My Parents Took Our Maldives Honeymoon at My Wedding and Gave It to My Sister—They Had No Idea Why the Tickets Could Never Be Hers

Instead, I felt exhausted.

“They think I’ll do it.”

I whispered.

“Will you?”

“No.”

It was the first time saying no to my parents felt less frightening than saying yes.

I did not yet understand how much they were willing to risk to prove I still belonged to the role they had assigned me.

PART 2 — THE AIRPORT

By seven the next morning, I had forty missed calls.

Not eighty-two.