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Digital Queen International (DQI) meant nothing to Van two months ago. He was still puzzling over the eviction, how to escape his fate. At first Renée agreed to the legal marriage route, so they went through a trial period to see how living together would work out. Things were going rather well. But then Van thought it would be such a coup to have her French accent spicing up his outgoing message.

He played the sad excuse of his message for her on his answering machine.

"I'm just too pitiful at this," he said.

"Everyone hates the sound of their own voice," Renée said.

"But you have this wonderful voice."

Sighing, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she finally bent down as he held the record button.

"Don't forget a telephone number, and Van will get back to you very soon. Merci!"

The grace note of that last word, merci, was the coup.

Unfortunately, from that point on it was Renée who hated the sound of her voice. The phone would ring and she would screw up her face.

"It sounds like a ghost," she complained.

Van countered that she pronounced the English language very charmingly. Renée took issue with his rationale. He was treating her like a foreign policy, she said.

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