Chapter 2

2: 2

02

The System was right.

I knew of Stan Weiss. Stan Weiss had no idea who I was.

He ran in Craig James's circle, and Craig had never once introduced me to his friends.

The only reason I knew about him at all was that Craig hated him.

Craig had worked hard his whole life, and he'd still always come in second.

First place always went to Stan Weiss, who slept through every class.

When Craig couldn't beat him in the classroom, he tried to beat him in sports, and lost even worse.

Later, once school was behind them, Craig started his company and finally got the upper hand on the aimless, do-nothing Stan Weiss.

But he barely had time to enjoy it. Stan Weiss got bored, threw himself into an emerging industry, and inside a year his company had outgrown Craig's.

Back then, Craig cursed Stan Weiss even in his sleep.

That was how I learned Stan Weiss existed at all.

Before I could answer the System, my phone chimed with a new message.

It was from Craig.

He'd written: 【Miriam Cox, is lying to me fun? You don't even know Stan Weiss.】

I didn't reply. Instead I said to the System, "Sis, can you actually be useful for once? Go find Stan Weiss right now and force him to come on the honeymoon with me. Zap him if he won't!"

The System sounded ready to cry. "But host, the only person I can zap is you!"

My vision went dark.

The System had bound itself to me last week, the moment I discovered Willa Chandler was Craig's first love.

It told me I was inside a heartbreak novel and had to farm enough heartbreak points before it would let me go.

No upside. Only downside.

I didn't want to farm any heartbreak points. I just wanted to break up with Craig and get as far away from him as possible.

The thought had barely formed when a current tore straight through my body, leaving me dizzy and seeing spots.

That was how I found out there was a penalty for not doing the tasks.

I took a deep breath and asked the System, "Can you at least get close to Stan Weiss, close enough that he can hear you talk?"

"That much I can do."

"Good."

I leaned in and murmured a few things to the System.

The System looked pained. "This doesn't seem like a great idea…"

"Do you want your heartbreak points or not?"

"On my way!"

On the System's first day with Stan Weiss, Craig sent me a message.

He wrote: 【Miriam, don't be so stubborn.】

I couldn't be bothered to answer.

On the second day, Craig called me.

He said, "Miriam, do you have any idea Willa's been crying for two days straight because of you? Get over here and apologize to her, now!"

I hung up on the spot.

On the third day the System spent with Stan Weiss, my doorbell rang.

It wasn't Craig at the door. It was Stan Weiss.

I didn't go to open it. I was scrolling through Willa Chandler's posts.

Craig had taken her to a sacred snow-peak resort in the Rockies.

The two of them stood beneath the prayer flags for a photo.

No hand-holding, no embrace, just a quiet look between them.

And from that look I read the love the two of them couldn't say out loud.

I gave it a like.

I set down my phone and opened the door.

Stan Weiss stood outside, dark circles under his eyes, and said in an exhausted voice, "Can you please make that damned System of yours stop singing corny pop songs in my ear twenty-four hours a day!"