“That’s right,” Emily said, making a note on her pad. “Annika, any nerves about going in front of a lineup of superstar judges, one of whom is world-renowned billionaire businessman Lionel Wakefield?”

Annika laughed, an easy laugh she’d practiced with June over an entire afternoon. It came out pitch-perfect, and for a moment she was disappointed there wouldn’t be video. “Lionel Wakefield is known as the bleeding-heart billionaire. Who do you think he’s going to identify with more, Emily—a business that specializes in tearing people apart, or one that Hudson Craft himself calls the more moral company?”

Emily laughed, but Hudson was quiet. “Great point, Annika! Could you tell me a little bit about the tech Make Up is using? I hear it got a lot of attention when you first announced what you intended to do. You even won a prestigious grant.”

Annika took her eyes off Hudson to answer the question, though something about his posture bothered her. He was still—too still. Gone was the brash confidence, the boastfulness, the aggravatingly self-assured way he talked about Break Up and his role in its success. He’d folded into himself, which was … disconcerting.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Annika put on another smile for Emily and brought her thoughts back to what she was here to do. “Yes. My developer’s building a deep neural network. We’ve named it OLLI—the Original Love Language Interface—and the idea is that it’ll function as a Google Translate for couples who need help with their communication patterns. OLLI will be the relationship therapist you don’t have to pay two hundred dollars an hour to see.” She took a breath, mentally rehearsing the next thing she wanted to disclose. She and June had decided the Time article would be the perfect vehicle to introduce it to the public. “I’m also really excited to talk exclusively with you about something we’ve been working on in conjunction with the main framework of OLLI: We’re also working to create a future projection feature, in which people can upload their social media profiles and pictures to view a custom video predicting a future for them. Our hope is that it’ll inspire people to keep working on their relationship, to not lose sight of what could be.”

Emily looked genuinely impressed as she scribbled away on her notepad. “That sounds incredibly ambitious, but if you can pull it off…” She shook her head, her dirty-blond hair flouncing. “That could be a game changer.”

“Exactly.” Annika propped her elbows on the arms of her chair, pleased. “You can count on it, Emily. We’re going to change lives.” She darted a look at Hudson to see if he had any reaction, but his head was bent, his fingers tracing the texture of his slacks.