Science of Love

Chapter 3

 Later, when all of them have woken up and left and consoled Bella one last time about how hot he is and how inevitable it is that she’d find someone perfect for her, Bella sits with her phone (and heart) in the palm of her hand, feeling the nerves kick in. SHe’s normally never shy about phone contact but there’s something about contacting this Matthew  person that makes her hands sweat. Her potential love interest would totally not like that.

Bella [2:40 P.M]

Hey

Is this Matthew Lee? 

Matthew Lee [2:40 P.M.]

It is!

Who may this be?

Bella [2:45 P.M.]

Hi

Um

This is  Bella George

My friend Aly was contacted through your, uh, girlfriend

Hestia?

For some…experiment

Matthew Lee [2:47 P.M.]

!!!!

Right! Yes, hello

Yeah, I’m Matthew Lee

I’m guessing you’re contacting me to know 

Well, more details about this

Right?

Bella [2:50 P.M.]

Yeah

I didn’t get the clear picture

I’m…interested in whatever you’re attempting

But I’d still like to know the full picture 

Before, um

Stepping into anything

Matthew Lee [2:55 P.M.]

Of course! 

I apologise for the lack of details

Hestia gets excited and says things before they can be formal 

Ok, so

[typing…]

Here’s the short version. If you’re interested after this, I’ll explain it in more detail at the lab. So, there was an experiment conducted in the US in 1997 about whether or not ‘love’ as we know it can be created/manipulated etc. My team and I are recreating it in the Asian and specifically South Korean context with additional variables like culture, sexuality etc. And so, I’m looking for participants, of all kinds- men, women, l***q. Age criteria can be early twenties onwards. Some are skepticals of love while some are hopelessly romantic.  It’s a small thing for now. 

So that.

I understand if you don’t feel comfortable. If you do take this further, please know that you’d have the right to withdraw at any time. 

Bella looks at the last message for a long time. She reads and rereads the short passage, wondering and doubting both at the same time. Experimenting with love? It sounded so horribly logical and scientific about one of the most beautiful emotions of all times, and yet- she couldn’t help but feel curious. Not that it was the magic solution to her number one problem but it was still a unique twist and she was- sue her, intrigued.

Bella [3:05 P.M.]

This sounds neat

Yeah, I’m interested

Count me in!

Matthew Lee [3:06 P.M.]

Awesome!

I’ll contact you with further details in a short while

Thank you so much for participating. 

I look forward to working with you

PS- Apologies again for Hestia

Bella smiles. She locks her phone, chucking it to the side and clicking fingers in the air, whistling for his dog Cooky to come out of whatever hole she’d decided to make her home. Her dog, realising that the house was free of pesky human intruders like her loud friends, tumbles out, and Bella picks her up, nuzzling into her fur.

“What do you think, Cooky? Should mommy go for this?” Cooky yips at her and Bella can’t discern if she’s agreeing or simply asking for treats. Knowing her stature as a dog, it’s most probably the latter.

Sigh. SHe’s really f*****g lonely if she’s talking to her dog and expecting a human response.

But maybe no longer.

~

[Time: 1 week later, pre-day 1]

“You sure about this, Matthew?”

“Absolutely certain,” Matthew  replies, not even looking up from the rough mess of sheets he’s handling. He knows Hestia is somewhere off to his right, on the couch maybe, at some awkward angle that Matthew  can’t manage with his shitty flexibility. “This will be fun.”

“You’re not using statistics,” Hestia replies, voice edging closer. “I don’t think you’re very certain about this.”

Matthew  looks up briefly from the proposal. “Certain about what? That this experiment is killing two birds with one stone?” He looks down again. “Besides, I’ve always been more of a qualitative research guy. Numbers are just spicy.”

Hestia groans. “God, you’re so weird.” There’s silence for a while before he hears a resounding sigh. “I don’t know, Matt. Jeremy won’t be happy with his life being interfered with like this.”

“Jeremy’s never going to be happy as long he’s got his head taking space up in his a*s,” Matthew  intones. “So we’re being sneaky a bit. Big deal. We wouldn’t have to if he’d just listen to us instead of ranting about the capitalism of love for the 500th time.”

Hestia only shrugs helplessly. Matthew  knows where Hestia’s nervousness is coming from; after all, he’s taking a slight risk in being so persistent in having Jeremy be one of his subjects. Technically, he shouldn’t. He ethically can’t take someone known to him, but sue him- he’s sick of Jeremy’s defences and would really like his hyung to widen his world view, if not his people view.

If Jeremy found out that this is a deliberate ruse cooked up by Matthew  to maybe set him up, he’s going to be strung like a dead goat. Over a spitfire, slowly roasting even.

“I mean, it’s not necessary that love needs to happen or be the thing people are looking for, you know.”

“I know that,” Matthew  says. He’s debated this point a million times with his team. “Love can be anything, not just romance. I know we’ve dubbed this the ‘science of love’ but really, if the end result is friendship or intimacy or whatever, it’s still love. It’s still a result.” Matthew  shakes a hand through his hair, internally cringing at how greasy it feels. “Look, I love my bro but he needs to stop being that crone at the edge of the forest who hisses at everyone to leave him alone. I want him to find out more. Experiment a little. You and I both know where most of his hostility comes from anyway.”

At that Hestia shuts her mouth and falls silent. Neither really like recalling the Core Reason, even if Jeremy jokes about it sometimes. They know how important it is to Jeremy’s sense of identity.

So maybe Matthew ’s breaking a rule. Maybe he’s using his friend a little. He’s a shitty person sometimes. But he really wants Jeremy to be happy, to at least give life a chance beyond the capitalist dogma which he totally agrees with on most days. That’s one of the things he’s always wanted for his best friend.

And Matthew  thinks, maybe he’d find something good for his friend in the meantime.