Paper Names

Her life only belonged to her, and she could do with it whatever she wanted

Oliver wondered if this was Tammy’s convoluted way of pining for a designer purse. A tactic that past girlfriends had used.

He had sacrificed for me, and in turn, I had sacrificed parts of myself to make him feel as though it had all been worth it.

That was the thing with secrets -- no matter how much you pushed them down, they longed for freedom. And when the right person was in front of you, when the right time came, they sprung in search of the light.

There was always going to be a ceiling for me. Whether I stayed in China or came to America. But here, in America, there's no ceiling for you.

Poor. We were poor, but our poor wasn't the stealing bread kind. It was the kind where, if we ordered the Chicken McNuggets, we couldn't add a side of fries.

Holding hands with Vince felt like donning a shield.

Repetition. That was my father’s philosophy on learning. It applied not only to the piano, but my studies too. Before every test, he made me write out every single word from the textbook chapter, twice.