A painful breakup pushes Kyla Evans to get into a fake relationship with the person her ex-boyfriend hates the most: Seth Everett. But what will she do when the game starts to feel too real? ***** Seventeen-year-old Kyla has sworn off love. After getting dumped all too suddenly by her longtime boyfriend Cedric, she becomes convinced that people are never really who you think they are. So when notorious playboy Seth Everett suggests that Kyla fake date him to get back at Cedric, it seems like the perfect plan... as long as she doesn't end up falling for him. Content and/or trigger warning: This story mentions cancer, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]

“darling, people say that there is beauty in this cold and wretched world. they say that i could always look at the stars or maybe go on a walk through a field of flowers. but i see no beauty in that. stars only appear in the night time and flowers only bloom when you water them. but you, you are here at any time of day. you're the only beauty that the world ever needs.”