Page 46 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

Anton flips her off but reaches under his pool chair to drag out a laptop.

“I’ll do better,” I promise Leah. “But can we address why Daniel and I are labeled the ‘The Asians’?”

“Forget about that. It’s a placeholder,” Leah says. “Right, Freya?”

Freya looks up from her desk to our right. “Uh, no, I’m pretty sure that cut went out this morning—”

“Great. Thanks, Freya,” Leah says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Her fingers curl like she wants to strangle someone. “We’ll update it in the next episode. How do you feel about ‘Asian Sensation’?”

“Not a fan,” I say.

“We’ll workshop it,” Leah says decisively. She lowers her voice. “Look, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but when Peter Dixon said our ratings were through the roof, he wasn’t just stroking his own ego.Dawn Tay’s Infernois going to be huge. Way bigger than anyone expected. The network execs are promising to double our budget, and they’re already talking about greenlighting season two. But if you screw this up, everything can go away just like that.” She snaps her fingers. “We need you to get it together and make good television—”

“Leah, you’re scaring her,” a voice interrupts. It’s Lex, leaning back in their chair to face us. “Alice, the reason your producer is so stressed—”

“Excuse you, I amnotstressed, I amthriving—”

“Yeah, and my psych prescribes me Prozac for fun,” Lex shoots back. “Look, this show has the production schedule from hell. Dixon’s pitch forDawn Tay’s Infernowas that we’d have this cutting-edge AI editing software that lets us release episodes quickly with a skeleton crew.”

“Absolutely deranged,” Leah mutters.

“Spoiler alert, the software doesn’t work. We have some bullshit program that splices together clips into unusable content. It’s all a scam. So instead, the higher-ups are pushing our editors and production assistants to deliver episodes on par with much bigger productions likeNepo HouseandBabe Getaway, and it’s gone about how you’d expect. We’re crunched for time here, and Dawn Taylor wants results.”

“And we’re going to deliver them,” Leah says. “Alice. I love you. If I could just stick my hand down your throat and make you say all the right things like an adorable little puppet, I would. I don’t know if you realize this, but you’ve made a lot of enemies just by staying on the show. If the other contestants or the viewers at home can tell that youand Daniel aren’t a real couple, you’ll get booted from the show—and not even Peter Dixon can save you then.”

“Understood,” I say. Lex has gone back to their work, but I can tell they’re still listening in on my conversation with Leah. “I’ll work harder at it.”

“It’s not about working harder,” Leah says. “It’s about your chemistry with Daniel. This story we’re trying to sell, that you and Daniel just happened to make a true love connection within minutes of Chase and Selena getting hot and heavy, it’s ridiculous. It shouldn’t work. But I’ve seen you with Daniel. When the two of you are going at it, it’s like you can’t decide if you want to jump his bones or, I don’t know, challenge him to recite the periodic table.”

“I don’t want to jump his bones,” I say automatically. But I still remember the feeling of his abs beneath my hands, the warmth radiating from him, and that—that’s not helping.

“Leave room for Jesus, I don’t care,” Leah says. “But if you want to stay on the show, you have to at least look, act, and smell like a couple.”

I think of the sapphic werewolf romance Cindy convinced me to buddy read with her last year, and how the werewolf marked her human with her scent. I shake my head—that’s not what Leah is suggesting, and Daniel is not a werewolf. Get it together, Alice.

“—so this is me, warning you, as your producer. Figure out how to sell your chemistry and relationship with Daniel, or you’re out.”

“I will. I’ll do it even if it kills me.”

And it might. Even the thought of acting on some of the attraction between us—my mind helpfully rewinds back to his slicked-up abs—is enough to give me heart palpitations. But I’ve come this far, and I’m not leaving the island if I can help it. Plus, I can see how hard the editors and PAs in the Video Village are working. I don’t want to make their lives any harder.

Leah lets out a bitter laugh. “I know I’m being on tough on you, but I’m in your corner. And hey, you know how Blake and Bella were inone of the private honeymoon suites? I snagged it for you and Daniel, so the two of you can work on your connection without any cameras around. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Yes. Thank you. Amazing. Great news,” I say. My mind is a jumble, trying to reconcile the contradictory feelings of never wanting to see Daniel’s face again and being desperately curious about what he’ll be like when we’re alone.

Leah puts her hands on my shoulders, spinning me toward the door. “Daniel should be headed there already. Why don’t you go meet him?”

—

My stomach twists into knots as I make my way toward the honeymoon suite. I keep playing with my ring finger. There’s a faint tan line where I used to wear my engagement ring from Chase. I keep thinking that I’ve forgotten it or lost it, only to remember that I stashed it away in my luggage the moment I got back to the villa after everything went down.

I’m mentally drafting a Facebook Marketplace listing for all of the things I used to share with Chase that I want to sell off now—massage chair won in an office raffle, like new, fifteen knot-busting settings—when I remember that I have bigger fish to fry. I have to sell a whirlwind, fairy-tale romance with my high school nemesis to millions of viewers at home, plus my fellow competitors.

“We need to work on our chemistry,” I tell Daniel as soon as I step into the suite.

“Hello to you, too,” Daniel says, raising an eyebrow at me.

I glare at him. “Hello,darling,” I say, “we need to work on our fake chemistry for our fake relationship so we can continue to stay on this reality show long enough to destroy the competition—which, by the way, includes our exes—and win a million dollars.”

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