MELISSA'S POV

I got the message just before I finished tying my shoelace.

Marco: The audience is obsessed. You two are going on a public date tomorrow. Full exposure. Keep the energy up. Make it work.

I stared at it for a full ten seconds.

A date? I rolled my eyes and dropped my phone on the bed like it offended me. This wasn’t part of the original deal. We’d already done the promo shoot. The hand placement, the posing, the fake smiles. That was enough pretending for one week.

Now a ...