Chapter 10: The Bet

By the fourth night, exhaustion was catching up to both of them.

Evelyn was starting to get used to Ji-Ah's presence, which was somehow even more frustrating than their usual fights.

They had settled into a strange rhythm—silent working, snarky comments, occasional actual collaboration.

And, unfortunately, they had also started betting on everything.

• Who could debug a section of code faster.

• Who would catch more errors.

• Who would survive on the least amount of sleep.

Tonight's bet?

Who would give up first and call it a night.

Ji-Ah leaned back, stretching her arms. "You look like you're about to pass out."

Evelyn forced herself to sit up straighter. "You wish."

Ji-Ah smirked. "Five minutes and you'll be drooling on your keyboard."

Evelyn scoffed. "You underestimate me."

The problem was…

Ji-Ah really didn't.

If anything, Ji-Ah had started noticing too much about Evelyn—her sharp focus, her ridiculous need to win, the way she chewed the end of her pen when thinking.

And Evelyn had started noticing Ji-Ah too.

But neither of them was ready to admit that.

So instead, they kept betting, competing, pushing each other.

And as the night stretched on, neither of them was willing to be the first to give up.