"You can leave the room once your affection levels reach 80," the staff member explained.

Everyone thought it would spike instantly. But both of their readings stayed stuck at 68.

Behind closed doors, Eddie and Bella had done everything there was to do. On camera, they were suddenly perfectly restrained.

Bella sat by the doorway.

Eddie stood out on the balcony, breathing in the night air. Through the edge of the glass, he could see my room.

Logan still hadn't arrived. I was alone, sitting on the edge of the bed with the affection meter watch on my wrist.

Then came a knock at the door.

I looked up.

A baseball cap shadowed half his face. Damp strands of hair carried the mist from the thermal spring.

He smelled like late rain.

The livestream chat exploded instantly.

"My first love is back!"

"Logan is so hot! There's no comparison."

"You need to wear this," I said, handing him the other affection meter watch.

Eddie hated being told he looked like Logan.

In our first year of marriage, we were walking at dawn when I stopped in front of a giant luxury billboard of Logan. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

Eddie had pulled his cap down over my head, blocking my view, and said jealously, "I knew that's the type you like."

Now, in the other room, Eddie stood on the balcony and clearly saw Logan enter mine and close the door behind him.

But he didn't care.

He knew that Logan, the man he could never surpass and secretly envied, had only married Bella because of a contract.

Logan didn't even like the beautiful actress. There was no way he would ever fall for me, a plain, divorced nobody that even Eddie despised.

Eddie let out a soft scoff, looking completely unconcerned. Yet, he carefully observed my reaction.

"Nice to meet you, Alisson."

My affection rate stayed at 50 as I extended my hand.

"Nice to meet you, Logan."

He shook it.

A few seconds later, the watch suddenly let out a sharp, piercing alarm.

Logan's affection level jumped straight to 100, but he himself stayed completely calm.

"It's broken," he said flatly.

After switching watches, everything returned to normal.

On Eddie and Bella's side, after a few rounds of couple games, their affection level climbed past 80, and they left the room early.

On my side, Logan's affection level stayed at 25 the entire time. It was almost nonexistent.

I asked the staff, "If it never goes above the limit, do we have to stay here overnight?"

Logan heard me. He stood tall and quiet in a thin black hoodie, his gaze distant.

"It counts as a failed mission. You can leave after an hour," the staff replied.

We were the last to come out.

"This is such a flop."

"They have zero chemistry."

"Get her out of here. Can we stop showing her? I only want Eddie and Bella."

The chat was overwhelmingly negative until the live stream ended.

In the interview rooms afterward, cameras and lights filled the space.

Eddie stood in a corner, watching Bella being interviewed. His eyes briefly landed on me.

"Feeling excited?" he asked me out of nowhere. "Was there a moment you thought that Logan might fall for you?"

I ignored him and turned away, but he stepped in front of me.

"My gosh, Alisson," he said casually, hands in his pockets and head tilted. "The more I think about it, the more I realize divorcing you was the right choice."

Someone passed by, and he immediately straightened up again.

He was back to that warm, gentle, slightly broken image as if I was the one who had hurt him the most.

Bella finished her interview and walked over under everyone's gaze. She took my hand. "Alisson, treasure Eddie. He really does love you."

A red string bracelet hung from her wrist.

I had seen that bracelet.

Last year on our anniversary, Eddie had something like it in his pocket.

I thought Eddie was going to give the bracelet back to me, but he said it belonged to someone else.

Now it was on Bella's wrist.

"Don't argue with him," Bella said in front of the camera. "I want you two to be happy more than anyone."

I said nothing.

Eddie didn't know.

There was another reason I agreed to join this show, something I could never say out loud.

In truth, I wasn't here for Eddie at all.

Filming took place over the weekend.

On Monday at work, my former boss told me, "Logan and Bella are already divorced. He was on a ten-year contract with her father's company, and it finally ended. He's rebuilding his studio, and I recommended you to him."

I used to work as an agent in an entertainment group.

Following the address she gave me, I went to the studio and saw Logan.

Set against the light, his sharp features were highlighted. It was indeed a face made for the screen, and he looked far more distant than I had imagined.

I waited outside for a long time.

In the end, it was his assistant, Conrad Lowe, who came out. "Sorry, Ms. Stout. We probably can't proceed today."

At 11:00 pm, on the way back, my car broke down. It was raining in the middle of nowhere. I held my umbrella and waited for a tow truck.

Suddenly, a black MPV pulled up, and the window rolled down. Conrad said, "Ms. Stout, please get in first."

Logan was in the back seat with a baseball cap covering his face. He seemed to be asleep.

His breathing was light, and his long legs were slightly bent. The clean scent of pine lingered in the air.

"Ms. Stout, I'm going to the gas station up ahead to grab a bottle of water. I'll be right back," Conrad said softly.

As soon as the door closed, only Logan and I were left in the car.

There were no cameras or staff; only dim light flickered through the dashboard.

Even though we were a seat apart, his breathing felt as if it were right beside my ear.

Outside, faint blue light came from a convenience store where Conrad was browsing the shelves.

Just then, someone in the car kicked my calf.

The long leg stretching from the backseat wasn’t an accident but an intentional, petty, almost childish, rhythmic prodding.

