Queen Of Hearts: Prologue (Patreon)

Mia Bradly groaned at her phone, flipping miserably through facebook in an attempt to get her mind off of her ex’s wedding photos. It wasn’t working.

Devon had dumped Mia via text after two years together during college only to get into another relationship less than a week later. She knew it meant that he was basically cheating on her, but she’d hoped that because he still claimed that he wanted to be friends that she would eventually still have a chance with him. When his status changed back to single, she thought that that was going to be when he tried crawling back to her. Mia planned on playing hard to get and chewing him out a little just to make him beg to be forgiven before she allowed him back….But he never tried. Devon never sent her a message or even interacted with her posts after the breakup, and soon after, his status changed back to “In A Relationship.” This time was with some skinny Salvadorian girl as opposed to his previously black and curvy partners, so Mia had assumed it wouldn’t last either. Three years later however, Mia was still on the couch, scrolling through happy photos of her ex and his new wife while her heart threatened to shatter her ribcage with anxiety.

 
She sighed, fighting back tears the way her mom had always taught her to do, but unable to get the feeling of failure out of her mind. The new girl Rena was slender and beautiful while Mia was fat and frumpy, moreso given the amount of stress seeing her long desired ex permanently taken off the market. Once upon a time, she was mere chubby with an extra big ass that Devin, like most other black men she knew, loved openly. Now she stared down at her stretchy 4XL pajama pants and pouted silently. 

“What happened to me?” She whined to herself, her lips twisted gently downward into a helpless frown.

In the 5 years since the breakup Mia had put on a significant amount of weight, moving from 185 pounds to 270 out of sheer laziness and depression. She held a job as a bank receptionist that paid for her lonely, almost-empty apartment but most of her time was either spent eating, playing video games, or watching anime with her gigantic cat Khan. Anyone who saw her would say that she was pretty at least for a woman her size, but there was never any escaping her weight and even if she could ignore it for a moment, all Mia could see in herself were flaws. A pimple here or a stretch mark there symbolized Mia’s unlovability in her mind, further trapping her in her misery.

(1)

Mia had gotten caught up watching generic reels about Naruto highlights and cats doing stupid things when a bubble popped up on her screen with a blue box of text and a picture of her friend Trinh saying that she had seen Devon’s photos and wanted to check in. 

Trinh was Mia’s best friend all throughout college and her truest ally when it came to body positivity. Both of them had issues with their weight and being a person of color despite being on opposite ends of the insecurity scale. While Mia was fat and gaining steadily, Trinh had been battling anorexia all throughout her teens and early 20s after fleeing Vietnam with her family to live in America with her mom. She was Asian, but not sexy pretty cutesy kawaii Asian with fair skin and bright features. Instead, Trinh had lamented being born with dark skin and an unappealingly thin frame that she simultaneously hated for not being curvy enough to land her a boyfriend of any quality, and was also never thin enough for her. She would always lament that she was forever doomed to be the skinny Asian girl who was never the right kind of skinny or Asian, bonding deeply with Mia over their shared sense of inadequacy. Trinh had gone quiet for some time, still sharing memes and posting statuses, but rarely answering messages or posting pictures, so it was surprising for Mia to hear from her.

(2)

“I’m going thru it rn fr” Mia typed.

“Yeah I know that must be hard to deal with. How have you been holding up lately?” Trinh responded.

Mia explained that she’d been having a hard time and that her confidence was completely shot. 

“I’ve gained like a million pounds and no one wants me except for creepy fetish guys looking for a fat chick.” She griped, repulsed by her attempts at online dating apps made for plus size women. 

“They either open with calling me a piggy and telling me to get fatter or just demand pics. If I don’t, they either block me or accuse me of trying to sell them an Onlyfans or some shit. I’m over it.

But no one local wants me so I just sit here all day playing Baldur’s Gate while everyone is falling in love. Then I open facebook and the one person who ever really loved me for me is married to some bitch in Texas and having the time of his life.”

“Yeah that sucks” Trinh responded, little bubbles still bobbing up and down rhythmically below her text box. “Have you ever heard of Aura Inc.? I’ve been going there for a few months now and it’s really helped me come out of my shell.”

Mia furrowed her brow in confusion, immediately googling the name of the business and finding a bunch of self-help sites by the same name. She started swiping through their disclaimers and mission statements seeing the usual mumbo jumbo about how their groundbreaking treatment helps change lives and whatnot, but didn’t see anything that especially told her what it was they did there.

“Nope.” Mia replied. “I’ve never even heard of that. What is it?”

Trinh’s text bubbles bounced for a minute or two before more text appeared.

“They isolate your insecurities and treat them individually. It’s helped me with my appearance, got me on track to be healthier, and even have programs to help with dating and stuff. It’s pretty amazing. You should try it.”
Mia’s eyebrow quirked at her phone. 

“That sounds culty af ngl. You sure it’s not some kinda scam?”

“Lol” Was the immediate response followed by two pictures.

In one, it showed Trinh sitting on a ledge looking like she normally did. She was thin and not terrible looking, but lacking in confidence. In the second, her hair had grown out significantly and she seemed less scrawny than usual. Trinh radiated beauty despite still being rail thin and wearing the same kinds of outfits in both pictures. It was clear that whatever she had been doing was working.

"This is me before and after I started at Aura." Trinh messaged.

(3, 4)

“Holy shit, you look amazing omg.” Mia typed, steeling herself to take the chance before writing “I think I might actually check that out.”

Days later, Mia approached the inconspicuous main building of Aura Inc., nervously staring at it instead of going inside. It wasn’t the fear of change or disbelief that it would work that stopped her, but the lack of signage that triggered her danger sense. Even so, Trinh swore by it and Mia found it impossible to argue with the results.

Mia hiked up her too-tight pants and took a breath before walking up the sidewalk into the building.

(5)

“Welp….Here goes nothing.” She said.