“I’m releasing you from your responsibility to take care of me, Eric,” Hazel said.

Though it was hard and she had some doubts about living without Eric’s help, Hazel had decided to do it for Eric’s future happiness. Let him live with the person he loves. Hazel, on the other hand, had no desire to feel love right now.

It wasn’t that Hazel no longer believed in love. She simply no longer believed in herself, thought that she could ever receive the kind of love that was good for her. To her, it felt impossible. She believed the one thing that could make her want to kill someone was the...