My name is Rolando. I’m the store manager for one of the biggest supermarket chains in Quezon City. People look at my barong and my radio and think I’m the "big boss" of the floor, but the truth is I’m just a servant to a dream t...
My name is Julian. I’m a surgical resident at a hospital in Chicago. People look at the white coat and the MD after my name and think I’ve got it all figured out. They think I’m part of the elite, the kind of guy who has his pick...
My name is Cody. I’ve been a mechanic at a shop in Austin, Texas, for about twelve years now. I’m better with an engine than I am with people. My hands are always stained with grease, and I’ve got a permanent scar on my forearm f...
My name is Grant. I’ve been doing concrete and framing work around Seattle for fifteen years. I’m not much for talking—most of the guys on the crew know me as the one who keeps his head down and gets the pour right the first time...
My name is Reece. I’m a high school teacher in Adelaide, and I’ve never been good at putting my feelings into words. I’m just an ordinary guy who fell for a girl way out of his league, and I ended up losing everything trying ...
My name is Tobias. I’m not a writer or a storyteller. I’m a guy who works with his hands in a warehouse in Columbus, Ohio, and most days, I’m too tired to even think about "plots." But I’m writing this because I need to...
My name is Desmond, and I am a master of the background. In the high-pressure world of Chicago’s theater scene, everyone wants the spotlight. But for the last three years, I’ve been perfectly content in the wings, dressed in black, in...
My name is Marcus, and I am the developer of my own obsolescence. Sophie had a "vision" for a new social networking app in San Francisco. She called it Echo. It was supposed to be a platform for "authentic connection," far away from the toxic alg...
My name is Leo, and I am the manual labor of my own exclusion. When Elena bought a crumbling brownstone in Brooklyn, she was overwhelmed. It was a "fixer-upper" that was mostly "broken." The roof leaked, the floors were rotting, and the electrica...
My name is Julian, and I am a footnote in a history book I wrote. In the competitive, cold halls of Oxford University, reputation is more valuable than gold. Isabella and I were research partners in the Physics department, focusing on quantum ent...
My name is Caleb, and I am the architect of the walls that keep me out. I live in New Orleans, a city where the humidity makes everything feel heavy, but nothing is heavier than the secrets I carry for Ava. I’ve loved her since we were ten,...
My name is Elias, and I am the primary shareholder in a life that has already liquidated my existence. In the glass-and-steel jungle of Dubai, success isn't just about what you know; it’s about the image you project. Layla had the vision&md...
My name is Ben, and I am the man who makes her feel loved by someone who doesn't care. Sarah has been dating Jason for three years. Jason is a "minimalist," which is just a fancy word for a man who never buys her a birthday card. Every Christmas,...
My name is Sam, and I am the reason she is leaving me behind. Maya wanted a job at a prestigious firm in London. For a month, I spent every evening acting as the hiring manager. I researched the company’s history, prepared 50-page dossiers ...
My name is Nicolas, and I have spent three years learning a language I now wish I didn't understand. When Elena decided to move to Tokyo for a year, she begged me to come with her. "I'll be so lost without you, Nic," she said. I quit my job in Ly...
