Heartbeat Rewind

The Sweet Collaboration & The Feeding Loop

[Location: Vila Madalena Art District, Photography Studio]

Vila Madalena is São Paulo's most bohemian, colorful neighborhood, home to the famous "Batman Alley" graffiti walls. Today, an industrial-style studio here had been booked out by "Silva Tech."

To promote the new "Silva Tech x Lu’s Sweet Stop" AI delivery feature, the PR department had arranged a promotional photoshoot.

Under the glare of the strobe lights, Lu felt like an ice cream cone about to melt.

She was wearing a pale pink off-the-shoulder dress, holding her famous "Heartbeat Brigadeiro" in her hands. Standing next to her was Lucas Silva, looking devastatingly elite as always—white shirt, no tie, sleeves rolled up casually to reveal his toned forearms.

"Closer! A little closer!" the photographer shouted. "We need that chemistry of 'Data meeting Sugar'! That feeling of locking eyes amidst the chaotic traffic of São Paulo!"

Lu stiffly shuffled one centimeter closer to Lucas.

Lucas looked down at her standing there like a wooden mannequin, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. Now that he had confirmed she was that little girl from his childhood, everything she did looked incredibly cute to him.

"Relax, partner," he whispered, his arm naturally wrapping around her waist and pulling her firmly into his embrace. "My shirt doesn't bite."

Lu’s face went instantly red. Thump—! Heartbeat alarm triggered.

But before she could trigger the rewind, Lucas seemed to anticipate her reaction. He suddenly picked up a strawberry from the prop plate, dipped it in a little condensed milk, and brought it directly to her lips.

"Open up."

This sudden feeding motion drew the attention of everyone in the room. The photographer frantically snapped photos: "Yes! That's it! The CEO's sweet trap! Perfect!"

Lu looked at the luscious red strawberry, then at Lucas’s deep, smiling eyes. This was... too much of a foul!

Thump—!

[System Triggered: Heartbeat Rewind]

Lu blinked violently. Scene cut back. Lucas had just picked up the strawberry and brought it to her lips. "Open up."

Lu decided to be smart this time. She wanted to eat the strawberry quickly to end this awkward moment. She bit down on the fruit. The sweet and sour juice exploded in her mouth.

But the moment she swallowed, Lucas’s thumb accidentally brushed against her lip. Her heart surrendered again.

Thump—!

[System Triggered: Heartbeat Rewind]

Scene cut back again. Lucas was holding a strawberry (because time reset, the strawberry returned to his hand, but the one in Lu’s stomach remained—this was the accursed Law of Conservation of Abilities). "Open up."

Lu despaired. Again? To prevent anyone from noticing something was wrong, she had no choice but to brace herself and open her mouth to eat the "second" strawberry.

Just like that, within a few seconds of reality, Lu experienced a loop of "Shame—Rewind—Feeding" three times.

When she finally steadied her heart on the third try and didn't trigger a rewind, her cheeks were puffed out like a hamster storing grain, her mouth stuffed full of strawberries and condensed milk.

"Mmph..." Lu chewed with difficulty, glaring at Lucas with resentment.

Lucas looked at her puffy cheeks, the laughter in his eyes practically overflowing. He leaned close to her ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Miss Luciana, at this rate of shooting, do you plan to eat through my entire prop budget? That was... the third one just now."

Lu almost choked. He knew! This jerk knew the whole time!

[Two Hours Later - Silva Tech Tower, War Room]

The vibe changed drastically after the shoot ended. The romantic pink atmosphere vanished, replaced by the tense sound of keyboard clacking.

The giant screen displayed real-time traffic conditions of São Paulo’s evening rush hour. A rainstorm was approaching, and the competitor "TurboEats" had launched a price war, trying to seize market share during the rainy night.

"Congestion index in the South Zone is off the charts. Our AI route planning is lagging!" Henrique, the Operations Director, was sweating. "If we don't adjust immediately, 30% of orders will be late."

Lucas was just preparing to use his "3 Seconds" to manually patch the code bug when a strong hand suddenly pressed down on his keyboard.

It was Lu. She had changed back into her efficient beige cardigan, her eyes terrifyingly calm. At this moment, she was no longer the blushing little girl, but the legendary "Queen L."

"No need to change the code. That's a hardware processing bottleneck; coding won't fix it," Lu’s voice was cool and decisive. "Give me access."

Lucas raised an eyebrow and unhesitatingly yielded the main seat.

Lu’s fingers danced across the keyboard, moving so fast they were a blur.

"Switch all motorcycle orders in Vila Olímpia to 'Bicycle + Subway' relay mode." "Zone B has the heaviest rain. Activate the 'Shelter Algorithm.' Have riders prioritize internal streets with awnings. It adds 200 meters to the distance but increases speed by 15%." "Finally, send a little gift to the TurboEats server... help them 'optimize' their dispatch logic so they snatch up all the orders delivering to the favelas where their bikes can't go."

Five minutes later. The red congestion lines on the big screen miraculously turned into smooth green. Meanwhile, the competitor's app crashed and paralyzed because it had accepted a massive amount of undeliverable remote orders.

Dead silence filled the command room. All the programmers stared open-mouthed at the soft-looking boss lady who was casually sipping bubble tea.

"Done." Lu took a sip of boba, turned to Lucas, and her eyes sparkled with confident light. "President Silva, you didn't need to rewind this time. Save it for later."

Lucas leaned back in his chair, looking at this radiant woman in front of him. In that moment, he heard the sound of his own heart beating violently.

Not just because she was the girl from his childhood. But because the woman in front of him was powerful, brilliant, and his equal.

Thump—!

This time, it was Lucas’s heart that skipped a beat. He subconsciously wanted to press the "Active Rewind" switch in his mind to mask his loss of composure, but he stopped himself.

He looked at Lu, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile of surrender: "Indeed. With you here, I have no need to take back a move."