Chapter 1

Tags: Rom-Com, Enemies to Lovers, Blind Date, Sweet Romance, Dual POV Energy

My mom tricked me into driving home, claiming there was a massive family emergency.

I sped all the way back, heart in my throat, only to find a meticulously planned ambush blind date.

"Summer, sweetie! Helen’s son is brilliant, super successful, and works right in your district! You two will have so much in common!" My mom was beaming from ear to ear.

I rolled my eyes so hard internally they almost got stuck. But for the sake of family peace, I forced myself to sit down.

The doorbell rang. My mom practically sprinted to the door.

Then, the door opened.

Standing there was the exact guy who had camped my spawn and killed me eight hundred times in my favorite game,

competed against me to the death at work,

and someone I wished I could avoid until the end of time.

Chase Evans.

He was dressed in a sharp, ridiculously tailored suit, standing right on my parents' porch.

Our eyes locked. Both of our pupils dilated in sheer horror.

My mom greeted him warmly. "Chase, you're here! Come in, come in! This is my daughter, Summer."

Chase’s expression morphed from complete shock to frozen stiffness, before he finally forced a smile even fakier than my mom's. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Miller. Good to see you... Miss Miller."

*Miss Miller?* Was it your evil twin who argued with me in the project WhatsApp group until 2 AM last night?

I spent the entire dinner sitting on pins and needles.

My mom and Mrs. Evans were pushing hard. "You both work in the Financial Twin Towers, right? Tower A and Tower B! Isn't that pure fate?"

Fate? More like a curse! The coffee shop downstairs was our personal battlefield. The number of passive-aggressive wars we had waged over the very last cup of cold brew was legendary!

My mom sighed. "Our Summer is just too competitive. She needs a dependable man to take care of her."

And Chase—that shameless jerk—actually nodded in agreement. "You're totally right, Mrs. Miller. Girls shouldn't push themselves so hard."

I almost snapped my fork in half.

Who was the one who publicly tore down my proposal at last week’s industry conference, claiming it "lacked innovation"?

Stop pretending to be an innocent golden retriever!

Desperate to survive the awkwardness, I kept my head down, shoveling food and focusing on the fat cat lounging nearby.

"Nugget, c'mere, buddy. Want a piece of shrimp?"

Mrs. Evans paused, looking completely puzzled.

"Wait, Summer... how did you know our cat's name is Nugget?"

My fork froze in midair. My brain short-circuited.

Crap. Total slip of the tongue!

Chase’s gaming tag—and his avatar on literally every platform—was a picture of this exact fat cat named Nugget! We had been roasting each other online for three years; how could I *not* know?!

Under the table, Chase gently kicked my foot. Then, without batting an eye, he chimed in:

"Mom, she probably saw it on my Ins. Miss Miller must have stumbled across my profile."

I jumped on that lifeline instantly. "Right! Yes! Totally by accident. Just saw it on Ins."

Mrs. Evans had an instant revelation.

"Ohhh! Chase, you’ve been secretly checking out Summer's Ins this whole time?"

Chase: "..."

Me: "..."

Now the misunderstanding was a million times worse!

After dinner, our moms kicked us both out under the excuse of "letting the kids bond."

Walking through the community park, Chase and I maintained a solid ten-foot buffer between us. The air around us was colder than an Antarctic glacier.

"Ha. Honestly didn't expect my mom’s ‘exceptional young man’ to be you," I sneered, breaking the silence.

Chase shoved his hands into his slacks pockets and let out a cold chuckle.

"Right back at you. I never imagined the ‘gentle and sweet’ Summer was the same psycho who chased me across three game maps with an axe."

"You had it coming! You stole my boss kill!"

"Did that boss have your name stamped on its forehead?"

Realizing we were about to start a fistfight on the sidewalk, I took a deep breath.

"Fine. Cut the crap. When we get back, we tell our parents we're totally incompatible. Zero chemistry. Got it?"

Chase raised an eyebrow. "Music to my ears."

With that truce established, the tension softened by about one percent. We walked side by side, our shadows stretching long under the moonlight.

After a few quiet minutes, Chase asked out of nowhere:

"That technical roadblock you mentioned in the group chat yesterday... did you end up solving it?"

I blinked, taken aback. "Why do you care?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Just... curious."

Weird. Why was my arch-nemesis suddenly showing concern for my work?