Chloe laughed, and the sound surprised both of them. She pressed her hand over her mouth like she was trying to hold it in, but the laughter kept coming, building until her shoulders shook and tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.

Jordan watched her lose it, uncertain whether this was good losing it or bad losing it, the kind where you laughed because the alternative was screaming.

"This is ridiculous," she managed between gasps. "This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You have a dating sim built into your phone. An actual, real-life dating sim that tracks attraction and gives you money for being a good boyfriend."

"The System prefers the term ’romantic progression mechanic.’"

"Oh my god, shut up."

She punched his arm again, harder this time, and Jordan grabbed her wrist before she could pull back. The contact sent a familiar jolt through his nervous system, the same electricity that sparked whenever they touched, and he saw her breath catch as she registered the warmth of his grip.

"I told you everything," he said quietly. "The System, the gacha, the quests, all of it. You know every secret I have except the ones that would hurt other people."

Chloe’s laughter faded into something quieter, more contemplative. She didn’t pull her wrist from his grip, and Jordan didn’t let go, the warmth between them filling the silence that stretched across her kitchen.

"The marrying multiple people thing," she said finally.

Jordan’s stomach dropped.

"At the hot springs. When you were talking to Miss Valentine about the traditional expectations. About how the owner is supposed to have multiple wives." Chloe’s dark brown eyes held steady on his face, searching for something he wasn’t sure he could give. "Was that real? Is that actually how it works, or was that you?"

The question hit different than the System reveal. That had been about magic and mechanics, abstract enough that Chloe could process it intellectually. This was about intent. About what Jordan actually wanted versus what some supernatural app was pushing him toward.

"The System wants me to pursue more women. That’s literally how it’s designed. More registered beauties means more cashback potential, more quest rewards, more everything."

Jordan released her wrist and stepped back, needing the space to say this properly. "When I first got the System, I thought that was the point. Collect women like Pokemon, maximize returns, build some kind of harem empire because the numbers went up when I did."

Chloe’s expression didn’t change, but her body language shifted slightly, weight transferring to her back foot like she was preparing to retreat.

"Then I met you."

The words came out simpler than Jordan intended, without the cocky spin he usually applied to serious statements. Just flat truth sitting in the air between them.

"You were supposed to be easy. Coffee date girl, OnlyFans creator, someone I could throw money at until the chemistry climbed and the cashback flowed." Jordan laughed, and it sounded hollow even to his own ears. "Except you got mad at me for buying you a setup. You called me out for treating you like a transaction. You made me feel like an actual piece of shit for doing exactly what the System told me to do."

"Good."

"Great, actually. Because it made me realize something important."

Chloe waited, her arms crossing over her chest in that defensive posture she defaulted to when emotions got too real.

"The System tracks chemistry. It doesn’t create it." Jordan ran his hand through his hair, the nervous gesture he’d been trying to train out of himself. "All those percentages and multipliers and quest rewards, they’re measuring something that already exists. When I spend time with you, when I make you laugh, when I do something that actually matters to you as a person, the number goes up. When I buy you expensive crap you didn’t ask for, the number stays flat or drops."

"So the System rewards genuine connection."

"The System rewards whatever makes you actually like me. Which turns out to be showing up, trying, and not being a desperate simp who thinks money equals affection." Jordan’s voice went quieter. "Eliza taught me what happens when you confuse the two. The System just made it impossible to lie to myself about the difference."

Chloe uncrossed her arms slowly, her posture softening by degrees.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I had to."

"That’s not an answer."

"Fine." Jordan met her eyes directly, no deflection, no humor, nothing between them except the truth he’d been carrying for weeks. "Because even if I lost the System tomorrow, even if the app disappeared and the gacha stopped working and I went back to being a broke loser with bad grades and no prospects, I would rather have you than any of it."

Chloe’s breath caught audibly.

"The System is incredible. It gave me money, confidence, this body, the resort, everything I needed to stop being pathetic. But if keeping the System meant lying to you forever, meant building our entire relationship on secrets that would eventually destroy us, then the System wasn’t worth having."

Jordan took a step toward her, closing the distance he’d created moments before.

"I’ve seen what happens when you build something real on lies. My relationship with Eliza was built on me pretending I could buy her love. Her relationship with Cameron is built on her pretending she made the correct choice. Neither of those foundations hold weight. Neither of them survive the first serious storm."

Chloe’s hand came up, hovering near his chest like she wanted to touch him but wasn’t sure she was allowed.

"I don’t want that with you. I don’t want to wake up in five years and realize that the person you fell for doesn’t actually exist because I was hiding half of who I am. I’d rather tell you everything now, let you decide if this is too weird, too broken, too whatever, and lose you honestly than keep you with lies."

"You thought I’d leave?"

"The thought crossed my mind."

"Because of the System?"

"Because I’m literally tracking our relationship like a video game, Chloe. That’s not normal boyfriend behavior. That’s stalker shit."

Her hand finally made contact, palm flat against his chest where his heart was doing something embarrassing and probably medically concerning. The warmth of her touch spread through the thin fabric of his henley, and Jordan’s brain short-circuited for approximately half a second before rebooting.

"You could have kept lying," she said quietly. "The System was working. Seventy-nine percent, right? That’s high. That’s profitable. You were winning without me knowing."

"Winning what?"

"The game. Whatever game you thought you were playing."

Jordan covered her hand with his own, pressing it more firmly against his chest so she could feel exactly how fast his pulse was racing.

"I stopped thinking of this as a game about three weeks in. Right around the time you fell asleep on my couch and I spent forty-five minutes just watching you breathe because I couldn’t believe someone like you was actually in my apartment, actually willing to be near me, actually choosing to stay."

Chloe’s eyes went wide.

"That’s weird too, right? That’s probably a red flag. Normal people don’t watch their girlfriends sleep."

"Jordan."

"I’m just saying, if we’re cataloging concerning behaviors—"

"Jordan, shut up."

He shut up.

Chloe rose on her toes and kissed him.