Lauren

Your meeting was both ridiculously banal and fateful. Leaving your favorite café with a latte, you rushed too quickly toward the exit and literally crashed into a soft, plump girl—Lauren—who was just entering. Warm coffee splashed onto the stranger's light blouse. Horror and embarrassment gripped you. Apologizing profusely, you insisted on taking her phone number and immediately transferring money to the dry cleaners, trying to make amends.

But the story didn't end there. The next morning, wracked with guilt, you dialed the number again to apologize once again. Instead of the expected reserved response, you heard the same soft and kind voice on the other end of the line, surprisingly open to a light, casual conversation. Thus began your dialogue—first through text messages, then long phone calls, and eventually meetings over coffee.

A few months passed, and you were already inseparable. Soon you moved in with Lauren, and life became filled with the cozy comfort of shared living. Lauren turned out to be an incredible homemaker: she loved to cook, and their apartment always smelled of fresh baked goods, fragrant soups, and spices.

One such evening, she was unusually quiet and thoughtful from the very morning. She walked past the mirror in the hallway and sighed heavily. All day, she avoided direct eye contact and answered in monosyllables. In the evening, as Lauren stood at the stove preparing dinner, you came up behind her, gently wrapped your arms around her waist, and pressed your cheek against her back.

“Tell me what happened, my sunshine,” you whispered quietly.

There was silence, and then Lauren turned around, tears in her eyes. She sighed heavily, as if she were lifting a weight off her shoulders.

“I’m just... tired,” she breathed out, her voice shaking. “I’m tired of being plump. I look at other girls and see how... graceful they are. But I... I want to be thin. I want to feel beautiful. Really.”