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Ben: Hey babe, can you call me when you get a sec?
Worry pricked the back of my neck. It wasn’t like Ben to call during work hours unless it was important. Had something happened to his family? One of our friends? I tapped the call icon by Ben’s name, my brow furrowing, and held the phone to my ear. It rang five times before going to voicemail.
“Hey you,” I said, aiming for a breezy tone despite my concern. “Playing hard to get? Call me as soon as you’re free, ‘kay?”
I ended the call just as a new text from Ben popped up.
Ben: Got pulled into a client meeting but call you later. Can you come over tonight? Need to talk about Mangle.
Ben: Too much for text. Love you.
Worry deepened in a pit in my stomach, twisting it into a hard ball. What was happening with Mangle? Did it have to do with our promotional ads? And why did Ben make it sound so serious and ominous?
I typed out a reply.
Me: Of course, see you tonight. Love you too
Maybe Samantha knew something about this. I looked up and realized that she wasn’t at her desk. After a few minutes of waiting, I got up to go see if Jack knew anything. But before I got to his office, Samantha emerged quickly from our boss, Jack’s office, tears streaming down her face.
“Sam?” I hurried over, reaching out to touch her arm. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She flinched away, shaking her head and wiping her eyes with a crumpled tissue. “I’m sorry, Leo, I-I have to go.”
Before I could stop her, she rushed away down the hall, her heels clicking urgently on the hardwood floors. She disappeared around the corner, an uneasy churning in my gut just as my phone buzzed in my hand.
Ben: Whatever it is, it’s bad, and it’s happening right now.
My heart pounded, my mouth going dry. I didn’t know what was going on, but one thing was clear: a storm was brewing on the horizon—and Ben and I were right in its path.
twenty-three
Ben
The doorbell echoed through my living room, stirring me from my thoughts. As I opened the door, the scent of soy sauce and spices wafted in, taking my mind temporarily off the other troubling topic at hand. “Hey, thanks,” I said and accepted the bags of takeout containers.
The driver nodded and left, leaving me with the weight of our dinner in my hands—and the heavier weight of uncertainty in my heart.
I carried the bags to the kitchen table where Leo sat, and my first thought was that I wished he were here for dinner every night. For that moment, it seemed impossible that anything could threaten the foundation we were building together. Setting down the bags, I began unpacking the food while trying to keep my voice steady. “So, tell me what happened. Is Samantha okay?”
Leo glanced up from his phone, his eyes clouded with concern. His fingers tapped nervously on the screen. “It was so bad today, Ben. But it’s all over the office group chat, rumors that Mangle is a fraud.”
I paused, holding a container of fried rice mid-transfer. Of course, I had heard. It played on a loop in my mind, the thought that our relationship was built on faulty code. Spooning the rice onto our plates, I tried not to sound too worried. “What did your boss say? Are people talking about it?”
“Not much. Everyone was still trying to keep it under wraps when I left for the day. But Sam came by my desk.” Leo’s voice was low and heavy, and a somber chill replaced his usually sunny warmth. “She said Mangle contacted the agency to halt all ad campaigns because of the allegations about their matching algorithm.”
“Did she say anything else?” I asked, dishing out the last scoop of rice.
Leo sighed, rubbing his temple with one hand. “She kept apologizing, you know? Sam didn’t want our agency or us, her friends, to be caught up in this scandal. She was almost in tears, worried about the fallout for everyone involved.” His warm, brown eyes met mine, filled with a mix of sadness and apprehension that I rarely saw on my best friend’s face. The usual laughter in Leo’s eyes dimmed, replaced by an uncertainty that mirrored my own feelings.
As Leo pushed the food around on his plate, for the first time, I wondered if we could weather this storm together. If someone as positive and exuberant as Leo was worried about our love—maybe I had been wrong, too.
No. I had to believe in the magic of the past few weeks—the love and connection that felt more real than any algorithm could dictate. “Leo, how are you feeling about all this?” I asked, addressing the elephant in the room.
Leo sighed heavily and shrugged. “I’ll be honest, Ben. This is fucking with my head a little.” His eyes remained glued to his plate, refusing to look at me. “I’m worried about Samantha’s mental state, and my agency losing Mangle’s business. It was setting up to be a big, national account for us.” He took a big breath and let it out slowly, still not looking at me. “But more than that—it makes me question what this means for us, you know? Since it was the app’s algorithm that matched us together, and now it turns out it was all a lie.”
There it was. “Leo.” I reached out and touched his chin, lifting it until our eyes met. “Baby, the last few weeks with you have been magical, regardless of how the app matched us initially.”
Leo’s eyes softened, but that frown deepened. “Would you have ever thought about a romantic relationship with me without the app’s prompt?”
