I didn't ask to slip on a piece of gum then fall in love with a man who would die before the ink was dry on our marriage certificate.
But that's what fate had in store and it broke me. I vowed I would never fall in love again.
Five years later, fate has one more thing in store for me. It wants to play around in my life again. Its tool? Another blasted stick of gum. Same place, only this time, it was Jude Baker, a university lecturer, who slipped on the gum.
Despite being a pacifist, he wasn't particularly happy about it and made his distaste abundantly clear.
But that stick of gum was the catalyst of a series of events where our paths would continue to cross. There would be a broken nose, a fractured hand, a cat on a lead and a crashed corporate Christmas party that would align our hearts and make me realise that I wanted to be happy again.
But there would be tears. Many, many tears. Because falling in love isn't easy, especially when you're still in love with another man.