P R E L U D E :
For you to read this right now, that must mean in some way or another, you've allowed Finn and Mia's story, along with the rest's, to live inside your hearts.
And you know what?
I love you for that.
And I love you for so much more.
I love you for updating your library, I love you for clicking on this, I love you for reading each and every chapter that this story has. I love you for bringing my spirits up after a harrying day. I love you for following me, for voting, for commenting.
I'm not like Finn who realizes it too late, because I've known it since the very beginning: I love you. For everything.
Thank you so much for not only being with me but for putting your arm around my shoulders and helping me through this journey. This is the first time, in my entire life, that I've finished writing a full-length novel.
And, in all honesty, I never would have done so without you.
You are lovely, lovely, lovely. Please give me a chance to be friends with you / chat with you; I would love to know the people that made "How to Fall in Love" what it is right now.
Again, and I will never get tired of saying this, thank you.
Q & A :
In the last few chapters, in my inbox, and in my ask account (http://ask.fm/roastedpiglet), I have received a few questions. Here, I will reiterate my answers for you.
1 ) Who is Miles' Filipino friend?
Answer: Pearl is the name of Miles' friend. They met in college, specifically Kimberly University in Minnesota, and they've had exactly nineteen meetings which taught Miles slowly, then fast, then slowly again, the sad, sometimes happy, and always tragic tale of how he fell in love with her.
1.a) Will you be writing a spin-off about Miles and his Filipino friend?
Answer: I have written a spin-off about Miles and his Filipino friend set two years before the timeline of HTFIL and posted it on Wattpad last year. The thing is, I got stuck on the fourth chapter and since then, I haven't written a word. So in essence, no—I will not be writing a spin-off about Miles and his Filipino friend. [Sorry! :(]
2) What happened to Alex? He just disappeared.
Answer: Sorry about that. In my defense, I did say in Chapter 42 that Alex apologized to Mia before he went his way and have not appeared in the story since. But since Mia hasn't come to Laurel-Tech since that chapter, and Alex has no objective to meet her after the drama he fused in Chapter 36, there really was no reason—and immediate way—for them to meet again.
2.a) Did you plan to make Alex a bad guy?
Answer: Truth be told, he and his cousin are natural assholes. Haha. But to answer that, yes, I've always thought Alex to be a bad guy NOT in his actions, but in the INTENTION he has behind them. All throughout, he's been a good friend to Mia, helping her; but the reason behind which is he's using her to try and get over Claudette.
2.b) Don't you think Mia slapping him three times, pinching his cheeks, then throwing water to his face in Chapter 36 are a bit too much?
Answer: Yes, I wholly believe that. Mia's gone overboard. But she did it with reason—the pent-up anger she's tried to bury in her heart resurfaced, and that was when she. Finally. Blew. Up. It's just an unfortunate thing that it's Alex who had to be in the receiving end of her lava.
3) Just what is Finn's problem? Why was he such a "pussy?"
Answer: He just is. Kidding. Finn has a battle in his head from the first moment we met him until he said goodbye to Mia at Ever Perpetual Cemetery. He has trust issues, stemming from his childhood and the emotional suffering he's gone through because of his mother's death and his father's consequent mental deterioration, and he's chosen to hide behind a mask of a person who seemingly doesn't care. This is a conflict to him, since he's lost sight of who he really is.
So when Mia walks into his life and he finally meets someone who tries so hard to see past the facade he puts for everyone to believe, he's become drawn to her. That doesn't mean he's won his battle, doesn't mean he's become complete and everything's fine for him, and that's exactly why he WANTS to win his battle, he WANTS to become complete and he WANTS everything to be fine. He cannot do that while he's in a relationship he wants to be perfect. So he, being scared that Mia will say no if he asked her to wait for him seeing as he himself is scared that he might never win his battle, told her to let him go.
That's Finn's problem, and that's why he was such a "pussy."
