The Meet-Cute Specialist
Ruby Chen had written over fifty romance novels, but she'd never struggled with a meet-cute quite like this one. Sitting in her favorite writing café, surrounded by crumpled pages and empty coffee cups, she stared at the blank document on her laptop screen. Her editor wanted something "fresh and unexpected" for her latest contemporary romance, but every scenario Ruby could think of felt tired and overdone.
The coffee shop collision? Done to death. The mistaken identity? Every romance reader had seen it a hundred times. The rescue scenario? Please.
"Writer's block?" a warm voice asked from beside her table.
Ruby looked up to find a man about her age holding a steaming mug, his dark hair slightly mussed and his brown eyes kind behind wire-rimmed glasses. He was exactly the type of hero she usually wrote about—approachable, intelligent, with the kind of smile that made you want to know his story.
"Something like that," Ruby admitted, gesturing to her laptop. "I'm trying to write the perfect meet-cute, but everything feels like it's been done before."
The stranger's eyes lit up with interest. "You're a writer? What kind of books?"
"Romance novels," Ruby said, waiting for the usual dismissive reaction she got from people who didn't understand the genre.
Instead, his smile widened. "I love romance novels. I'm actually a literature professor—I teach a whole course on the evolution of romantic fiction. I'm Marcus, by the way."
Ruby felt something flutter in her chest. "Ruby. And you really teach romance literature?"
"Best job in the world," Marcus said, then paused. "Would you mind if I sat down? I have some thoughts about meet-cutes, if you're interested."
As Marcus settled into the chair across from her, Ruby realized she might be experiencing the very thing she was trying to write—a perfect meet-cute, happening in real time.