La-La Lost You, Formosa

The woman lowered her sunglasses as she pulled up in her Model Twice electric car. Chou Tzuyu was usually chauffeured around the sprawling City of Angels for most of her time in the US, whether by her staff, her Waymo-programmed EV, or her husband Ray. But ever since her daughter Isla was old enough for weekend playdates with her godmother and namesake Isla Banaag, she took it upon herself to personally drop off and pick up her little girl at and from the Alhambra light rail station. The Angeleno public transit system of 2050 still paled compared to that of pre-COVID-19 Taiwan and pre-Bibimbap Baby Bust Seoul, but she wanted to be able to give her daughter as much of her childhood Asia experience as possible- short of taking her back to Taiwan province, now in its 12th year of reunification with the Chinese mainland.

Tzuyu did everything in her power to stop the ChiCom annexation- first in her capacity as a celebrity in her home country, and then as a rich and well-connected exile in the USA. It was easy for her to manage materially so long as she had a steady stream of sponsors for short-form content creation and infotainment acting gigs. But the constant stress of having to look over one's back for papparazzi or spies made it hard to really make friends, let alone a partner.

As an idol trainee, she never had much time to socialize with boys or men, and as an adult, her celebrity fame and busy schedule didn't leave her much time to explore her romantic side. The Taiwanese flag incident certainly didn't help- the relentless stream of online trolls never helped.

Author's note: I originally wrote this as an entry for Fragmented Future, while I was working for an EV company, and in the wake of the Altadena fies. It was meant as an expression of hope for a more sustainable, hopeful future. Sadly, my own employment situation became more precarious as the Trump administration went on, and I spent a year figuring things out and preparing to move cross-country for my new job. I hope to write a better version of this this summer.

But I'm lettin' go

I'm givin' up the ghost

But don't get me wrong

I'll always love you, that's why I

Wrote you this very last song

I guess this is where we say goodbye

I know I'll be alright

Someday, I'll be fine

But just not tonight