I freeze in front of the screen.
"New match: Nathan L."
My heart skips a beat. That's impossible.
I haven't opened the app in days.
I glance around me, as if someone could be watching.
The sky is grey, the city smothered by rain. Everything looks normal—except me.
I close the app.
I reopen it.
The notification is still there, more insistent this time, like a provocation.
At my place, Mila is already waiting.
"You're pale. What happened?"
I hand her my phone without a word.
She reads, frowns.
"'Nathan L.'?"
"Yeah. And look at the photo."
She zooms in on the screen.
The profile shows a recent shot, taken at the canal.
The exact angle of the bench where we were yesterday.
Same coat.
Same smile.
"No way," she breathes.
"And yet, there he is."
She thinks for a moment, then says:
"Who owns LovLink again?"
"I don't know. Some international group, I think."
"Then we're going to find out."
In less than ten minutes, Mila traces the chain.
She scrolls through pages, links, legal mentions.
"Here. LovLink belongs to a company called Novera Tech."
I read over her shoulder.
"And?"
"And Novera specializes in behavioral AI. They test algorithms that predict human reactions."
"You mean… they're watching us?"
"No. I mean they're programming us."
My hands grow clammy.
"You think they're using us?"
"Yes. Especially you."
Mila turns the screen toward me.
A sentence on the official site stands out:
"Our technology learns from real emotions to recreate perfect love."
I sit down, speechless.
Mila keeps going, her voice slightly shaky.
"And look at this: Novera's first test project dates back four years. Codename: CL-AR4."
I squint.
"CL… AR… A."
She nods.
"Exactly."
My stomach twists.
"You're saying Clara…"
"…may not have just been an employee. She might have been the test."
Silence falls.
I remember Noah's words: "They had everything planned, even our fights."
What if it was true?
What if LovLink engineered their story to study passion, jealousy, loss?
A shiver runs through me.
"Mila, we have to tell him."
"Noah?"
"Yeah. He has to know."
But before I can dial his number, a message flashes on my screen.
"Session locked. External connection attempt detected."
I stare, breath caught.
The LovLink app closes on its own.
Then disappears.
Gone.
Mila stares, stunned.
"That's not normal. You can't delete an app remotely."
"Apparently, you can."
I try to download it again. Nothing. The link doesn't exist anymore.
It's like LovLink never existed.
That evening, I meet Noah in front of his building.
His face is drawn, exhausted.
"You found things out," he says before I can speak.
"Yeah. Clara worked for LovLink. And they used you."
He nods, not surprised.
"I've known for a while."
"You knew?"
"I found their emails, their contracts, their conversation scripts."
"Scripts?"
"Templates of messages they sent me through her. The 'I love you's, the 'forgive me's… everything was calibrated."
I stare at him, stunned.
"And Nathan?"
"He was part of the test too. Two opposite profiles: one impulsive, one rational. The company wanted to observe how love reacts to duality."
He turns to me, his voice trembling.
"And now they're starting again. With you."
I step back.
"You mean…"
"You're the new Clara, Léna."
"No. No, I'm not a test."
"You sure?"
He pulls a folded sheet from his pocket.
My hands tremble as I open it.
It's a printed screenshot, dated two months ago.
An internal email addressed to "Project Swipe – Experimental Group #2".
"Subject: emotional observation. Target: L.V. (test profile). Monitor: N.L."
The paper slips from my fingers.
"L.V.… Léna Vouvier."
Noah nods.
"Now you understand why I told you it wasn't a coincidence."
I sway.
The world blurs.
Everything I've lived these last weeks the messages, the match, the instant connection might have been nothing but a script.
I'm suffocating.
"So all of this… was fake?"
Noah steps closer.
"No, Léna. What I felt was real. But they built the setup so it would happen."
I look at him, eyes full of tears.
"Then why stay?"
"Because this time, I want it to be real all the way to the end."
I push him away, shaking.
"No, Noah. We're done. Do you get it? If LovLink is watching us, we step out of the game."
"You really think we can?"
"Yes."
"You underestimate Novera."
He takes my hand.
"As long as we breathe, they record. As long as we love, they learn."
I yank my hand back, furious.
"Then we'll expose them."
On my way home, Mila calls.
"Léna, I just got a weird email."
"What?"
"A message signed 'N.L.'"
I freeze.
"Nathan?"
"He says: 'If you want to know what they really did to you, come tomorrow. 10 p.m. Canal.'"
I close my eyes.
The canal. Again.