In the restaurant, Liz has been looking at the menu for twenty minutes. She stops at the Tiramisu on the last page for a while. It was Edward’s favorite dessert. The waiter passes her again and his impatient glance is like a wave of heat that burns her cheek red. Liz rolls her eyes up and curses unpunctual people silently. A man rushes in and takes the seat on the other side of the table. His white shirt becomes a little transparent because of the sweat. The muscle underneath can been seen indistinctly. She moves her eyes back to the menu.

“Sorry, I’m late, extra work today. You must be Miss Elizabeth, I am Edmund. You look even more stunning than the picture.” He greets her with his deep voice as if his vocal organ is his stomach. His compliment sounds sincere.

“Thank you, nice to meet you.”

She doesn’t notice her indifferent tone for that she is trying to check her makeup from the reflection from the screen of her phone. Her eyeliner today is like a hook. She hopes the man in front of her now can swallow the bait of love blindly today.

After they order the dishes, she put her hand in her handbag for the box. She puts it on the table beside his box. The frosted black surface seems mysterious. The boxes immediately stick to each other like a couple who is crazy in love. It had better work well to prove its value of one-third of a month’s salary.

“It seems that we are connected, I mean our boxes,” He raises his glass and pick up his first capsule from the box.

“Shall we?”

“Why not? Cheers.”

The first capsule is as white as an innocent lamb. If she swallows it, she will know this guy’s basic information. She elegantly raises her glass and swallows the capsule without hesitation.

A slight headache starts to take over. She closes her eyes for the dizziness. It is like someone condenses and squeezes all the important experiences in a movie and plays it 10 times faster in her head. All in her mind is nothing but

“Wow.”

“You were brought up in a small town as the second child, so you didn’t get as much attention as your older brother and younger sister. That does happen in some families…Oh,” he holds her hand; his hand is warm and comforting. “You were bullied at school just for the acne on the face? How ridiculous! Why did you put that in the capsule? And let’s see, ha, your first love. Edward? He looked cute though. He was the first one who really cared about you. Huh, interesting.”

She senses jealousy and takes over the conversation immediately. “And about you, Mr. Edmund. A software engineer? Are you kidding me? Oh, I really need a computer geek in my life; my computer never agrees with me. You and your coworkers had a party here and it was so crazy that it scared out the other guests that day. Haha haha. How funny.”

More and more memories are brought up. She hasn’t laughed that happily for quite a while after breaking up. Thanks to technology, their first date is not awkward at all. He is like a friend that is as warm as a lighthouse for a lost boat wondering in the bitter sea.

When he is driving her home, her eyes fix on his décor hanging under the rearview mirror. It is a furry bear who lost one of its legs. Another piece of memory shows up in her mind.

“You still keep the bear. Hey, I am sorry about your ex-girlfriend. You and Isabella had a quarrel right in the car? Why hurt the poor bear! Ouch!” A headache like a storm almost knocks her down. The pain is crushing her heart into pieces. The movie tape playing in her head suddenly becomes a broken CD. All in front of her eyes are flakes on an old TV and all she can hear is maddening scratching sounds. He stops the car and hugs her gently as if he is already her boyfriend.

“I am sorry to let you see this.”

She sobs quietly in his arms. Not really for the horrible scene, but this hug was as warm as Edward’s.

The next date is the day right after. They take the second capsule as soon as they see each other. This yellow capsule looks as warm as the afternoon sun. Having swallowed it with water, she immediately knows what he likes and dislikes. This does help with promoting the intimacy between them. Edmund is now like a close friend who knows her better than her mom. Things that would take years now will just take a capsule. The plan for the day is doing archery. Except for archery, they both share similar hobbies. What a coincidence! Is he the one? Before they start, he even thoughtfully buys her a Coke Zero, which is her favorite. The sweetness of Coke Zero is just like love, which is nothing but a deceptive illusion from artificial sweeteners.

The archery range is a lot of fun for someone who knows nothing about it to go with an expert. She laughs so hard and falls into Edmund’s arms when her arrow hit the target of someone else’s. Edmund teaches her how to hold the bow and arrow. A patient man could always make her heart forget how to beat. She likes it when he is assisting her drawing the bow, and his muscle is getting tenser and tenser around her. His perfume with his sweat mixes together, maybe with a little scent of cigarettes. She is willing to choke in the smell. He is really good at archery and he even wins something: a toy boy holding a bow and perhaps, her heart.

In the car, he gives the toy to her because it is stupid for a man to keep. She names it their Cupid and hangs it under the rearview mirror to replace the broken bear. He smiles. Maybe she also replaces his broken heart with a new loving heart.

That night, none of them went home. After taking a fire red capsule, the spaces between them totally vanished in a hotel room.

“Shall we take the last capsule now?”

She can even hear her own heartbeat when asking the question. The last capsule is black, looks like poison. It has the magic of replacing whoever is in her heart with this connected “soulmate.” After these days, she is not sure whether she is really in love. No, this is not love. But she desperately needs to have a taste of his love again, ignoring the voice telling her that it is the illusion of poison.

“Sure.”

In Edmund’s arms, she closes her eyes. Her eyes were filled with tear of joy.

“I love you, Ed.”

Then they lived together happily until one day the capsule system updated and they suddenly know the real thoughts on each other’s mind.

“I’m done with you. Edward. I don’t want your pity.” Liz’s tears burst out before she finished her words.

“Fuck off, Isabella. Get out of my car!” Edmund tried to tear down their Cupid and threw its broken leg at the empty passage seat.