BTY2002 📼💚
Maël Serrano
“If my soul were a kingdom, you would be its only heir. Perhaps that's the cruelest part of it, craving you like this and knowing I would choose you every time. For as long as I exist, you will always be loved.”
Nash Calloway
“My little prince. I'd steal the moon and stars to light your way, and I'd never think to ask why.”
-- Author's Note / Story Note --
This story started with me in 2023, randomly listening to Anne-Marie's "2002" right after I finally landed an idea for one of my other books.
Originally, its premise was far different from what it is now—but at its core, it was always a story that asked: what if the person who feels like home never actually knew? What if the fear that kept you silent was built out of your own perspective?
The main theme of this story is longing — and the question of whether silence protects a love or slowly destroys it.
The second theme is perspective — how the stories we tell ourselves about the people we love can become more real than the people themselves.
Unrequited love, to me, is one of the greatest mysteries. How can you love and stay devoted to someone you were never sure would love you back? A love like that seems detrimental in almost every way — yet at its core, it's just a longing for them to finally look at you the way you've always looked at them.
This book draws parallels and answers both sides: what if you actually said how you felt? Would it open into a love so strong it saves you — or break you in an unimaginable way? Because loving them quietly felt safer than risking the answer.
Back to You, 2002 is a love story told mainly from the inside of one person's head. Maël tells you what he believes, what he remembers, what he's built up across years of wanting.
I wrote this for everyone who's ever rewritten a conversation in their head a hundred times, who's typed a message they never sent, who wonders what they'd change if they could go back and change it all.
Some loves are quiet. This is one of them — until it can't be anymore.
Pay attention to what a person refuses to say. It tells you more than what they do.
-- DISCLAIMER --
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, businesses, places, events, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
-- CONTENT WARNING --
This story contains a graphic accident and character death, grief, and themes of loss, unrequited love, suicidal ideation and alcohol misuse. Reader discretion advised.
A love story, not a romance. Expect grief, ambiguity, and one very persistent French boy.
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