Page 34 of I Fell for an Alien Popstar

“Fair point.” One corner of Sira’s mouth twitched. “Welcome to the mess, Vada.”

She turned the screen around one more time, her thumb flicking across it.

“And in case you were wondering if this is still containable…”

She tapped the screen.

A holo-projection bloomed in the air: a grainy still from last night’s crowd, zoomed in on the back of my head, tilted up toward the stage. The caption Who is Zhari's Human? was already trending at the bottom.

My stomach dropped.

“That was fast,” I gulped.

“This is light-speed PR,” Sira replied. “We’re already putting out a ‘cultural guest’ line, but the feeds will chew on this for days.”

Zhari’s jaw clenched.

“Turn it off.”

Sira dismissed the holo.

“Then get her on the ship before they find the hotel.”

After she left, the suite became quieter.

I stared at the spot where my blown-up, badly lit face had floated in the air.

“So I’m not just some private bad decision,” I said. “I’m also a headline. That is great for me.”

“You are not a bad decision,” Zhari said. “You are…”

She searched for the word.

“An inconvenient miracle.”

“That is worse,” I groaned. “Miracles come with fine print.”

“Then we will read the fine print together,” she said.

Security collected me an hour later. Back in the elevator, I pulled up my messages and hovered over my mother’s contact.

If I told her the truth, she would try to commandeer a shuttle with her bare hands. If I told her nothing, she’d worry herself into a migraine.

In the end, I came up with a small white lie to hold her off.

ME: I will be off-grid for a bit. Huge work opportunity with training. I’m safe, though. Call soon. Love you.

I hit send before I could think too hard about it. A second later, the read receipt flashed.

Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Reappeared.

MOM: I miss you.

MOM: Hope work is good. Remember to eat! Your father is making us grilled cheese.

My chest compressed. I locked the screen.

“You should just text her. She is going to worry,” Zhari said softly beside me, watching me fidget with my wrist comm.