Page 51 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

To: DTI Production Team ([email protected])

CC: Shawna Vasquez ([email protected])

Re: Memo from Peter Dixon

Hey folks,

Thanks to Shawna for flagging this. Please pay attention to the notes below. Today’s episode got a little graphic. We need a trigger warning for anyone with a sensitivity to vomiting, gross stuff, food, etc.

—PD

Begin Forwarded Message:

Production Notes for Editors:“Dawn Tay’s Inferno: Love Is Hell,” Season 1, Episode 3: Gluttony

Content Warning needed before episode. Language can read: “This episode contains graphic depictions of vomiting.”

Word choice? Mention bodily fluids, food sensitivity, or other related topics? LK please advise.

Make sure any scenes are tastefully blurred before airing.

Chapter Eleven

Hell Is Sharing a Bed with Your (Hot) Nemesis

It must be Sundayis my first thought when I wake up. I can already tell it’s going to be one of those pleasant, syrupy-slow mornings that makes you feel all warm and loose. I don’t open my eyes because I just know, deep down, that I have all the time in the world. Mornings like these are rare, and I luxuriate in the feeling of sleeping in and cuddling with my boyfriend.

I have a hazy sense that I’m just emerging from a series of weird dreams, but his arm draped over me is a comforting weight. When I feel him stretch behind me, I push my hips back into his, so that we’re spooned together. I can feel the satisfied hum he lets out, the sound reverberating through him as he shifts closer to me. His hand runs down my stomach to my thigh, and I arch into him, wanting—no, needing—him to dip his hand between my legs. A soft kiss is dropped on my neck, and I moan.

“Mmm,Chase,” I say, turning in his arms, hands reaching up to curve behind his neck. I press into him and—

“Alice?” rumbles a bleary voice, and I freeze. Oh shit. This isn’t Chase.

It’s Daniel. In bed with me. And I’m all over him.

I shriek and push roughly back, shoving Daniel in the face with my palm and tumbling off the bed all in one go. I look up at the ceiling, my heart racing as I try to piece together the jagged edges of yesterday andlast night into some semblance of sense.

Daniel peeks over the edge of the bed, throwing everything into startling clarity.

Chase is with Selena. I’m with Daniel. Daniel and I are pretending to be madly in love. And we shared the same bed last night.

“You okay? You nearly took my eye out.”

“I—You—” I sputter. “What happened to the pillow wall?”

Daniel glances from me back to the bed. “The pillows are all at the foot of the bed. One of us kicks in our sleep,” he says. “Pretty sure it’s you.”

Chase never mentioned whether I kick in my sleep, but he sleeps like a baby, and even if I was sleep-kicking enough to wake the dead, he wouldn’t have noticed.

Not that it matters.

Because Chase isn’t here. And not only has our entire relationship gone up in smoke, but I’m left trying to win this competition on my own. Everything I knew about Chase, every experience we shared, every little detail about him, right down to his sleeping habits and how much sugar he takes in his coffee, is irrelevant now—and I have to win this competition without that edge.

“It’s okay if you kick,” Daniel says. “I can overlook it for the sake of our fake relationship.”

I throw a pillow at him.

Now that I’m fully awake, I discover that I’m ravenous. Luckily, we ordered room service yesterday since Leah had mentioned that filming was starting early today. There’s a tray of food outside our door—breakfast burritos and little plastic cups of honeydew. I’d give anything for a mug of hot soy milk and a purple rice fantuan right about now, but I’ll take whatever fuel I can get.

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