"We'll see," he replied.

After hanging up, I packed my belongings from Keith’s house and moved to a hotel while his parents weren't around. That evening, I called Keith again and asked him to come with me. Perhaps my humble tone made him think I was apologizing in a roundabout way, so he agreed.

Two days later, I bought a bouquet of daisies and went to the cemetery. After tidying up around my parents' graves, I received a text message from an unknown number. "Zoey, you really have a bag of tricks. How long do you plan to use gratitude to manipulate Keith? Aren't you tired of these tactics? Believe it or not, with just one phone call from me, you definitely won't see him today."

I didn't need to guess—it was Sadie. I indifferently turned off my phone. Meaningless things done by meaningless people were not worth my time.

Keith and I had agreed to meet at 10 a.m., but as time passed, he still hadn't arrived. I called him, but there was no answer. I called again, but still no response.

Finally, I made one last call and his assistant answered it. "Hello, Miss Sherman. Mr. Jordan is busy right now and can't take your call. Do you need me to pass along a message?"

Through the faint noise on the line, I could hear Keith's anxious voice in the background. "Sadie, are you okay? Don't scare me! I'll take you to the hospital right now!"

Then, I heard him mention me. "Zoey, what's your problem? Can't you visit the cemetery without me? Why are you making such a big deal out of it? Stop calling me!"

I let out a long sigh and hung up. "Keith, you don't know this yet, but I'll never visit the cemetery with you again."

I placed the daisies at the base of my parents' gravestone, finally feeling a sense of true relief. "Mom, Dad, it's your Memorial Day and I'm here to see you. I wanted to bring Keith along to explain everything and say goodbye, but he's too busy. Maybe that's for the best—starting today, we're strangers. Mom and Dad, please forgive me and forgive Keith too. Let's end this debt of gratitude here."

That night, I boarded a plane to France. The outsiders assumed I relied on the Jordans to survive for years. Still, they didn't know that I had never given up on my dream of becoming a fashion designer. Recently, I received an offer to collaborate with a well-known French brand.

I thought my parents would be proud of me if I chose my dream over a messy love story.