Khai Diep

Khai Diep is one of the central characters. He is a Vietnamese man who lives in California. Khai is autistic. Because he was unable to cry at his best friend’s funeral Khai came to the decision that he literally had a heart of stone. He believes that his inability to cry at the funeral demonstrates that he is not able to feel grief and reasons that he is unable to feel love either. For that reason, he decides that he should never get involved in a romantic relationship because he would not be able to return the love of a woman.

Even though he does not feel or express emotions like other people, Khai demonstrates his love and kindness through his actions. At one point, even though Khai cannot tell Esme that he loves her, she believes that she hears through his actions that he loves...