I was under the impression that the journey to meet Luke\u2019s family would start off on a wonderful note, maybe even culminating with a marriage proposal.<\/p>\n
The relationship between Luke and I had lasted for more than a year, during which time we had both experienced professional shifts and discussed the future with open hearts.<\/p>\n
But around midway through the journey, Luke asked me to do something that I couldn\u2019t believe: he wanted me to appear to be Japanese rather than Chinese in order to please his grandmother, who he said had a preference for Japanese women.<\/p>\n
He portrayed it as something that was not harmful, strategic, and even made a promise that it might provide a significant bequest.<\/p>\n
Still, what he was actually asking was for me to forget who I was and to give up my identity in return for the possibility of gaining anything for myself.<\/p>\n
My response was a cool \u201cno.\u201d Not for the sake of money, not for the sake of love, and not even for someone I had once envisioned spending the rest of my life with, I could not lie about where I came from.<\/p>\n
I was welcomed with warmth and generosity by his family when we arrived, and for a brief period, I really considered the possibility that everything had been a mistake.<\/p>\n
However, as his mother was asking about my name at dinner, Luke abruptly entered the discussion in order to direct it toward his dream.<\/p>\n
In addition, when dessert arrived, he raised his glass to me and said, \u201cJapanese, just like Grandma always dreamed she would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the moment when everything that was going on inside of me came together.<\/p>\n
My voice was not heard.<\/p>\n
I stood up, revealed the truth, and made it quite plain that I would not be involved in a deception \u2014 not for his grandma, not for him, and not for any amount of inheritance.<\/p>\n
I was taken aback by Sumiko, who is his elderly grandma.<\/p>\n
It was in a low voice that she pointed out Luke\u2019s deception and affirmed that she had never been concerned with race but rather with character.<\/p>\n
Her comments have a reassuring effect. But they were not able to repair the harm that Luke had caused.<\/p>\n
During that evening, I packed my belongings.<\/p>\n
The fact that Luke did not make any attempt to stop me may have provided me with all the information I needed on what we really had.<\/p>\n
I was sitting by myself at the airport the next day, with a container of dumplings on my lap. These dumplings were comfort food from home, and they were still warm.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t completely shocked. I had no restrictions.<\/p>\n
In reality, Luke never observed me.<\/p>\n
There was a version of myself that could bend, adapt, and execute that he saw.<\/p>\n
I also came to the realization that love, genuine love, should not need you to transform into someone else.<\/p>\n
It should acknowledge and respect who you are as a person. There will come a day when I will find someone who will not only love me but will also see me.<\/p>\n
Also, they will never ask me to conceal myself. It is going to be the beginning of something that is genuine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was under the impression that the journey to meet Luke\u2019s family would start off on a wonderful note, maybe even culminating with a marriage proposal. The relationship between Luke and I had lasted for more than a year, during which time we had both experienced professional shifts and discussed the future with open hearts. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31036,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31035\/revisions\/31036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzdiscover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}