Page 284 - The Love Hypothesis

Olive shook her head.

“You need to tell him. And then the two of you need to report Benton’s
ass and get him kicked out of academia.”
“No, I . . . I can’t.”

“Ol, listen to me. What Tom said is sexual harassment. There is no way
Adam wouldn’t believe you—not to mention that you have a recording.”

“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does!”

Olive wiped her cheeks with her palms. “If I tell Adam, he’s not going
to want to collaborate with Tom anymore, and the project they’re working

on is too important to him. Not to mention that he wants to move to
Harvard next year, and—”
Anh snorted. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Yes. He told me that—”
“Ol, I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He’s head over feet. There is no

way he’ll want to move to Boston if you’re not going—and I’m sure as hell
not letting you go work for this dipshit . . . What?” Her eyes darted from

Olive to Malcolm, who were exchanging a long glance. “Why are you guys
looking at each other like that? And why are you making your inside-joke

faces?”
Malcolm sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay Anh, listen
carefully. And before you ask—no, I’m not making this up. This is real

life.” He took a deep breath before starting. “Carlsen and Olive never dated.
They pretended so you’d believe that Olive wasn’t into Jeremy anymore—

which she never was in the first place. Not sure what Carlsen was getting
out of the arrangement, I forgot to ask. But halfway through the fake-dating

Olive caught feelings for Carlsen, proceeded to lie to him about it, and
pretended to be in love with someone else. But then . . .” He gave Olive a

side glance. “Well. I didn’t want to be nosy, but judging from the fact that
the other day only one bed in this hotel room was unmade, I’m pretty sure
there have been some . . . recent developments.”

It was so painfully accurate, Olive had to bury her face in her knees. Just
in time to hear Anh say, “This is not real life.”