Page 123 of The Substitute Fiancée

The faintest smile flickers across the woman’s face.

“So you believe we should allow you to sit for the final examination?” the man asks.

My heart is pounding so hard I can barely breathe.

“Yes. Without a doubt.”

A look is exchanged. Long. Heavy.

Ms. Mainville doesn’t move, but I sense the tension in her shoulders.

Finally, the woman nods.

“In that case…”

One second. Two.

“We’ll see you at the final examination.”

I blink.

“I… I’m sorry?”

“You are authorized to present your project to the degree jury,” the man clarifies. “But don’t forget: a minimum of thirty works. How you manage it is up to you, but the numbers must add up. Otherwise, it’s an automatic failure.”

Ms. Mainville finally smiles.

“Congratulations, Sam. And now—get to work.”

I stand, still unsteady. I shake the hands offered to me. I thank them, barely hearing my own voice.

In the hallway, the door closes behind me.

I lean back against the wall.

I did it.

Now all that’s left is to create.

40. SWOT

Alexander

When I leave Sam’s apartment, guilt gnaws at me, but something else is taking shape inside me. A cold, relentless determination.

I have to change.

Not tomorrow. Not later. Now.

No matter how much time it takes. No matter how much energy it demands. I will become the man I should have been from the start: the one who doesn’t hurt the person he loves, who doesn’t push the other into the background, who speaks when things begin to crack instead of barricading himself behind silence.

But where do you begin? How do you become the man she deserves?

Self-analysis has never been my strength. I see that now with almost brutal clarity. I’ve spent my life dissecting markets, anticipating trends, modeling human behavior to extract value from it. I built a company on observing desire and aspiration.

But turning that lens on myself—really turning it—without numbers, without charts, without the reassuring armor of professional success… I’m at a loss.

How does someone become better?