I shook my head. “My parents refused to look. They disapproved before they’d even seen, and once their mind was made up, they didn’t want to know more. I didn’t want to involve Jordan in that mess so I hid everything I made. One person did see, but not because I showed her: my wàipó would snoop around my room, looking for what I’d last created just so she could tell me it was lèsè, like me and my wàigōng.”

Chloe gasped, then pulled me into a hug.

Long-buried emotions seeped back in, but in her arms I could tell her about it. All of it. Everything from how I was scared to break that last wooden plank on the bridge to my parents, to how I worried I wasn’t good enough, to how she had inspired me to try harder.

She listened to every word, holding me close for some parts, and stroking my back, my hair, my arm for others.

I’d never felt so supported. Fittingly, her first words were “I’m in awe that you pushed forward even though you’ve never had anyone on your side.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “It’s no big deal.”

“It is a big deal.” She pulled away and cupped my cheek with her hand. “It’s really brave of you.”

I sighed. “It never felt like the brave choice. I saw myself as the coward who took the easy road by choosing what made me happy.”

She stroked my cheek with her thumb. “Is that really how you see it?”

I hesitated. You failed, I heard my parents tell me in my head. How could you not do what all your other classmates could? They finished college and got jobs—real ones with a future and money.

“There’s always a closed door when you switch paths, and that’s all I could see,” I told her, simplifying it because that was all I could manage.

“Have you ever considered how many people want to take the other road and pursue their passions, but are too scared to?”

“Or maybe they’re just smarter than me.”

“Drew…”

And I leaned forward and kissed her, because hearing my name from her lips, in her sweet voice, did things to me, and I felt safe and cared for—two things I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Drew, you are so smart.”

And the tears spilled over. How had she known that was my biggest hang-up?

“You know why you’re such a good operative?” she asked.

“Because of the training?”