Chapter 3 THE DATE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO WORK

The message came at 6:42 a.m.

Lena saw it before her alarm even finished buzzing.

CAMPUS MATCH SCHEDULE UPDATE: FIRST OFFICIAL DATE (FILMED EVENT)

Location: Westbridge Botanical Gardens

Dress code: “Casual romantic aesthetic”

Objective: Establish public compatibility

Lena stared at the screen for a full ten seconds.

Then she said out loud, very calmly:

“This is a mistake.”

From across the room, Maya lifted her head from her pillow.

“If you are talking to your phone again, I am charging you rent.”

Lena did not respond because this was not a phone problem, this was a life problem.

Kai got the same message.

He read it once, then again and again.

Then threw his phone onto his bed like it had insulted him personally.

Noah Vega, who was sitting upside down on the chair in Kai’s room, grinned.

“Ohhh,” Noah said slowly. “First date episode. You are about to go viral.”

Kai did not look at him.

“That is not a date.”

Noah laughed. “Tell that to the internet, bro. They already shipped you yesterday.”

Kai grabbed his hoodie.

“I did not agree to this.”

“No,” Noah said, flipping upright. “You agreed to the contract that said you agree to everything they force you into.”

Kai paused.

That silence said everything Noah needed.

“…yeah,” Noah added softly. “That was what I thought.”

By noon, Westbridge had turned into a stage.

Students were already gathering near the gardens.

Phones were out and whispers were rising.

Lena walked in with the kind of calm that only came from being mentally exhausted before the day even started.

Maya had tried to help.

“You should wear something soft,” she said.

Lena had replied:

“I am going to be emotionally tortured on camera, not married in a romance novel.”

Still, she wore something simple.

Light jacket, loose hair, neutral expression and a weaponized lack of effort.

Kai arrived five minutes later and the entire crowd shifted.

Lena felt it before she saw him.

She noticed that change in energy, the attention snapping like a magnet.

When she turned, he was already looking at her.

He was not smiling, not performing, he was just observing like he was trying to figure out what version of this day he was supposed to survive.

The producer clapped her hands loudly.

“Perfect timing! Let us begin!”

A camera crew surrounded them instantly.

They were too close again, always too close.

A host stepped forward, practically glowing.

“Today,” she said, “we are going to test your chemistry.”

Lena muttered under her breath.

“There is no chemistry.”

Kai heard it, of course he did.

The first challenge was simple.

Walk together, talk and act like a couple.

It was easy, at least for normal people.

They took exactly three steps before silence settled between them like a third person.

Then,

Kai: “You are walking too fast.”

Lena: “You are walking too slow.”

They spoke at the same time again.

The host gasped like it was romantic.

It was not, it was war.

They were directed toward a picnic setup.

Fake aesthetic food, blankets and cameras hidden in plants.

Lena sat first. Kai sat only because he had to.

The host smiled brightly.

“Tell us your first impression of each other.”

Lena did not hesitate.

“Arrogant.”

Kai leaned back slightly.

“Annoying.”

The crowd laughed.

Lena did not. Kai did not either.

The cameras kept rolling.

Time stretched.

At some point, silence stopped being awkward and started becoming familiar and that was worse.

Lena noticed Kai tapping his fingers against his knee.

It was not an act of nervousness but it was rhythmic and controlled like he was counting something invisible.

“You always do that?” she asked suddenly.

Kai looked at her.

“Do what?”

“Tap like that.”

A pause.

Then:

“No.”

That should have been the end but it was not because his fingers kept moving.

The next segment was scripted affection.

The host smiled too brightly.

“Hold hands for the camera!”

Lena froze. Kai did not move. Neither of them did.

The silence became loud.

Then the producer whispered sharply:

“It is part of the contract.”

Lena exhaled slowly.

Kai looked at her, not at the cameras but at her like he was asking without words:

Do we really have to?

Lena did not like the answer but she nodded once.

Their hands touched each other's, briefly and carefully like both of them were afraid of what it meant.

The cameras exploded instantly. Phones lifted higher. Screams of excitement.

The host practically shouted:

“OH MY GOD—DID YOU SEE THAT?!”

But Lena was not looking at the crowd. She was looking at Kai.

And for the first time that day, he was not looking away.

Something changed after that.

Not dramatically, not visibly, just subtly like the air had shifted pressure.

Kai did not let go immediately.

Neither did she.

And for a few seconds longer than necessary, they just stayed like that.

Still, connected, wrong and somehow not entirely fake.

Then a phone rang.

Loud, sharp and breaking everything.

Noah Vega had apparently called Kai mid-shoot.

Kai looked at the screen, groaned but answered anyway.

“Dude,” Noah’s voice came through loud enough for Lena to hear.

“Why are you holding her hand like you are about to propose on national TV?”

Lena blinked. Kai closed his eyes briefly.

“Get off my phone.”

“Nope,” Noah said. “I am emotionally invested now. Also the internet is losing their minds.”

Kai hung up.

Immediately. Lena exhaled once.

“You have interesting friends,” she said.

Kai replied flatly:

“I so nor.”

That almost made her smile but she did not.

By the end of the “date,” the footage had already gone viral.

Not because it went well but because it did not.

Clips everywhere:

"they look like they want to fight each other AND kiss at the same time

why is this tension actually insane???"

"he held her hand for 4 seconds I am shaking

this is NOT acting"

Lena shut her phone off completely. Kai did not even open his.

As they left the gardens, the crowd finally dispersed.

For the first time all day,

no cameras directly in their faces.

Just quiet, too much quiet.

Lena slowed her steps without realizing it. Kai did too. Then he said something unexpected.

“You did not pull away.”

Lena looked at him.

“That was not the agreement.”

Kai nodded slightly.

“That was not what I asked.”

A pause came in between them and it was long and careful.

Then Lena said quietly:

“It does not mean anything.”

Kai’s voice came lower.

“I know.”

But he did not sound like he did.

They stopped walking, not on purpose, it just happened.

Lena looked at him properly for the first time since the morning.

Not the headlines version, not the athlete version, just him.

And Kai lo

oked back like he was doing the same thing.

Then he said:

“This is going to get worse.”

Lena replied:

“It already is.”

A pause then Kai said:

“Yeah.”

And for the first time, they both agreed on something without arguing.