Chapter 1

There was silence for about ten seconds.

Then a message from Wendy popped up.

[LOL, that edit is pretty good. It almost passed for real. You don’t actually think I’d believe that, do you?]

She followed it with a grinning emoji.

I put my phone down and looked up at her desk.

She was propping one leg on her chair, twirling a pen in her hand, and smugly lifting her chin at me.

I said nothing.

Actually, when I saw her Instagram post last night, I didn’t even think much of it.

I thought she just didn’t know her limits and liked joking around.

I had even decided that if she apologized sincerely, I could forgive her.

Sure enough, after a while, Wendy came straight over to my desk.

She braced one hand on my table, leaned down, and said in a tone she clearly thought was charming, “Jason, you saw the group chat, right? Don’t be mad. I was just saying what you were too shy to say yourself. I know you’re embarrassed.”

She smiled and added, “Besides, you’re single and I’m single too. Maybe if we hang out long enough, we’ll actually end up together.”

I looked up at her like she was insane.

“Wendy, if the rumors seriously affect me, I can sue you.”

“You’d better delete the photo you posted in the group chat, and publicly apologize in the group chat, saying it was AI-generated.”

Wendy’s smile vanished at once.

She straightened up and brushed at her skirt.

“Seriously? It’s just a photo. Everybody’s just joking and having fun. Why are you making such a huge deal out of it?”

I didn’t say anything.

The look in my eyes made her a little uncomfortable, and she muttered, “Fine, fine, I’ll delete it. You’re so difficult.”

She turned and walked away without apologizing.

I waited all morning.

Wendy did delete the photo from the group chat.

But then she posted another Instagram update.

It was an AI-generated wedding photo of two people holding hands.

The caption said, [Someone’s being shy and told me not to show off our love. Fine, I’ll delete it like a good girl, but happiness can’t be hidden. You all get the idea.]

The comments were full of [Hahahahaha] and [Got it, got it].

The photo was gone, but her lie had been reinforced.

And I still couldn’t go after her again over a hand-holding photo where you couldn’t see the faces.

I stared at my phone screen and only felt powerless.