Before You Leave Me

Author's Note - The End.

To say writing these books has changed my life may sound extremely bizarre, but it really has.

There are some things I'd like to share with you regarding their development and the stories behind them. What I mean by this is that you don't have to read this if you don't want to. But I feel the need to write a proper goodbye for them, so I'm gonna do it.

There's a truth in this whole series.

The rest of it is a made-up story, but it's all built over something real: Dan and Victoria's relationship.

Dan and Victoria were best friends before they started dating. Then they dated for three years. They started an amazing relationship whose beginning would've made any romantic novel jealous. They did go to Paris together in 2012 on a school trip; and intertwined their pinkies promising if they were not together in 2022, they would look for each other and return to Paris together again.

After almost three years together, in August 2014, they broke up.

That's when I started writing If I Let You Know...

If you're not familiar with how I got the idea for IILYK, it's written on IYLMK's Writer's Answers; but in that super long answer, what I didn't say was this: I used the story and the characters to run away from a reality.

To be honest, everything you've read about Victoria is based on me: from her physical appearance, her way to be, her studies, the things she likes, her background story and the way she reacts to things, it's me.

I started writing Victoria as a mix of the person I was and the person I wanted to become (setting aside the dating Niall Horan thing, (that as well, but it's besides the point lololol))

I wrote the first chapters and soon got sucked by the story I had created.

I never thought I'd end up having people following my story and liking it, or that I'd find friends along the way. I was amazed by the way people reacted towards If I Let You Know... and if it hadn't been for the feedback and the lovely messages I received on Tumblr (where I first posted the story), I would have never felt confident enough to put it up on Wattpad, or to start writing If You Let Me Know...

The reason I wrote Before You Leave Me a long while after I finished the second book was because in my mind, I knew exactly how the story ended. There was much more to it.

There was a closed ending in which Nictoria lived happily ever after. But there were also some things in Vic's background story that I hadn't been able to write. That's why I decided to let Dan narrate the story.

Just so you know, Dan and Victoria's relationship is real life is nothing like the one I've written in this book. The reason Dan became a character in the second book was because I knew he'd help me a lot with the plot (there were some awesome cliffhangers thanks to him); but also because the real Dan (let's keep calling him Dan) was still in my life, telling me about his new girls and everything he did with them and I was still more in love with him than I should've been and I couldn't walk away.

I didn't want that to be our friendship but back at the time, I thought it was better than having no friendship at all. So I used If You Let Me Know... and Before You Leave Me to write what I would've liked our friendship to have been and to let him go once and for all.

That being said, it is now time to say goodbye.

Goodbye to these stories and their characters and the relationship between them.

Goodbye to Victoria, Dan, Valeria and Natalie.

Goodbye to Niall, Harry, Liam, Louis and Zayn as they are in these books.

Goodbye to Lou, Lottie, Sam, Basil, Mark, Paddy, Dale, Preston, Alberto, Sarah, the rest of the tour crew and One Direction's friends and relatives.

Goodbye to you, readers of this series, you are all beyond amazing.

Although I'm closing this series, I will continue writing stories about the boys (because I've found there's always people wanting to read about them) and I will take this chonce to quote Walking in the Wind (and do some shameless promo because that's the next book I'm writing), to say: It's not the end, I'll see your face again.

Thank you so, so, so much for reading these stories through. Thank you for commenting, for voting, for taking time to write me messages saying how much you enjoyed them. I could say this a million times and still I don't think you'd understand how much it all meant to me.

You've all made me feel loved. You've made me feel like what I do can be liked, and enjoyed. Like my work is worth something. And I'm so glad I decided to share a story that was just a draft of Victoria's twit longer with you, because I've seen it grow and I couldn't be prouder of what it has become.

I hope in the future you remember about a girl who wondered why Niall never sang the "I love you" bit in Little Things and decided to write a fanfic about it, that ended up turning into a three book series.

When I posted the end of If I Let You Know..., I received a message that said the best stories are those you can read over and over again and when you do it's like meeting old friends, like coming home after a stressful day to a place where you know what will happen and where everything is, and how everyone feels. My stories will always be here waiting for you in case you decide to pay them a visit, and I cannot help but wish they become that to someone someday.

I, with all my heart, hope you've enjoyed these stories at least half as much as I've enjoyed sharing them with you.

Nictoria will always be part of me and I am forever grateful for that.

All my love, x

María.