The clang turned out to be...
...a janitor.
Wearing noise-cancelling headphones.
Dancing to ABBA.
Everyone stared. No one spoke.
Jessie blinked. "Honestly? Respect."
Leo clapped once. "Sir, you have taste."
The janitor gave a thumbs-up, swayed out of the hall, and vanished like a myth.
Zara sighed. "Okay. Crisis averted. But mildly traumatized."
---
Back at Jessie's place...
They gathered around her laptop, the old drive now humming softly. Tessa typed like a hacker in a heist movie.
Milo leaned over Jessie's shoulder. "You sure it's safe?"
Tessa replied without looking up. "Define safe."
Jessie: "Like… won't-explode-our-faces safe."
Tessa: "Then… probably."
Everyone stepped back.
---
As files loaded, Zara noticed something.
"Wait. What's this folder? Test Matches – Phase Zero?"
Leo leaned in. "That sounds ominous and also… spicy?"
Tessa clicked.
A list popped up.
Zara squinted. "Those are usernames. Are we on here?"
Jessie scrolled. "Jessie... Milo... Yep. We're 'Test Pair #12'."
Milo chuckled. "Lucky number twelve."
Zara: "Wait—Leo and I are Pair #11?!"
Leo: "Clearly the app has taste."
Zara turned to Tessa. "You said you didn't assign these?"
Tessa shook her head. "The AI learned from user behavior. It ran simulations. Predicted emotional bonding."
Leo blinked. "So it basically… shipped us before we did?"
Tessa smirked. "Exactly."
---
Later that night…
Most of them had gone home. But Jessie and Milo stayed behind.
The city lights glowed outside the window. The laptop hummed faintly.
Milo sat beside Jessie on the couch, their shoulders barely touching.
Jessie whispered, "Is it weird that I'm kind of... glad?"
Milo turned. "About what?"
Jessie glanced at him. "That we met like this. Even if it started with fake profiles and weird AIs."
Milo smiled. "Yeah. It's like... all the wrong swipes led to the right one."
There was a pause.
And then—slowly—Jessie leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder.
Milo froze for half a second. Then relaxed.
Comfortable. Real. Quiet.
---
Meanwhile...
Zara scrolled through her phone while lying sideways on her bed.
Leo sent a text.
> Leo: "Sooo... we're a scientifically backed power couple now. Thoughts?"
Zara rolled her eyes but typed back:
> Zara: "More like a glitch in the matrix."
> Leo: "A cute glitch?"
> Zara: "…shut up."
He replied with a cat gif holding a heart.
She didn't reply.
But she smiled.