Chapter 1

It’s Saturday night.

Maya slumped onto her couch, knees tucked under her, a mug of chamomile tea going cold on the side table. Outside her apartment window, the city buzzed with life—people laughing in the streets, cars honking in traffic, lights gleaming across the skyline. But here, in her pristine minimalist living room, everything felt unnervingly quiet.

Too quiet.

Maya hated this. It reminded her of loneliness.

Her phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with yet another text.

𝗔𝘃𝗮: Girl, mag-SoulLink ka na. Swear, it’s time. Baka andiyan na ‘yung soulmate mo!

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop the smile pulling at her lips. Ava, her bestfriend, had been on a weeks-long crusade to get her on SoulLink, a new dating app marketed for “deep, genuine connections.” Ava swore by it. Her? Not so much.

Betrayal leaves scars, and her scars ran deep. Her father, who left when she was eight. Her ex, Alex, whose idea of love was an endless string of lies. Opening up again? Pass.

Her thumbs moved across the screen.

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮: Ava, no. I’m not ready to get catfished by another charming sociopath.

𝗔𝘃𝗮: What if he’s not? You never know unless you try.

Maya sighed, setting her phone face down on the couch. You never know unless you try. The words sat heavy in her chest, whispering like an old truth she’d stopped believing in.

It wasn’t like Ava was wrong, but putting herself out there again felt like climbing a mountain without gear. What if she fell? What if no one caught her?

And yet…

Before she could talk herself out of it, Maya reached for the laptop and opened it, her fingers hovering over the trackpad.

Her gaze flickered to the screen. What’s the worst that could happen?

“What the hell am I doing?” she muttered.

---

An hour later… after much internal debate, Maya stared at her newly created profile. It was honest—maybe too honest—but she couldn’t bring herself to pretend.

About Me: “Bookworm, tech nerd, and coffee addict. I like quiet moments, long hikes, and conversations that mean something. No games, just real.”

She hovered over “Save” for a full minute before clicking it.

Tap.

She exhaled, her chest tight. There. Done.

A notification popped up almost instantly.

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵: 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗲𝗱.

Maya frowned. “Asher Reed?” The name sounded vaguely familiar, like something she’d read in passing.

Clicking on the profile, her breath caught.

The photo was simple—no filters, no flashy poses. Just a man with tousled dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and a calm confidence that practically oozed through the screen. He wasn’t smirking like most guys online.

“Wow,” she whispered, blinking as if to reset herself.

There was no grand, over-the-top bio. Just a photo and the simplicity of his name. It intrigued her more than it should have. Is this real?

Her heart thumped in her chest as she debated what to do.

Say hello?

Leave it alone?

Before she could change her mind, a message popped up.

𝗔𝘀𝗵: I’ll admit, I was hoping we’d match. Hi.

She blinked at the boldness, a surprised laugh escaping her lips.

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮: Confident ka ah. Algorithm ba o gut feeling?

𝗔𝘀𝗵: Maybe both. I like to think the app’s smarter than me, but I’m trusting my instincts on this one.

Maya stared at his message, heat rising to her cheeks. She typed back, her heart pounding.

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮: We’ll see if your instincts are any good.

---

Ash closed his laptop, leaning back in his chair with a small, satisfied grin. He hadn’t expected the app to match him with someone like her—genuine, witty, and seemingly unafraid to be herself.

He let out a breath, his fingers tapping idly on the desk. SoulLink had been his brainchild—or rather, NovaSpire’s latest venture. He’d joined the beta as a test, using a pseudonym to hide his identity as CEO. No fancy bios. No filters. Just Ash, stripped down to the basics.

It was supposed to be just business.

But Maya… she wasn’t like the others.

He picked up his phone to check his schedule—his father, Reginald Reed, had demanded another “progress” meeting in the morning. The thought soured his mood immediately.

“Reed, stop playing games with these projects. Focus on the bigger picture. NovaSpire must dominate the market.”

The words rang in his ears, cold and familiar. Reginald had spent years molding Ash into the heir he wanted. But lately, all Ash could think about was breaking free—finding something real beyond his CEO title.

And for the first time in a long while, he felt like he might have stumbled upon it.

---

Back at Maya’s Apartment.

“What’s that smile?” Ava’s voice broke through the phone speaker, dragging Maya out of her thoughts.

Maya groaned, tucking the phone under her ear as she washed her mug in the sink. “Don’t start.”

“Don’t start what? You’re smiling. Kilala kita, girl. Sino siya?”

“Fine,” Maya muttered. “Nag-SoulLink ako.”

The squeal that followed was deafening. “I knew it! Anong pangalan?”

“Asher Reed.”

“Asher Reed?” Ava paused. “Wait. Sounds familiar…”

“Stop Googling people.”

“Fine.” Ava huffed dramatically. “Pero, friend, happy ako for you. For real.”

Maya rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop her own smile. Ash. Just the name made something flutter in her chest. She shook her head, shutting the feeling off.

---

Curled up in bed, Maya stared at her phone, re-reading Ash’s messages.

𝗔𝘀𝗵: What’s your favorite book? And don’t say “it’s too hard to choose.” That’s cheating.

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮: That’s literally the hardest question ever. But okay. Pride and Prejudice. Classic, I know.

𝗔𝘀𝗵: Timeless. Do you like Mr. Darcy because he’s rich, or because he’s misunderstood?

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮: A bit of both. But mostly, I like that he grows as a person. Redemption arcs are underrated.

She sighed, her heart doing an unfamiliar flutter. “Stop it, Maya,” she told herself. But it was hard to ignore how natural the conversation felt, how easy Ash made it to open up without feeling judged.

Maya set her phone down, her pulse racing. There it was again—that spark of hope.

She hated the idea. It had burned her before.

And yet, for the first time in years, Maya felt the walls around her heart begin to crack.

---

Sunday Morning.

Ash walked into his father’s office, dressed in a crisp suit that felt like armor. Reginald Reed didn’t look up as he entered.

“You’re late,” Reginald said, his voice cutting through the air like ice.

“Good morning to you too, Dad,” Ash replied, his tone laced with sarcasm.

Reginald finally looked at him, his expression stern. “Enough with your distractions, Reed. NovaSpire comes first. Always.”

Ash clenched his jaw. He thought about Maya—about the woman who’d reminded him what it felt like to laugh. To connect. “There’s more to life than this,” he wanted to shout.

But he didn’t.

Not yet.

---

Maya sat at her desk, her laptop open. Another notification from SoulLink.

𝗔𝘀𝗵: Dinner over FaceTime? Tomorrow?

She blinked, surprised. Who suggested FaceTime dinners anymore?

Her fingers hesitated.

Then, smiling softly, she typed back.

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗮: Sure. Just don’t judge my cooking.

---

Ash leaned back on the balcony of his family’s sprawling mansion, phone in hand, staring at Maya’s message.

In the distance, he could hear Reginald shouting instructions at staff members below. Ash tuned it out.

He had dinner plans tomorrow.

And for once, he was looking forward to something not dictated by his father or NovaSpire.