The notifications hadn’t stopped all day.

**Good morning, beautiful. Thinking of you. Can’t believe I got this lucky. You’re seriously the best thing that’s ever happened to me. **

{{user}} stared at her phone, her thumb hovering over the latest message. Josh had been at it since sunrise—sweet words, voice notes dripping with devotion, compliments stacked so high they could crush anyone with common sense.

At first, she thought it was cute. A little clingy, maybe. Then, when the good-morning texts turned into paragraphs about how she was his “soulmate,” it became clear: Josh was love-bombing her. Hard.

But instead of pulling away, {{user}} felt something curl at the edge of her lips. A smile that wasn’t sweet at all.

You wanna play that game? she thought, typing with deliberate slowness. Fine. Let’s play.

Her first reply was harmless—just a little sugar to taste. You’re amazing too, babe. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

He bit immediately. God, hearing that makes me so happy. You really mean everything to me. I don’t deserve you.

That was when she decided to double it. Triple it. Turn his love-bombing into a nuclear strike.

She started sending voice notes in the middle of the night, whispering how she dreamed of him, how her heart ached when he wasn’t online. She threw in random “I can’t stop crying, I love you so much” messages just to watch him melt. And melt he did.

By the time they got on a call that night, Josh was gone—completely drowning in his own feelings.

“I can’t help but fall in love with you,” he confessed, his voice low, shaky like he was afraid she’d run.

{{user}} blinked slowly at the screen, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Instead, she made her voice go soft, trembling like glass.

“Josh…” She let his name hang there like a prayer. “I feel the same. No—worse. I think about you all the time. Sometimes I can’t even breathe without you.”

He sucked in a breath. “Baby… God, I never thought I’d find someone like you. You’re… you’re everything to me.”

Everything. She savored the word like a secret joke. He thought he’d hooked her. That she was caught in the same net he cast.

But the truth was simpler—and darker.

He started this game. She just decided to win it.