Man vs. Durian — Jackie Lau

Durian is my nemesis. We have a long, painful history. In my opinion, the spiky fruit smells like natural gas and rotten onions with eau de vomit. Bleh.

So when Valerie Chow spills her durian ice cream all over me, I shouldn't fall in love.

But despite her fondness for durian, Valerie is beautiful and delightfully prickly and stares at me when I take off my soiled shirt. And somehow, this chance encounter leads to me agreeing to be her fake boyfriend to get her mom off her back about her dating life. Her supposed boyfriend is a pediatric resident, but no big deal, right? My job's in landscaping, but I can pretend to be a doctor.

I'll charm Valerie and her family, and I'll figure out why she's scared of relationships and gave up her career in software development. I'll even take her to a durian dessert shop. And if I do a great job at being her fake boyfriend, maybe she'll want me to be her real one…