in which she fell first but he fell harder...twice

hey guys welcome to a new story idea. very different from my kpop inspired books but imma sucker for a regular old rom-com!

just randomly thought of this idea while having mcdonalds at 11pm so thanks mcdonalds's nuggets for somehow leading me here. let's get to the synopsis shall we?

(not a final draft)

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meet leila mendez. she's a homebody with an unhealthy obsession with cozy video games and romance novels. her social anxiety and insecurities prevent her from leaving her door and facing the worlds outside unless it's to catch a glimpse at the guy she's secretly in love with working at the coffee shop nearby. one day, with a spontaneous desire to venture out into the unknown she somehow bumps into that love of her life barista at the exact same time he gets hit by cupid's arrow.

what happens next can only be described as an epic love tale where leila believes she's found the perfect man who sees past the things she's been insecure about all her life. a man who values her, treats her like she matters. says that he loves her and seems to mean it. a man who she thought could care less about her but turns out had also "loved" her this entire time.

the honey moon era begins in a 4 day vacation to puerto rico . it was night one and it was already a magical experience—literally—since leila and kal's first time was interrupted by a supernatural appearance of cupid himself demanding his arrow to be returned.

to their surprise it's taken by force, stripping kal from any memory of his feelings and experience with the vaguely familiar leila sprawled in his arms. the two are left confused.

"um...who are you?" kal asks.

"what do you mean who are you? i'm your wife!"

"i have no idea who you are."

"y-yes you know me. you love me! don't listen to what that weird guy just said!"

"i don't even know where i am or anything. oh wait—i do know you. you're the girl who forgot to plug in her headphones into your computer at the coffee shop."

turns out mr. cupid was right. kal's love was false, a spell he had no idea he was under. and now the fraud couple must fix their mess, pretend to be on their best, before they return to their friends and family. she with a broken heart and him utterly confused and conflicted. he must learn to know what it means to pretend to love her for real or unless of course fate has other plans.

—

NOTES:

to me even though i imagine it a rom com, i rlly want to dive deep into these characters. i want to skip all the dating to marriage and briefly touch it (with some leila backstory but not too much) so that when it's the honeymoon we truly don't know who they are and it feels like u are in kal and Leila's shoes. like they are falling for the first time.

one thing to note. he was hit, she wasn't. so she is under the impression that this guy loved her who she's always loved or had strong feelings for and it's devastating to find it to be fake. and to find out he may not be who she thought. she has to learn to know him too. who he is when he isn't under a spell. they kinda turn against each other. (spoiler alert, it's gonna give enemies to lovers)

here's a future skeleton of a scene that breaks my heart:

"so i was hit by cupid's arrow and it made me fall for...you? enough to want to marry—to literally marry you?"

"..."

"wait, how come he didn't take your arrow?"

the realization hurt leila harder than she expected. she had prepared for disappointment all her life. this should have been easy.

"i wasn't hit."

"but isn't it supposed to be mutual thing? how could we taken it this far if i was the only one obsessively in love?"

leila manages to look him in the eye, feeling as quiet and shy as she did when she first met him.

"i already loved you."
—

those are some thoughts and ideas for what the future of this story holds if I decide to pursue it! let me know what you think!! still working out logistics and stuff but let me know!

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Copyright ©straybe11e

August. 4. 2023