In this intimate exploration of parallel lives, Zong delves into the untraveled path of her teenage years in China. Through carefully observed moments, she contemplates the "what ifs" of an alternate adolescence, exploring how location and cultural context shape identity. Each work captures imagined moments of youth: a finger pressed against an eyelid questioning inherited beauty standards; schoolgirls trading secrets on a bus ride. Some scenes venture beyond China's borders – a road trip with a younger cousin wearing a statement against racial stereotypes, an imagined journey to New York.

These parallel narratives, tinged with nostalgia, exist in a delicate space between memory and imagination. They capture those private wonderings of a life unlived – the possibility of different friendships, deeper cultural connections, and another version of self that might have emerged had she remained in China. Through these tender snapshots of imagined moments, we are invited into an intimate dialogue about identity, belonging, and the parallel lives we all carry within us – those alternate selves shaped by the paths we didn't take.