Page 13 of The Romance Rivalry

I don’t turn my head, but I do sneak a peek at Aiden in my peripheral vision. I most definitely can avoid him now that I know what to look for.

“This is going to be your project partner for the rest of the semester.”

Aiden Jeon lets out a little chuckle just as a miserable, agonized scream releases inside me.

Epigraph

Love at first sight is wildly romantic, in my opinion. Emily just knew she’d end up with Tucker from the get-go, and the author masterfully led us to believe in this instalove as well. Reading and waiting for Tucker to realize his own feelings for Emily was such a satisfying journey.

—@irene.loves.love.books

Instalove, when done right, is my crack. But the author has to convince me that there’s a spark one character feels down to their bones towards the other. Emily’s obsession with Tucker felt a little surface-level at first—not quite stalker-level, but I wouldn’t blame him if he got a restraining order. Ha!

—@aidentheguyreadsromance

Three

instalove

“Okay, so explain to me who this guy is again?”

“He’s my nemesis,” I say, grabbing an egg salad sandwich from the refrigerated shelf and putting it on my tray. I decided to meet Jeannette outside her lecture hall so we could walk to the cafeteria together. I also needed to process my feelings about the morning. The entire walk, I mumbled to myself about how I have the worst luck and how the world is out to get me and how there’s no way I will survive the semester with Aiden Jeon, of all people, as my project partner.

I grab an apple and, in a last-second decision, because I’m feeling out of sorts, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos displayed by the register.

“And how do you know him?” Jeannette asks as she pays for her chili, corn bread, side salad, Jell-O bowl, chocolate chip cookie, and KIND bar for later. The metabolism on this girl.

“He’s a fellow romance reviewer. He’s kinda skyrocketed in the past year because he’s a guy and he’s contrarian, at least he is with all my reviews, and—”

“And he’s hot.”

I pass my dining card to the cashier while shooting a side-eyed glare at Jeannette. “I mean, if you’re into that type,” I mumble.

“I think the words you used to describe him were ‘tall, lean, dimpled, shoulders for days’... is anyone not into that type?”

“That’s not fair. You picked and chose my words to make it seem like I find him attractive or something. That’s not how I meant it when I was describing him.”

“Hmmm,” she says.

“You’re not helping,” I say.

“And he reads romance books? I mean, he’s the living, breathing, on-campus version of that IG account Hot Dudes Reading.”

I love that account. Now I’m depressed.

“What irritates me is, he’s always copying me.”

“What, like he plagiarizes your content?”

“No, not exactly. Not word for word. But he reads the same books that I do. He never has an original selection.” When I first noticed this, I just wrote it off as us both reviewing new releases. But even when I read and post about a backlist book, Aiden does the same shortly after.

“You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Jeannette says. “Maybe he’s not even doing it on purpose.”

I look into Jeannette’s big doe eyes and wonder if she has ever had an enemy in her life. I must protect her at all costs.

We take our trays and find a table in the corner by the window. I unwrap my sandwich and take a huge bite out of it. All this angst is making me starving.

“I can’t believe this was the first time the two of you have met in person. What are the odds that you have this online rivalry and end up at the same school, and as project partners, no less? Honestly, I know you told me you hate enemies-to-lovers, but this whole setup is prime for a college romance, Irene. It’s not just the trope. It’s the fact that this is all real. Two people who share the same passion, who disagree about things but clearly have a spark...”

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