Page 26 of The Romance Rivalry

“Yeah, I connected with her on Fringe—you know, the dating app? The company that’s interested in working with me is one of Korea’s biggest dating apps.”

I trip over my own foot and stumble. Aiden reaches out and grabs my arm to keep me from eating it on the sidewalk.

I look up at him in shock.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“The dating app.” I’m almost too afraid to go on, dread creeping its way up my spine as I already know the answer to my question. “Is it SKCupid?”

Aiden’s eyes widen. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

I pull my arm out of his grip and step back, trying to put space between us. How could he do this? And to think, I was almost beginning to not hate him.

“Because they approached me about the opportunity, too. I can’t believe they talked to both of us. I thought they’dalready chosen me to do it, done deal. I even came up with a whole plan to strengthen my brand.” Thoughts race in my head. Have they spoken to any other creators as well? What’s their selection criteria? Are they having second thoughts about me?

“What do you mean?”

When they told me they needed a bit more time before making the final offer, I didn’t for even one moment think it was because they were considering other people. They mentioned “market research,” not other creators. Did they approach Aiden because they doubted I could do this, that I could represent romance for them? Was it because I’ve never been in love and they somehow found out? Did they read the comments?

“What plan?”

I thought I had time—time to find a boyfriend, get some real-life romance experience under my belt, and seal the deal. Maybe I need to speed things up.

“Your plan is to find a boyfriend? How is that, in any way, gonna seal the deal for you?”

It registers that I said my last thought out loud. In front of Aiden. Shit.

God, and coming from his mouth, it sounds ridiculous.

“Forget it,” I say. I turn and keep walking, increasing my pace to an almost jog.

A hand grabs my arm and pulls me back.

“Tell me,” he says.

“No,” I bite back.

Aiden is partially to blame for me coming up with this plan in the first place. And now his mere existence could ruin it all for me. My breath is short, along with my fuse. And apparently my common sense and self-preservation as well. Shit. Did I just... spill the beans to Aiden Jeon, of all people, about my plan? Maybe he didn’t hear me.

“Irene, talk to me. I don’t just want bits of the conversation. We have to clear this up if we want to figure out what’s going on,” he says.We. Why is everyone trying to “we” me?

But he’s right. I need to hear his side, too, so that I know where I stand with SKCupid. I can’t lose this deal. And not to Aiden Jeon.

“FINE. Fine,” I concede. I’m out of bravado and energy. I just want to get the confession over with, barely survive the ridicule, hear his side of the story, and then be on my way. “I, well, I got so sick of seeing the comments about how I can’t review romance because I’ve never been in a relationship. And I got worried that SKCupid would question my ability to be the face of romance for their brand. I decided to change that. So I made a plan.” I stop and close my eyes before confessing the rest. “I’m going to fall in love. And I’m going to use tropes to do it.” I gulp back my embarrassment.

He stares at me.

He doesn’t even blink.

I don’t have it in me to go into further detail. I don’t want to admit that in the first week alone, I’ve flubbed two tropes, two dates, already. And I’m worried that my foolproof plan to fall in love may not actually work.

Aiden puckers his lips, narrows his eyes, and nods. “That’s...”

Ridiculous.

A joke.

Never gonna work.

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