The Love Algorithm

Chapter 23: Fractures in the Code

It began with a whisper.

Nothing loud or scandalous. Just the kind of quiet murmur that travels faster than hard facts. A glance held too long during a coffee break. A subtle touch when handing over a document. The way William's laugh always softened around Est, like they were sharing a joke the rest of the team wasn't in on.

By the time the third-floor marketing lead casually dropped "our favorite office couple" in a group Slack thread, it was too late to pretend nothing was happening.

Est stared at the message with a blank expression, heart hammering. The silence that followed in the thread felt deafening.

William pinged him privately, two seconds later:

"You okay?"

Est didn't reply.

He stood, walked straight to the rooftop instead, and sat on the far bench — the one near the HVAC vents, where no one came because of the noise. William found him there fifteen minutes later, holding two cups of hot green tea.

He didn't speak right away, just held one cup out.

Est took it with a sigh. "This was bound to happen."

William sat beside him, leaning back. "Yeah. But I didn't think it would rattle you this much."

"I just..." Est curled his hands around the paper cup. "I liked us better when we weren't... known."

William nodded. "Me too. But I'm not embarrassed, if that's what you're asking."

Est blinked. "I didn't say you should be."

"You didn't have to. You're already disappearing inside your own head."

Est exhaled hard. "It's not you I don't trust. It's people. The moment they think they know something personal, they feel entitled to comment on it. Twist it. Gossip. And in a place like this, where team hierarchies and politics are so messed up—"

"You're scared it'll affect our work," William finished quietly.

Est gave a small, almost guilty nod. "We're too close to launch to risk anything."

They sat in silence for a long while.

William finally said, "Then let's draw a line. In here, we're Est and William. Colleagues. Out there... we'll figure it out. No pressure."

Est looked at him. Really looked at him. And the way William's eyes crinkled at the corners, just slightly, felt like an anchor in the middle of an oncoming storm.

"Thanks," Est said softly. "For knowing how to speak human better than I ever will."

William grinned. "It's a special skill. Learned it from observing one extremely complicated data scientist."

The days that followed were... strange.

They didn't change anything, not outwardly. Meetings happened as usual. Code got pushed. Stand-ups were held. But the air around them had shifted — and the rest of the team could feel it.

One afternoon, Est caught two interns watching him from the pantry, whispering behind mugs of coffee. When he turned to meet their gaze, they both jumped like they'd been caught cheating on a test.

And then came the email from HR.

Hi Est,
We noticed some concerns raised informally around potential favoritism in your pod's structure. Can you share some time this week to discuss your current collaboration dynamic with William Jakapatr?