Prologue

 What does it mean to truly love another?

   Those were the first words out of ‘Dear, John’ that kept playing inside Melissa’s head when she left everything. When she left San Francisco, when she left her friends, when she left music, when she left Harry. She could never forget the pain in his eyes when she broke up with him. Never had she felt this bad since she broke her grandmother’s china doll when she was 6.

   But she had to do it. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with a guy and to break up with him, only then to find herself. To find her dreams. The only thing that would keep her happy was photography. Ever since her father sent her to her Uncle Mike’s photography studio because of an emergency meeting at the office, it was plainly love at first sight. Uncle Mike taught her the basics of photography and then she picked it up all by herself as she grew up. She would save all her money and get the latest camera and camera gadgets and if she had nothing to do, she would spend all her time taking pictures until the film finishes.

   Once she’d hit high school, she had no time for photography at all unless it was for school events. It was all about the music club. If you ask anyone at West Bridge Academy, they’d say that Melissa was like a mini Lea Michele sans the nose and Jewish-like roots. Now, at the age of 26, she continues to pursue her photography career by working with the National Geographic Magazine. At first she was just a protégée for Quentin Martin, a famous photographer for fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue.

    Clearly, fashion wasn’t Melissa’s cup of tea. She preferred nature and the things that happen around our world. Quentin heard her pleas, so he sent her portfolio, made a recommendation to the National Geographic Society about Melissa’s artistic style. Now here she was, on the plane, on her way to the deep forests of Borneo to do another natural photography session. She really couldn’t believe it. Her dreams finally came true. But if she hadn’t met One Direction (or Harry for that matter), things would’ve been far less complicated.

     She was now sitting on the plane, thinking of the wildest adventures she had when she was 16. Memories came flashing back all at once. Love, drama, pain, heartbroken; it was all there. Then, it felt like she was taking a step back in time.