Hapless Hapa

Be careful what you wish for.

Based on a true story, half-Asian Harvey is exhausted by people's racism and expectations. Wishing he could escape his alcoholic father and hateful mother, yet at the same time wishing he could remain a kid forever, Harvey spends his summer vacation after high school graduation hiding on the Internet. There, he can choose who he is without people discriminating against him for how he looks. In a blog, he's an eloquent writer venting all the angry thoughts he can't say out loud. In a computer game, he's a powerful fighter slaying his enemies and avenging his allies. He longs to find a woman online who will love him for who he is on the inside. But as soon as he reveals his picture, the cold door of racism slams in his face.

When college begins, Harvey hopes for a clean slate. Instead, he finds the same immaturity and harassment that he had to deal with in high school. Until one day when a young woman saves him from the bullies. She becomes his class partner, his tennis partner, and then his romantic partner. She saves him from his family and life of misery when she offers him a place in her home and heart. For the first time, Harvey feels loved.

But love can blur into dependence. There's a fine line between pleasure and pain, and the ones we love can hurt us the most. The love Harvey longed for becomes a trap he can't escape. The woman who was once his salvation becomes his undoing. Like a drug addict, Harvey becomes hooked on the pleasure she brings him while ignoring the pain. Lingering in the back of his mind is a question he never imagined asking:

How much will he endure for love?

A dark, intimate portrait of depression, identity, loneliness, and the long shadow of abuse, Hapless Hapa explores the quiet dangers of longing to be loved--no matter the cost.