Fiction and Drama Rachel Khong I’m as beautiful as this fish? Diane Severin Nguyen, Liquid Isolation . 2019, LightJet C-print, steel frame. 15 × 22". Courtesy of the artist. T he wine bar was dark, so I hadn’t been able to make out our server’s face as she left, and she hadn’t been able to see mine — the shock on it, from the surprise at the meager clutch of olives ten dollars had bought us. I did the math in my head. It came out to ninety cents per olive. “You’re lucky,” Lena said, pouting. “Asians have it so easy.” She had been sucking on the same olive for half an hour. In that time I’d eaten six. I stopped myself from reaching for another, not wanting to be seen as taking more than my fair share. “Redheads are a thing, though,” I tried. “Aren’t you?” “Only sort of.” She tipped her head back to drink her Syrah. “Not to the same degree.” Her teeth were purple from the wine and I ran my tongue over my own.…