I pulled my legs back, well out of his reach.

I didn't say a single word, nor did I turn around. I just stayed exactly as I was, pretending that nothing had happened.

"Alisson Stout." Logan finally spoke.

Maybe because he had just woken up, he carried that reckless streak of his. "Long time no see."

It had been many years.

Why did he still insist on saying my name like that?

Just like he used to in that cramped, humid apartment, where I drowned in his warmth over and over again, yielding to his gentle yet restless, unbridled movements.

…

After that day, Logan and I didn't speak again.

Not until the next weekend rolled around.

The reality show's live stream operated on a rotation system. This weekend, we were supposed to switch back to the original married couples.

"Mr. Jackson," Bella said, her tone dripping with sweet professionalism, as if she only had the show's best interests at heart.

"Eddie and I have so much hype right now. If you switch us back now, the audience is going to roast you."

The director, Louie Jackson, hesitated. "But—"

"Eddie." Bella turned around. "What do you think?"

Right in front of me, she asked him, "Who are you choosing tonight?"

She had been waiting for this exact moment.

The more scandalous a thing was, the more desperately it craved public validation.

Eddie knew exactly what Bella was playing at.

He cast a deliberate glance my way, then leaned back into his chair. "Is that even a question? No one wants to see her anyway."

Having secured the answer she wanted, Bella turned her gaze back to me.

"Alisson, you don't mind, do you? Then again, you've been a housewife for a long time. You probably don't understand how this works. Audience preference is everything. You should think about the bigger pict—"

"Okay." My response was sharp and immediate.

Eddie looked up at me when he heard that.

They all expected me to throw a fit. That way, they could edit my meltdown into the bonus footage to highlight how sweet and considerate Bella was.

None of them expected me to yield so easily.

Bella had no use for the lines she'd spent all morning rehearsing. Shut down before she could even start, she managed a dry response. "Good. Don't go back on your word."

"Let's just keep it this way permanently," I said.

Her face stiffened slightly.

But she quickly recovered with a smile. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she whispered, "Are you trying to make Eddie jealous? Everyone knows you only came on this show to win him back.

"Too bad it's not working. Not only is he not jealous, but you're going to have to watch him walk into my room tonight."

Across the set, the production team called out. The decision was made to stick with last week's pairings.

As they were leaving, Eddie asked Bella with a teasing edge to his voice, "Aren't you worried about her being in a room with Logan?"

Hearing that name triggered a sharp reaction from Bella.

She scoffed as if she'd just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. "As if Logan has ever liked anyone. Lock them in a room for a year, and he still wouldn't spare her a glance."

They traded a knowing look and shared a laugh.

Right in front of me, Eddie took off his coat and draped it over Bella's shoulders. "Alisson, if you're trying to win me back, these petty mind games aren't going to cut it."

He was trying to provoke me.

He wanted me to snap and lose it in public, giving him the perfect excuse to play the victim.

Eddie and Bella were driven off to a luxury villa.

It was the grand prize for the couple with the highest affection level from the previous week.

Bella posted a photo of their candlelight dinner on Instagram.

The livestream chat was flooded with fans swooning over the romance.

I scrolled through all of this on my phone from the back of the production crew's car.

We were heading toward the old town.

"If these two don't get their affection levels up today, they're going to get eliminated, right?"

"They won't eliminate Logan. He's way too big a star. They'll probably just swap his partner."

"So boring. Why did Logan even agree to do a show like this?"

"The weirder the match, the more I ship it. I have a feeling something's about to happen."

"Are you out of your mind? If anything actually happens between them, I'll eat crap live on stream!"

I put my phone away and asked the staff member next to me, "Where are Logan and I staying tonight?"

"You two had the lowest affection levels, so you have to face the penalty. Tonight, you'll be staying in…"

The car pulled over. He jerked his chin toward the rundown residential building outside the window.

"There," he said. "A rental apartment."

I got out of the car.

The only camera tracking me was a fixed livestream lens mounted inside the vehicle.

From that distance, it could only capture my silhouette from behind. They couldn't hear my voice.

I stood at the entrance, and my mind went blank for a few seconds.

I pulled out my phone and called Gracie Riley, my former boss and my best friend.

"Logan told me, 'Long time no see.'"

Right now, I desperately needed her to snap me out of it.

"And? What else was he supposed to say?"

Gracie was as blunt as I had expected. "Let's be real. Everyone has an ex. He has endless options. Why would he choose a divorcee like you? Just because of those few months you spent depending on each other?

"Think about it objectively. That was the absolute lowest point of his life. Who wants to reminisce about that?"

I turned the key and pushed the door open.

Logan was standing on a ladder, fixing a ceiling light.

As he raised his arms, his lean muscles shifted beneath his shirt.

It was just like the old days.

Except there was a medical bandage wrapped around his waist—a casualty of doing stunt work on set.

The old tungsten bulb flickered in his hand.

Dark, then bright again.

The scene was so painfully familiar that I froze at the door, unable to step inside.

"Let's eat."

Logan noticed me.

His words were brief, and his expression remained unchanged.

It made my anxiety feel entirely out of place. I was the only one overthinking this.