Berkeley campus. Golden afternoon light filters through the oaks. Jen and Mei lounge on the grass near Sather Tower, textbooks forgotten, phones in hand.

Jen (smirking at her screen): “Look at this one. Oxford-educated, building some bleeding-edge AI thing in SF. Cute pic too.”

Mei (leaning over): “Blonde tech bro? Bold choice. What's his handle?”

Jen: “@JoeTheNeuralNomad. Already followed him. Time to slide in.”

Across the Bay in San Francisco, Joe sits in a trendy SoMa café, laptop open to lines of neural net code, when his phone lights up with a new DM.

The chat begins. Jen moves fast, assertive, teasing. Joe bites immediately.

Mei watches Jen type, eyebrow raised.

Mei: “You're really reeling him in. Poor guy has no idea what's coming.”

Jen (smiling wickedly): “That's the fun part. He thinks he's the hunter. Wait till he meets Xia and Ling.”

The trap was set—flirty texts today, velvet chains tomorrow.