Every Little Thing
Protagonist Brianne deals with intrusive memories from her childhood and works in hospitality at a hotel. When she was 16, she got pregnant with her boyfriend. He dipped, so she had to raise her daughter, Celeste, alone. Her boss asks her to work some late nights, so she send Celeste to stay with grandma for a week. While doing her job one day, Brianne notices a pretty young girl who's obviously having an affair with an older married man. Thinking about her own youthful indiscretions and about her dreams for her daughter, she approaches the girl and talks to her. The girl candidly explains her situation as if daring Brianne to tell her to stop. In the end, Brianne sews some seeds of doubt in the girl's mind, but she leaves her alone. When she stops by her mom's that night to see Celeste, she learns that Celeste had spent the evening crying over some boy at school.
How to Be Chinese
Mackenzie Altman is a college freshman, attending school near her hometown in Michigan. Adopted by her single mother as a baby, she feels like an imposter because she looks Chinese but knows nothing about the culture. Her mom gets excited when Mackenzie decides to make an effort to embrace her heritage, so they start learning Chinese together and visiting Chinese restaurants and stuff like that. Mackenzie joins a Chinese club at college but soon becomes embarrassed because all the students there seem to actually be Chinese. By happenstance one day in line at McDonald's a Chinese guy behind her in line asks what she recommends. They start talking and end up dating. His name is Winston Liu. He loves teaching her about his life back in Shanghai and treats her like an equal, remaining sensitive about her insecurities. After a while he invites her to lunch with his mom. Mrs. Liu encourages Mackenzie to keep learning Chinese and to embrace her native culture. She ends the lunch by inviting Mackenzie to her home to study her Chinese artwork. Apparently she's some sort of interior decorate who doesn't need to work because of her husband's wealth. Back in Winston's apartment, he and Mackenzie talk about her adoption and how fortunate her mother was to be able to adopt her since she was a single woman.
