Chapter 6
Call the police? Assault? Detention?
I was set to fly to New Zealand tomorrow, and Air New Zealand was still waiting for me to report. I couldn’t afford any setbacks now.
Despite the humiliation boiling inside me, I gritted my teeth and made the decision. I knelt.
Tears of frustration welled in my eyes, but I held them back as I whispered through clenched teeth, “Emily, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. Please forgive me.”
Emily’s smile was sweet, almost too sweet. “Maxwell, you know what they say- ‘forgive others when you can.‘ Let Grace get up. I forgive her.”
Maxwell took her hand and walked away without looking back.
I stayed there, kneeling on the cold ground,
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slumped in front of my sister’s grave. Silent tears fell, a quiet release of everything I had been holding in.
The next day, I boarded the flight to New Zealand, my heart heavy but determined.
As the plane ascended into the sky, a song echoed in my mind, its melody and lyrics. haunting yet liberating:
“My heart is boiling, heading towards the distance,
The past wind and frost have become a carving knife.
Even with broken wings, I still want to fly.
Follow the direction of the light, and forget you.”
Maxwell had once dazzled me in my youth, a light I chased through the darkest of times. He was the guiding star I thought I needed to follow.
But from this moment on, I knew I no longer needed any light but my own.
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Maxwell, it’s time to part ways. Let us both live our lives separately.
I, Grace, will be my own light from now on.
In New Zealand, I began my three–month induction training with Air New Zealand. I threw myself into the rigorous classes and various simulations, finding purpose in the busy and fulfilling days.
During my free time, I practiced English listening and speaking, and followed Pamela as we danced the endorphin trilogy together, letting the music and movement fill the spaces that had once been empty.
Sure enough, endorphins worked better. than dopamine. Finding happiness through work felt more fulfilling than any relationship ever could.
At Air New Zealand, no one cared about my plump figure. Many of my colleagues- flight attendants in their thirties, married with children–wore uniforms a size or two larger than mine and still flew around the
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world with confidence. Here, as long as I wanted, I could continue working as a flight attendant until retirement.
Three days after I arrived in New Zealand, my Instagram was bombarded by messages from Maxwell.
Thankfully, I had changed my phone number as soon as I arrived.
He sent a series of voice messages, one after the other:
“Grace, why did you resign? You‘ re so spoiled because I‘ ve indulged you. You didn’t even discuss your resignation with me. What do you think I am, your boyfriend?”
“Grace, where are you? Are you playing that disappearing act again? How long is this game going to last this time? Come back to me once you‘ re done playing.”
“Grace, I’m warning you for the last time. Come back to me immediately. If you do, I can pretend nothing happened.”
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I couldn’t take the harassment anymore. I replied with a single message: Maxwell, let‘ s break up. Goodbye, and never contact me again.
His voice messages flooded in, relentless as waves crashing on the shore. Even across. the Pacific, I could feel his fury.
“Break up? What do you mean, break up? Grace, I don’t accept this. You can’t break up with me. I won‘ t allow it!”
“Grace, who do you think you are? What gives you the right to break up with me? It’s me who wants to break up with you, not the other way around.”
“I never wanted you first. I said it first–I don’t want to see you again.”
I blocked him. But that didn’t stop Emily. She came to me with her usual drama.
“Grace, you’ve already left, so why are you still keeping Maxwell’s soul tied to you?
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Chapter 6
Why are you making him se
