It’s the same LA I’ve grown up in, but it feels different, maybe because I am, and these days I find myself falling in love with the city all over again. Through brunches with Daisy at Brent’s Bakery, where their fresh sourdough loaves are so chewy, with the perfect kick of tanginess, that we always end up buying a second loaf and sharing it on the way home, munching happily as we walk; through pottery classes, also with Daisy, even though we’re both horrible at it and we gift each other with the world’s wonkiest mugs when we’re done; through karaoke nights organized in the Journey to the East group chat and entirely paid for by Oliver(’s father), whose off-key belting to classic Chinese ballads is almost as fun as trying to convince Cyrus to sing, which he adamantly refuses to through afternoon teas with my parents at their favorite dim sum restaurant, where I’m a little too pleased to show off the characters I can read on the paper menu. This is how I fill my days now: food and full-body laughter, instead of counting calories and keeping a tally of my mistakes. Doing things because of how they make me feel rather than how they might sound.

Nothing’s perfect, but everything’s wonderful.

We walk for miles, content in each other’s company, stopping to point out a pretty flower or a squirrel in the trees. Soon, the evening chill creeps in. I try my best not to notice it, but my feet feel frozen in my sandals.

Without question or comment, Cyrus shrugs off his jacket and drapes it around my shoulders.

“How did you know I was freezing?” I ask, turning to him in wonder.

“Because I know you,” he says simply.

“You love me,” I say. I can’t pinpoint when it stopped being a question, and when it started to feel like a simple fact. There are 6,479 miles between Shanghai and Los Angeles. The sun will come up tomorrow. You can never go wrong with a well-fitted black dress. And he loves me.

“Of course I do,” he murmurs against my hair.

We keep walking, and I don’t ask him where we’re going, and I don’t even care, as long as I’m with him.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

All my thanks to the wonderful, talented people who made this book possible:

A huge thank-you to my agent, Kathleen Rushall—I can’t believe it’s already been over four years since our first call, and what a journey it’s been since. I wish there were enough words to express my love and awe and gratitude for you. Thank you for everything you’ve done. Thank you to everyone at Andrea Brown Literary Agency for your dedication and expertise.