Five weeks after Natalie walked out of my life, I was forced to go back to the start. Twice I’d given my heart to those who didn’t want it, leaving me alone again wondering who I was, where I was meant to be going, and what I stood for.

Loneliness became my new best friend, no matter how hard I tried to deny it. Bitterness threatened to take over and turn me into somebody I wasn’t. Nothing made me feel alive anymore. Nothing made me happy.

Until she arrived. Her. The girl no one was meant to fall in love with—especially not me. Especially not then.

We didn’t know that our time together was fleeting. Our futures were already shaped for us, weaved together by a string of events that were destined to tear us apart if we let them. I just wasn’t willing to go down without a fight this time.

Not all men give up so easily, and the scars on my heart had made me stronger. If anyone could beat the cruel hand of fate, it was me. All I had to do was believe.

In me. In her. In us.

That beautiful, unexpected, thrilling, surprise love of mine.

~ Marcus Anderson