Member-only story
Emily Kim Wants to Be a K-Pop Star
A Kindle Vella attempt gone awry
Emily Kim had hit an all-time low: she sat at her desk, sweatpants and hoodie her armor for the night, with a cup of instant ramen cooling in front of her. She couldn’t remember the exact date of her last grocery run, and she was down to a carton of orange juice, three eggs, and a box of baking soda in the fridge. Grocery shopping had been an errand she had always done with Peter, but Peter had evicted himself from her life just ten days ago.
Even now, as she waited for her ramen to cool enough that she wouldn’t scald her tongue, she kept eyeing her phone as if she were still waiting for another text to explain just what had happened between them.
I thought we were happy, she thought, numb as she scrolled through photos from their vacation to San Francisco last year. What happened, Peter? Why are you suddenly out of my life as if you had never been there in the first place?
But it didn’t matter, did it? Life went on after even the greatest of losses. She ran her fingertip along Peter’s face in one picture: his smile had always been the infectious sort, and she was in the photo too, leaning into him as if she were saying, Mine. This boy is mine.
No longer, however. Peter had said the damning words to her only ten days ago: “I…
