left for the day.
Regal made his way toward his office, where he knew Gwendolyn would be waiting - she always came back after their disagreements, needing space first but ultimately wanting resolution.
He found her sitting in the chair by the window, script open in her lap, staring at nothing.
"Hey…" he said quietly from the doorway.
She didn't look at him. "They were so good together."
"I agree. A perfect couple."
"And you killed her anyway." Gwendolyn's voice broke slightly. "You let her die, and you let Elliot lose her, and you made it so sad I can barely breathe thinking about it."
Regal came closer, sitting on the edge of his desk so he faced her. "Would you have preferred if I had changed the ending? Made her live?"
"Yes! Obviously yes!"
"Why?"
The question stopped her. She finally looked at him, eyes still red from crying. "Because it's a love story. Love stories are supposed to be happy. They're supposed to give people hope."
"This does give people hope." Regal said gently. "Just not the kind you're expecting."
"How is watching someone die hopeful?"
"Because the story isn't about Sakura dying. It's about Elliot learning to live." He leaned forward slightly. "Sakura was always going to die. From the moment she was diagnosed, her ending was written. And instead of withdrawing from life, she throws herself into it, she makes choices, takes risks, and forms connections with people even knowing she won't be around to see those connections develop. The question wasn't whether she would survive - it was what she would do with the time she had left."
Gwendolyn was listening now, still upset but engaged.
"And what she chose." Regal continued. "-was to help someone else learn how to be human, to connect and participate in life instead of just observing it. She gave Elliot something he couldn't find anywhere else - permission to be vulnerable, to care about someone knowing he might lose them."
"But he did lose her."
"He did. But he didn't lose what she taught him, that's still there permanently." Regal picked up the script from her lap, turning to the final pages. "The ending shows Elliot actually living, connecting with people. Honoring Sakura's memory by doing exactly what she wanted him to do."
Gwendolyn wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "It's still sad."
"It is, but it's also beautiful. Two people who needed each other, finding each other at exactly the right time, changing each other's lives even though they couldn't stay together."
She was quiet for a long moment, then: "I still think the title is morbid."
He corrected. "Sakura says she wants to eat Elliot's pancreas because he has the strength she lacks - the ability to face hard truths without flinching, the courage to be himself without pretending."
"And what does Elliot want from her?"
"Her ability to live in the moment. To connect without fear. To be open and vulnerable even when it's terrifying." Regal set the script aside. "So it's about two people who are incomplete finding temporary completion in each other. But the completion doesn't end when she dies - Elliot carries what she gave him forward."
He took her hand.
"The tragedy isn't that she dies. The tragedy is that she was always going to die, and instead of wasting what time she had, she chose to spend it helping someone else learn how to be human."
Gwendolyn was crying again, but quieter now. "You are soo annoying as alway..."
She stood, moving closer until she could lean against him, and he wrapped his arms around her while she processed everything the script had made her feel.
"It's going to destroy people in theaters."
"That isn't my intention… but it probably will."
"Good." She said fiercely. "If I had to cry this much, everyone else should too."
Regal smiled despite himself, holding her tighter.
Outside the window, Los Angeles was settling into the evening - the golden hour light painting everything warm and temporary, exactly like the story he had written.
Beautiful because it couldn't last.
Meaningful because it would end.
….
.
[To be continued…]
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