The daughter of a legendary thief, who sewed winter coats out of stolen purses. Herself a thief, pickpocket, swindler. The saviour who came to tear my life apart. My Tamako. My Sookee.

My whole life, I’ve wanted the kind of love you see in the movies. Boombox over the head, hand in the back pocket of your jeans kind of love. Boy meets girl, they break up and make up, and they live happily ever after. But, in real life, that’s not where the story ends, it’s where it begins. Because life is beautiful, and messy, and never goes according to plan. And the truth is, I have no idea what it has in store for me. But, I do know that love, real love, is choosing each other through all of it, every single day. Beginning and middle and end.

The Little Mermaid II: Return to Sea 2000, dir. Jim Kammerud

Just because something is not perfect... does not make it any less worthy of love. Your father made you believe otherwise. He made you believe that you needed to be without fault in order to be loved, but he was wrong. Should you need any proof of the matter, then... Then look just here. I am tired of pretending. And I cannot continue acting as if I... As if I do not love you. Because I do. l love all of you. Even the parts that you believe are too dark and too shameful. Every scar. Every flaw. Every imperfection. I love you. You may think you are too damaged and too broken to ever allow yourself to be happy, but you can choose differently, Simon. You can choose to love me as much as I love you. That should not be up to anyone else. That cannot be up to anyone else. It can only be up to you.

I just thought, in spite of all the hardship, we found ourselves coming together, the kids, you and me, as a family.

Good or bad, it's all playacting. If you act well, you can fool other people; if you do it badly, you can only fool yourself, and when you can't even fool yourself, you just can fool the ghosts.

When you've saved up enough to open a shop go back to the country. Shanghai is all bad. I want to avenge my uncle. The Boss said his eyes cried out for vengence. Oh yeah? So go back to Shanghai. Be like your uncle. Go back to Shanghai and get killed.