(tw:
uncesored death of a spouse and parental estrangement )
Peizhi " [name_f]Paige[/name_f] " [name_m]Chen[/name_m] (33) is a woman who recently got a job offer in [name_f]Canada[/name_f]. Normally with how attached she is to her family she wouldn’t take the chance to work in [name_u]New[/name_u] Brunschwick as an International Operations Manager for her company, preferring to stay in Shanghai. However , after her husband [name_f]Gerel[/name_f] " [name_u]Gary[/name_u] " died in a biking accident the year before , she couldn’t bear the pain of being reminded of the love of her life by the city - she decided to start over and take her two children - 5-year old son and another son, a 3-year old (who wasn’t affected by the one child policy due to technically having been born in Mongolia , the native land of his father).
She therefore emailed [name_f]Meg[/name_f] Michnae - the one person who could always give her advice in the most dire situtations and vice versa. The two have been friends since their school days , having connected through a penpal project in their schools - [name_f]Paige[/name_f] attended an international one that taught her [name_f]English[/name_f] and was a boarding school. That’s also where she met [name_f]Gerel[/name_f] , a Mongolian student - even though she wasn’t meant to sneak into the part of the school meant for boys, she did it for [name_f]Gerel[/name_f] anyway and they had been a couple since they were 15 up until [name_f]Gerel[/name_f] died at 35. [name_f]Meg[/name_f] Michnae knew about the relationship between [name_f]Gerel[/name_f] and Peizhi from the start , even when it was just Peizihi’s initial infatuation mixed with a whole lot of fear. [name_f]Meg[/name_f] was scared too - especially of her father and his abusive ways - but encouraged Peizhi to follow her heart and reassured her she wouldn’t be caught by the boarding school teachers. Additionally , [name_f]Meg[/name_f] helped both Peizhi and [name_f]Gerel[/name_f] pick their “realistic [name_f]English[/name_f] names” as
her friend asked her to do it - that’s how they ultimately became [name_f]Paige[/name_f] & [name_u]Gary[/name_u], although their sons’ [name_f]English[/name_f] names were decided entirely by [name_f]Paige[/name_f] and are a lot more adventurous , taking a lot of inspiration from the Victorian era that [name_f]Paige[/name_f] is deeply fascinated by since her middle school history class.
[name_f]Paige[/name_f] 's mother worked tirelessly in a factory and her father was a part-time taxi driver and part-time dealership manager. She doesn’t have much of an emotional connection to them because of how far removed she became from them as a result of always attending boarding schools and visitng them only on holidays, but she is grateful to them for having always supported her financially so she could prioritize her education. She majored in Business Administration at one of the univeristies in [name_f]China[/name_f], currently has a Master’s Degree and has climbed the corporate ladder consistently for several years , eventually gainign the position of International Operations Manager at her company. She barely took 2 weeks of maternity leave with each of her sons and worked from home even when she was sick. Now, having lost [name_u]Gary[/name_u] , she sees this as a mistake that she made - seeing as her sons are devastated by the loss of their father, who they developed an ultimately deeper emotional relationship with because he had more time even if he was working quite hard too as an IT specialist.
Having contemplated it through e-mails with [name_f]Meg[/name_f] a very long time, [name_f]Paige[/name_f] decided to ultimately move to [name_u]New[/name_u] Brunschwick and now lives in Moncton. [name_f]Meg[/name_f] couldn’t help her move and manage the countless boxes that she had because at the time she was sick with a particularly hard-hitting case of the common cold , as was her eldest child [name_f]Olive[/name_f] - [name_m]Clement[/name_m] took care of them while [name_f]Ella[/name_f] , [name_f]Meg[/name_f] 's sister , took the task of helping [name_f]Paige[/name_f] move along with her wife [name_f]Sosie[/name_f]. Both [name_m]Romeo[/name_m] and [name_f]Blythe[/name_f] ended up in the care of [name_f]Meg[/name_f] and [name_f]Ella[/name_f] 's mom , their grandmother. [name_f]Paige[/name_f] was infinitely grateful for the kindness of [name_f]Sosie[/name_f] especially and they immediately hit it off because of how much [name_f]Sosie[/name_f] was willing to share about Moncton as a city, and how much passion she had for bears - not excluding the native Chinese panda bears. [name_f]Sosie[/name_f] recommended for [name_f]Paige[/name_f] to visit the VanDerHeisen’s antique shop for interesting Victorian-inspired furniture and home decor, which [name_f]Paige[/name_f] actually did. There she met the owner’s wife - [name_f]Elysa[/name_f] - who just happened to stop by her husband’s establishment to bring him lunch that he had forgotten when leaving for work. From one word to another it turned out that [name_f]Elysa[/name_f] 's daughter [name_f]Godelieve[/name_f] is friends with [name_f]Meg[/name_f] 's daughter, [name_u]Tracy[/name_u] and they attend a ballet class together. She decided to sign her older 5-year-old son up for the ballet class because she wanted [name_u]Tracy[/name_u] and her son to make friends just how [name_f]Paige[/name_f] did one day make friends for life with [name_f]Meg[/name_f] 's mom. So far things are looking good for her family - her older son has even taught [name_u]Tracy[/name_u] and [name_f]Godelieve[/name_f] some Chinese , not minding the bullying he might recieve for doing a “girly thing” like ballet. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though [name_f]Paige[/name_f] is still quite struck by grief, she feels like thanks to [name_f]Meg[/name_f] she has a chance to build a strong support system in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] and eventually move on to do great things, making [name_u]Gary[/name_u] proud.