Man vs. Durian

Summary:

The first time I meet Valerie Chow, she spills durian ice cream all over me.

Now, durian is my nemesis. We have a long, painful history. In my opinion, the spiky fruit smells like natural gas and rotten onions with eau de vomit. Bleh.

But despite her love for durian, Valerie is beautiful and delightfully prickly and stares at me when I take off my soiled shirt. When I ask her out, she shoots me down…and asks me to be her fake boyfriend instead. She’s apparently invented a boyfriend to get her mother off her back about her love life and needs a guy to meet her family. This supposed boyfriend is a pediatric resident, but no big deal, right? My job’s in landscaping, but I can pretend to be a doctor. Easy-peasy.

Yes, I’ll charm Valerie’s family, and I’ll figure out why she’s scared of relationships and gave up her career in software development. I’ll even take her to a durian dessert shop. And if I do a great job at being her fake boyfriend, maybe she’ll want me to be her real one…