Hello, happy 2/22/22! 🙂 I meant to post this at 22:22 too, but well, I missed that window.

And since this is my first post for the year, happy new year! I know I’m almost two months late, but with everyone in the family getting sick in different ways since Christmas (including me), it was very hard to feel very New-Year-sy over January. It makes so much sense that February 1 was the Lunar New Year because it felt like a second new year for all of us, right?

So after that dreary January, let’s get into February with a new thing. #RomanceClass has a new anthology that dropped last week – NomCom: Tropetastic Kindness Bundle 2!

14 short stories from #romanceclass authors across different tropes, all set in a fictional food park in Ortigas called Nomnom Commons. Foodie romance, let’s go!

I got the Forced Proximity trope during our meeting last September, and let me tell you – being the first one up for the magic roleta was a little stressful because there were so many options on what I could possibly get. I’ve never written a forced proximity story, so at first, I was a little stumped because how can you do the trope in a food park? Put them in a competition? Make them work together? Should I lock them in a stall?

I can’t remember how I got the idea for my story, but I remember starting with the main character, Charlie. For those who’ve read in other stories, Charlie is Cams’ sister, and she appeared briefly in It’s a Match (part of You Could Be the One). I liked her, there, and yes, maybe it’s also an excuse for me to bring Gabriel up, haha. The love interest, a brand new character named Sid, soon introduced himself to me, but it took me a while to figure out what he was going to do. Originally, he was supposed to be doing a business proposal, then maybe he needed a part-time job until I finally it clicked: Charlie could own a stall at NomCom, and Sid could be her supplier. And then…it all just fell into place. There’s a confusion with names, an identity reveal, working in one kitchen, some birth order woes, and a past connection–the last bit being my favorite one to figure out.

I had finished the draft last December, but it was really disjointed and had too much drama. Once again, I realized that writing this story was an exercise in not overthinking things and making things complicated, while also making sure that the characters are accountable for their actions. Which is how it should be in real life, right?

The title of my story is Until You, after one of my favorite songs by Dave Barnes (picking out the title was a struggle too haha). I had so much fun writing this one, partly because I based Sid on someone I love (heh) so I suspect Bangtan magic had a lot to do with it. Seriously, though, I really like this story a lot — not that I didn’t like my other stories, but I’m just so endeared by Charlie and Sid! I hope that you also like them, and the rest of the stories in the anthology, too. 🙂

RomanceClass NomCom is available for $7/Php350 or the price you set, and all proceeds will be donated to For Our Farmers, a non-profit organization that helps Filipino farmers. We’ll be serving kilig until April 14, so get your copy now! 🙂