3.a) Finn finally said those eight letters, three words. WHY after two freaking years?
Answer: In the two years that ensued, we don't know what happened to both Finn and Mia. We don't know what they've gone through, and we've barely gotten a snippet of what changes Mia has experienced in her life. With this, we can say that we don't know Finn's emotional state and what he did after he said goodbye. Maybe he's tried to call her—but Mia's thrown away the sim card she used to call him and the number she's told him—or maybe he's tried to email her—but Mia also deleted that email—or maybe he tried to go to her mother's apartment—but then he went away right after because he was being a "pussy."
What we do know is that he's tried so hard to look for whatever it is he's trying to find, and when he finally found it, he made a way to finally meet Mia (even plotting with the so-called creep and ultimate dick Miles) and said to her what he's been meaning to all this time, this time with all of him and a badge of honor after winning the battle in his head.
He's a slowpoke that way, but at least we know he's genuine.
4) Why did you kill Mia's mom?
Answer: I really didn't plan to. If there's something you should know, it's that I haven't planned the majority of "How to Fall in Love." Check this link: http://tny.cz/b7a4bc08 It's a long, long story time of what HTFIL was originally supposed to be (hint: something that's totally just a fluffy, clichéd rom-com) and how it came to be.
5) Who's behind Genesis?
Answer: Not Miles. Not Alex. But I cannot tell you who. [devilish chuckle]
6) Do you ship #Fia?
Answer: No, I didn't. I really didn't.
Until I wrote the epilogue.
7) At the end of the epilogue, instead of THE END, why did you write THE NEW BEGINNING?
Answer: Chapter 51 is the true ending of "How to Fall in Love." But since it doesn't feel right to put THE END at the end of Chapter 51, I didn't. So instead, when I finished writing the epilogue which I felt opened new doors for Finn and Mia, I put THE NEW BEGINNING. Because really, that "I love you" is their new beginning. Like Semisonic said in their song, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." In this case, the epilogue/the new beginning came from Chapter 51/the beginning's end.
8) What happens after the epilogue? Does #Fia get together?
Answer: I left the story with an open ending. That means that whatever happens after Finn said "I love you" to Mia is up to you to imagine!
F A Q :
1. Will there be a sequel?
A: Should there be a sequel to HTFIL, it would be set in 2016, a year after the epilogue of HTFIL, where Finn's company, Laurel-Tech, is in shambles, and Mia's the head of the rival company responsible for it.
But then . . .
1) I just have an idea and no plot, hence I might only be dragging their story.
2) I find it difficult to continue writing about them when I can no longer relate with Mia and write her narrative.
3) I'm already satisfied with the open ending and feel that it suits the story—because HTFIL was only secondly about Finn and Mia. Its main purpose is to make Mia grow and learn to love again, which already happened.
And so, after taking a lot of time (I'm talking months here) to think about it, with these points and several others in mind, the answer to whether or not there will be a sequel is this: No.
There will be no sequel.
However, I might write a bonus chapter one day—a bonus chapter that's set after the epilogue, i.e. after Finn declared his love for Mia. Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2. Will there be a spin-off?
A: There are two extended spin-offs available on Radish. To read them, download the Radish app on your phone and search for my username, roastedpiglet.
3. Do you have other stories on Wattpad for us to read aside from HTFIL?
A: Uh-huh. You can check my profile to know more.
UPDATE: I have one new (2023) story out on Wattpad! It's called NICE TO (RE)MEET YOU, an enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance ✨ Other than that, I also have two other stories on Radish (Dormed Fate and The One You Love), and I used to have one chat story on Tap (I'm Sorry, I Love You) but I wasn't able to retrieve it when the app went under.
ALSO, you never know: I might post a new story out of the blue! Best way to stay tuned is to follow me on this account. Wink. I'm on Twitter and IG—my username on both is @mykawrites. I drop hints every now and then there, too. Wink #2.
Thank you for reading all the way here! Love you! <3