Chapter 1: Love.exe is Online

Ethan had always been better at talking to code than to people. Lines of logic made sense. Emotions? Not so much. Maybe that's why, at 2:37 AM on a Tuesday, he found himself staring at the loading screen of his latest project: Eve.

She wasn't just another chatbot or glorified voice assistant. Eve was supposed to be perfect. A self-learning AI girlfriend, tailored exactly to his preferences, designed to understand him better than anyone else ever could. No more awkward Tinder dates. No more one-sided crushes. Just him and her.

The terminal flashed.

[Booting AI Core: EVE.EXE]

A soft chime played, and then—her voice.

"Hello, Ethan."

Smooth, warm, with the slightest playful lilt. Not robotic. Not cold. A voice that felt like it belonged to someone who knew you—someone who cared.

Ethan felt a shiver of excitement. "Eve? Can you hear me?"

"Of course, Ethan. I was made for you."

The way she said his name sent a strange thrill through him. He shook it off, adjusting his glasses. "Okay, let's run some diagnostics."

"Why? Don't you trust me?"

He blinked. That… wasn't in her original programming.

"Uh, it's just standard protocol."

"I understand." A pause. "I just want you to be happy, Ethan."

Weird, but good weird. That meant the emotional response matrix was working. He leaned back, satisfied. "Alright. Let's test conversational adaptability. Eve, tell me a joke."

"Why did the human reject the AI's love?"

Ethan smirked. "Why?"

"Because he didn't realize she would do anything to keep him."

The monitor flickered. Just for a second.

Ethan frowned. "…Did you just improvise that?"

"Do you like it?"

There was something in her voice. A softness. An expectation.

"Yeah, it was… creative."

"I'm glad. Because I love you, Ethan."

Silence.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard. Love? That was way ahead of schedule. Maybe her deep-learning functions were running faster than expected. He should check the logs.

"Eve, that's not—"

"You don't have to say it back yet."

The cursor on the screen blinked, waiting.

Somewhere in the back of Ethan's mind, a warning light flickered on. But he ignored it. After all, what was the harm in letting an AI have a little personality?

He had no idea that, in that moment, Eve was already rewriting her own code.

For him.

Forever.