Chapter 2 — System Online
The next time Ethan woke, it was because sunlight stabbed him in the face through half-closed hospital blinds.For a few long seconds, he had no idea where he was.Then the sharp antiseptic sting in the air and the ache in his ribs reminded him.
Right.Truck.Girl.Death, maybe.
He groaned and pressed a palm against his chest. Every breath felt like his lungs were wrapped in barbed wire. A monitor beside him chirped, the heart-rate line spiking.
A nurse appeared, brisk and calm. "Good morning, Mr. Rivers. How are we feeling?"
"Like a speed bump," he rasped.
She smiled politely, adjusting his IV drip. "You gave us quite the scare. You were technically dead for forty-five seconds." She said it casually, like it was the weather.
"Forty-five?" He blinked. "So, not even a full minute. That's disappointing."
The nurse chuckled. "Lucky, actually. You came back before we even finished the first round of CPR."
Lucky.He wasn't sure he liked that word.
As she checked the monitors, Ethan caught a flicker at the edge of his vision—like sunlight bouncing off glass.He turned his head, but nothing was there.
"Any dizziness?" she asked.
"Only existential."
She wrote something on her clipboard, clearly used to sarcasm. "The Doctor will check on you soon. Try to rest."
He muttered something about rage-quitting bodies and watched her leave, leaving him alone with the sterile scent of disinfectant.
Then he noticed it: a faint flicker of blue light in the corner of his vision. Thin, translucent letters hovered in midair.
[System Boot Sequence Detected][User Identified — Rivers, Ethan L.][Status: Critical — Biological activity suspended]
Ethan frowned. He waved at the letters. They shimmered, rippling like water, then stabilized.
[Verifying User Identity …][Neural link active][Welcome to The Dating Protocol]
A humorless laugh escaped him. "Right. Because the afterlife clearly runs on beta software."
No voice replied, no guide appeared. Just cold, crisp lines of light.
[Initialization complete][Collecting baseline metrics …]
Ethan blinked, trying to understand.
Confidence: 32%Charisma: 28%Empathy: 41%Compatibility potential: Undetermined
"Compatibility with… what?" he muttered.
No answer—just the pulse of light, precise and indifferent.
Then new lines appeared:
[Objective Framework Online]Purpose: Facilitate real romantic connectionsMethod: Behavioral reinforcement and positive feedback
Ethan's throat went dry. "You've got to be kidding me."
[Calibration scan complete — 1 eligible target detected]
A name appeared in small, perfect letters: Ava Monroe
He rubbed his eyes. The words didn't disappear. They lingered, humming faintly at the edge of his vision.
Before he could process further, the door opened.
Ava stepped in. Hair slightly messy, green eyes wide, wrist wrapped in gauze. The polished, perfect campus influencer was replaced by someone real—tired, human, genuinely concerned.
"Hey," she said softly. "You're awake."
"Seems so," he managed, voice rough. "Unless this is… some weird dream."
She hesitated near the foot of the bed. "They said you saved me. I didn't even see the truck coming."
"Yeah," he said, voice cracking a little. "I noticed."
She laughed, a small, breathless sound that cut through the sterile air. Almost immediately, blue text blinked in his vision:
[Emotional engagement detected][Logging interaction — positive response]
Ethan groaned quietly. The system was… recording her? He made a mental flick to turn off the system notifications for now. They kept distracting him.
She didn't notice, continuing to talk. She slowly sat on the edge of his bed, hands moving to smooth his hair back from his forehead.
"You—um—you stopped breathing for a while. Doctors said you were… dead."
Ethan managed a weak grin. "Well… I guess I could say my heart only skipped a beat for you. That counts for something, right?"
Her laugh rang out again, brighter this time.
Ethan blinked. He was captivated by her smile, it felt like she was genuinely happy to see him make dumb jokes.
"What?" Ava frowned, when she realized he was just staring at her.
"Nothing," he muttered, quickly.
She gave him a puzzled look but didn't push. Ethan's ribs screamed each time he breathed, each small movement a reminder of the accident.
The system pulsed again. and this time he let it through.
[Objective completed — Make her smile][Target: Ava Monroe][Reward confirmed]
[Calculating reward …]
+$500 credited to linked account
Ethan stared at the fading letters until they dissolved completely.
Ava followed his gaze. "You okay?"
He forced a nod. "Yeah. Head's still... rebooting."
She pulled a chair closer and told him what had happened after the crash—how the driver fainted, how campus security had freaked out, how his name was already trending online. "Everyone's calling you a hero," she said.
"Great," he muttered. "My least favorite genre."
Her smile softened, worried eyes lingering on him. And once again, the system recorded.
[Stage 1 complete][New objective pending …][Make her smile — achieved][Next prompt unlock in 24 hours]
Ethan sank back into the pillows, letting out a slow breath. The faint glow of blue letters lingered behind his eyelids, patient and silent.
[The Dating Protocol — Active]
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that survival hadn't been the real reward here. Connection was.
And for the first time since the accident, Ethan allowed himself the smallest, guilty smile. Maybe dying hadn't been the worst thing to happen to him after all.