Jenna Chu

Jenna Chu is Rick Woo’s girlfriend, separated from him while he is in Taiwan. The novel first presents her through a package addressed to Rick and then through a heated phone call: as the relationship’s distance becomes audible, further disclosures show that Jenna’s distress and the families’ opposition weigh on Rick and shape the people around him.

Identity and Background

Jenna is an only child whose parents travel frequently for work and expect a great deal from her. Rick describes her as having grown up lonely, with school, friendships, and romantic stress accumulating rather than being shared. During junior year she lost fifteen pounds; she had once volunteered at a children’s clinic, but left the activity behind as her attention narrowed to her grades and Rick.

The account makes Jenna more than an absent girlfriend in a quarrel. Rick recalls that she came to his house every night and fell asleep in his bed while he worked on homework. His memories convey both the intimacy of their bond and the degree to which she depended on his company during a period of pronounced stress. He tried to encourage her to develop interests of her own, but she remained focused on academic achievement and on him.

Long-Distance Relationship and Family Opposition

Jenna reaches the story first through a parcel delivered to Rick at Chien Tan. The box bears his name and address, along with the sender’s, in English and Chinese; its cute bunny stickers contrast with the seriousness of what it represents. Ever carries it toward the dining hall, assuming Rick will be delighted to hear from his girlfriend across the ocean.

A later phone call complicates that expectation. From outside Rick’s window, Ever hears Jenna angrily accuse him of making excuses and complain that he has gone to Taiwan rather than remain with her. Rick apologizes and suggests that she could fly out to see him, but Jenna rejects the suggestion, framing his absence as a betrayal of their relationship. The call makes the distance between them more than geography: each seems to understand Rick’s departure differently, and the conversation offers no easy resolution.

Rick also explains that his family has pressed him to end the relationship. During a Christmas visit with his mother, five aunts and uncles urged him to leave Jenna and find someone they considered suitable. His mother had already tried to influence him by fasting for three days in the hope that he would break up with Jenna. Rick’s relatives had met her during the previous summer in the United States, so their opposition was not based simply on never having encountered her. Their intervention makes the relationship a conflict between Rick’s attachment and family expectations, not merely a private disagreement between two young people.

Connections to Sophie and Ever

Jenna’s relationship with Rick also lies behind tension involving Sophie Ha. Rick says Sophie resented the time he spent supporting Jenna, whose nightly visits left Rick balancing school, football, and his girlfriend’s needs. His account helps explain why Jenna became a source of strain between the cousins, even as it shows Rick attempting to care for someone he feared was becoming increasingly isolated.

Jenna’s family circumstances also illuminate Sophie’s. When an uncle’s expectation that Sophie earn a Mrs. degree becomes part of a family conversation, Ever recognizes that Sophie’s family can be unconventional in some respects yet deeply traditional about marriage. Ever compares Sophie’s pressure with her own controlling family, where boys were not discussed in the same way, and feels pity for her glamorous roommate. Jenna’s story, in turn, reveals another version of the pressure surrounding young women: Rick describes a lonely daughter under intense academic expectations, whose emotional life has become closely bound to a boyfriend.

Narrative Role and Significance

Jenna is characterized indirectly, through Rick’s recollections, the parcel, and the call Ever overhears. That distance matters: Ever first imagines the box as welcome news for Rick, then hears the anger and strain that complicate their connection, and later learns how his family and Sophie have been affected by the relationship. Jenna’s offstage presence therefore becomes a test of what care can and cannot resolve. Rick tries to support her, but her dependence, his competing responsibilities, the separation, and family opposition remain in tension rather than collapsing into a simple account of blame.