This isn't a sizzling romance between a gym hunk and a fitness diva, but a genuine and sweet story of two ordinary individuals who meet by chance and strike up an unexpected conversation.
Emily and Zayn cross paths in a gym when both are at their lo...
I'm standing in front of the mirror, trying to take a selfie, wearing an oversized black sweatshirt, tight black jeans, and black boots.
When I bought them, they seemed so chic. I was so sure they would look perfect on me.
I imagined myself looking like one of those Pinterest girls. My curves would accentuate my figure like an hourglass—effortlessly irresistible, with confidence radiating with every snap.
In my mind, I could see it clearly: how the fabric would hug my body in all the right places. Every pose and every angle would capture the best of me.
But now, as I strike different poses in front of the mirror, nothing feels right.
My hands tighten around the phone as I struggle to place my pictures with the image I had in my mind.
Why can't I pull this off?
The lean girls look so hot in oversized sweatshirts, but on me, it just looks wrong, like it's exposing every flaw. I twist my hips, desperate to find some semblance of the girl I imagined, but all I see is a body contorted in ways that feel unnatural, and wrong.
"Ugghhhhh," I groan, the sound filling the silence of the room as I collapse on my bed. My thumb scrolls through the snaps, each one worse than the last.
My mom's voice echoes downstairs, "Emily, dinner's ready."
"Coming!" I call back, but my focus remains on the photos.
Maybe there's one decent enough, something I can salvage.
Nothing.
A knot tightens in my chest as I open the photo editor, choosing the best of the lot—a picture where the phone mercifully obscures most of my face.
My fingers work with mechanical precision, pinching and pulling at the screen, reshaping the image into something that resembles the version of myself I wish I could see in the mirror.
A little here, a little there.
No one will know.
And voilà! There it is—a version of me that's not quite me, but close enough.
