Overview

When Melissa sees Laila for the first time, it is just a moment. A glance - and yet more than that: a crack in the world through which something real and genuine seeps.

What begins as a fleeting encounter turns into a quiet rebellion against everything Melissa has ever been: a model daughter. Greg's girlfriend. Part of a life that is not hers. It's not love at first sight. It's a stumble. A pause. A quiet, inner awakening.

Between lecture halls, bar lights and a city Melissa thought she knew, she begins to ask questions for which there are no perfect answers: Who am I when I don't have to please anyone? Who was I before I learned to hide?

A literary–poetic coming–of–age story about love, identidy and the moment when you decide to really live.

The book has been completely revised in 2025.