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Love Byte was ruining lives. At least, it had ruined Ricky Bowen's life, and now he found out—via his Twitter trending page—Susan Fine, who'd gotten her arm axed off in the hunt for her match. According to the news, she booked a flight all the way to the Bavarian alps to meet her soulmate, thought she was an intruder—and because she was Swedish, and didn't understand a word of German, there was a terrible misunderstanding involving an axe.
Ricky, however, had a similar problem. Although instead of a broken arm, he was suffering from a broken heart. But, there was no telling whose fate was worse. He hadn't read anything about whether or not Susan and the Bavarian hatchet swinger had decided to continue their relationship, but he presumed that she did. Because everyone wanted a Love Byte relationship.
Ricky had spent a whole year with Lily, and he was sure she was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with. Then, she started spending longer hours on campus. At first, he thought little of it. He didn't mind having the extra time to work without distractions.
And, suddenly she walked in and told him she was leaving him. A whole year, and she left him for a guy she knew for less than a few hours.
On the train, they'd seen a Love Byte ad, and when he asked her about it, she acted just as oblivious as he was. He could still picture it. The Key To Happiness, one of the app's cheesy typical slogans, bold letters splashed at the top of the carriage in neon green. He remembered her laughing when Ricky said he'd rather have a gun held to his head before he ever leaving her for his so-called soulmate.
So, he felt blindsided when he got a text message from her out of nowhere saying that they "needed to end things." He'd demanded she talk to him about it before she finally revealed the truth. Lily hadn't been taking longer shifts, she hadn't been spending long hours studying, or been "stuck on the train." She was arranging secret meetings with her soulmate or "Soulm8," as the app playfully called it.
He wasn't blind to it all—he'd heard all about the app from Gina and Big Red. His friends wouldn't stop telling him all the fairy-tale stories about people meeting their soulmates and falling madly in love at first sight. Of course, if Lily felt like she wanted that and told him about it, he would've understood. He didn't want to be selfish. But, she'd lied to his face about knowing what it was, and hid having it in the first place.
The thought of being with someone who was hiding who they really were repulsed him. So, if he was thankful for anything, it was that he'd gotten to see her for who she really was before anything went further.
But she had lied, and snuck around, and delayed the moment where she would tell him she was throwing away their relationship, like stalling made it better.
"It's a little scary..." Ms. Jenn grabbed his attention, finally giving him her verdict. She looked at Ricky's latest piece with her head turned to one side, like she was still trying to make it out.
