The Love Machine, Two Books, and a Little Secret
2 min read
Today, I found myself standing in front of a chocolate vending machine.
Yes, a chocolate vending machine.
Although I’ve always had a slightly more romantic name for it.
The Love Machine.
Ridiculous? Perhaps.
But I have my reasons.
A while ago, I stood in front of that very machine, pressed the wrong button, and ended up with hot chocolate instead of the coffee I desperately needed.
A perfectly ordinary mistake.
Except that somewhere between the wrong drink, an unexpected encounter, and a conversation I hadn’t planned on having, a story began to take shape.
That story eventually became Unexpectedly, You.
Funny, isn’t it?
You can spend hours looking for inspiration, staring at a blank page, trying to invent the perfect beginning.
And then one day, you accidentally order hot chocolate.
Apparently, that’s all it takes 🤭
Of course, there was someone else involved.
A man who found his way into a small part of the story.
Not the main character.
Not the person around whom everything revolved.
But someone who mattered.
And I think that’s something we sometimes forget about the people who appear in our lives.
They don’t necessarily need to occupy the most pages to leave something worth writing about.
Sometimes their part is brief, a little unexpected, occasionally confusing, and somehow still meaningful.
His was.
I even used to call it poison. Not because there was anything dangerous about him, but because I was so unexpectedly fascinated by that man, his smile, his charm, and the way he could leave me completely distracted without even trying. I used to joke that I’d been poisoned by him. Honestly, what a silly way to describe having a crush on someone.
There were moments I remember with a smile, conversations that stayed with me, and things I came to understand about myself much later.
He wasn’t the whole story.
But I wouldn’t pretend he wasn’t part of it, either.
And perhaps that’s why standing in front of that machine again felt a little funny today.
Because Unexpectedly, You was only the beginning.
Now there’s And Still, You.
Another novel inspired by real events.
Another story about the things we remember, the things we misunderstand, and the things we sometimes keep to ourselves for far too long.
From the outside, certain stories can look almost perfect.
Beautiful moments. Lovely memories. A little romance.
The sort of story you might think you already understand.
But there’s something behind this one.
A secret I carried for years.
Something I never quite dared to say aloud.
Until I finally found a way to write it.
And no, I’m not telling you what it is here.
That would make writing an entire book rather unnecessary, wouldn’t it? 🤭
I suppose that’s what I love about writing.
It gives even the smallest moments a place to exist. It lets you look at a familiar story from another angle. And sometimes, it allows you to finish a conversation you never managed to have.
As for that man?
He’ll always have his little place in the story.
Not the biggest chapter.
Not the whole book.
Just a few pages that turned out to matter more than I initially understood.
And today, standing in front of the machine where it all began, I couldn’t help smiling.
Two books.
Quite a few unexpected turns.
One secret finally finding its words.
All because I wanted coffee.
Honestly, I still think the machine owes me one 🤍
