I’d left college but stayed in the class WhatsApp group. So I invited all my former classmates to my birthday. I was tired of being alone in that huge house with humorless staff who barely spoke to me. Besides, Gabe wouldn’t even know—he was hardly home!

I stretched, took a shower, and put on workout clothes to exercise outside. Though running wasn’t my favorite or most recommended exercise, walking

I ate breakfast and other meals alone in the kitchen or my room. That morning, as ...