Something unexpected happened. Liam didn't know about it right away, however, and his Tuesday started like any other. He arrived at his office, waited for new clients while supporting the current ones, and before he could go home, a tall man strode through his door—making it his mission to always keep Liam on edge and never let him know exactly when he would reappear.

"You've learned my opening hours," Liam remarked as soon as he lifted his head and saw him.

"I keep your life interesting." Gavin flashed a beaming smile and automatically sat down in the seat across from him.

"What if my life is interesting enough even without you?" Liam raised a blond eyebrow.

"The ex with a missing piece of microwave would agree." The tanned man nodded with a serious look on his face—one that was more than fake—and Liam opened his mouth blankly upon hearing his words, not expecting him to use his confession against him.

His shock didn’t last long, though, quickly turning into laughter, and Gavin immediately followed suit.

"You're unbelievable," Liam said between fading chuckles. Though it was meant as a rebuke, it didn’t quite sound like one in the end.

"Thank you," Gavin replied delightedly, his wide smile returning.

Liam rolled his eyes and decided to steer the conversation in the right direction. After all, the tall man hadn’t come here just to joke around with him. "What happened on your last date?"

"Straight to business," Gavin commented, the smile on his face diminishing. He almost seemed disappointed that he couldn’t carry on any more light conversation with Liam. They weren’t friends, though, and the blond was prepared to treat him like a client.

"Did you find any flaw in them?" the agency owner continued his questioning.

"Would it surprise you if I said no?" Gavin asked in return.

A verbal answer wasn’t necessary—Liam’s raised eyebrows said it all. After all these weeks, he couldn’t believe there was finally someone who met Gavin’s high standards.

For some reason, he wasn’t as pleased with this revelation as he should have been.

Luckily, before he could begin to wallow in his thoughts and unexplainable feelings, Gavin’s ringing laughter snapped him out of his head.

"I can't believe you bought that." The tall man shook his head in amusement.

Liam stopped himself before letting out a breath of relief and instead put on his best annoyed face. "One would think that someday you'd stop being picky. Sorry for believing in you."

"Maybe I'm just not a suitable candidate for love. Have you ever considered that?" Gavin asked.

"Everyone is suitable for love," the blond countered immediately. "Your soulmate is out there somewhere."

"You believe in soulmates?" Gavin tilted his head to the side, his gaze becoming more intense.

Liam couldn’t tell if he was serious or just looking for another way to make a joke at his expense. Still, he decided to answer honestly. "Of course. It would be sad if I didn't. It would mean that the only certainty in life is death, and that's not good enough for me."

Brown eyes watched him for a moment longer with undeniable intensity before a soft smile appeared on Gavin's lips. This time, however, it didn't seem amused. There was something more behind it that Liam couldn't quite identify.

"You really are one of a kind, Liam Cooper," the tanned man declared after a brief silence.

"Is that a bad thing?" Liam asked immediately.

Gavin shook his head. "No. It means you're interesting."

For some inexplicable reason, Liam felt like he might blush, so he knew it was a good time to change the subject and set boundaries again. He cleared his throat first, then asked in a professional tone, "What about your last date? Were they interesting?"

"He was terrible," Gavin assured him, making sure to specify the gender of his last date.

Of course, that one sentence wasn’t enough for Liam. "Tell me more."

"He acted like the world revolved around him. And he kept talking and talking and talking." Gavin threw his head back for a moment, as if reliving the situation and already exhausted by it.

"You've been in a similar situation before, haven't you?" Liam immediately recalled one of Gavin's first dates. "What was her name again?"

"Samantha."

So he hadn’t been wrong. "Right. So what was the difference between..."

"Benny," Gavin supplied.

"What was the difference between Benny and Samantha? You also described her as someone who talked about herself the entire time, if I remember correctly."

"Samantha kept talking about herself because it was her favorite topic. Benny, on the other hand, seemed like he wasn’t going to shut up just to get on my nerves," Gavin explained matter-of-factly.

"What gave you that impression?" Liam asked, trying not to judge the situation until he got more details.

"Every time he said something to me and I didn’t react, he’d just stare at me and then start talking more on purpose," the tall man explained.

"Maybe he just didn’t want the conversation to hit a dead end?" the blond suggested.

Gavin snorted. "That would have been a better option."

"Have you ever considered..." Liam began, but then paused, considering his words. He didn't want to offend Gavin, but after so many failed dates, the question was bothering him more and more.

"What?" the tanned man, however, didn’t have the same tact or patience.

"Have you ever considered that maybe you’re the problem?" Liam uttered quickly, before he could change his mind.

Gavin gave him a surprised look, and it was clear he hadn't expected to ever hear something like that come out of his mouth.

"You think I'm the problem?" Gavin asked back, his tone not betraying whether or not Liam had actually managed to offend him with his blunt question.

"I'm not saying you're the problem..." The blond began, even more nervous than before.

"But?" Again, the tall man didn't wait for him to find the right words and wanted an answer right away.

"It's your seventh date, and the seventh time you've found fault in the person you've chosen," Liam voiced.

"You said I could try to find the worst trait of all your clients," Gavin reminded him.

"I also told you to give people a real chance, since they're looking for love, too." Liam added. It was hard for him to feel bad for judging Gavin when, once again, it became apparent that he hadn't been exactly listening to him.

"It doesn't seem like it," Gavin countered.

"What do you mean?" Liam asked. Both their voices became quieter, and the momentary tension between them was gone.

"You say they're trying to find love, but I don't think that's entirely true. They're looking for validation—someone who will accept them for who they are without having to compromise. They're not ready to share their life with someone else," Gavin replied.

Liam certainly wasn't expecting such a serious answer. Gavin was full of jokes and ironic remarks. It hadn't occurred to him that he might actually think so deeply about relationships.

"I'm sorry if it ruins your perfect idea of love, but it's true," the tanned man added when Liam still didn't respond.

"It doesn't," the blond immediately assured him. "I never said love was perfect. Actually, you're talking to me like I'm not a normal person. I do go on dates. I do know what first dates look like. I know what people are like who pretend to want love but really only go on dates because everyone else is doing it."

This time, it was his voice that turned sharper, and it was obvious the man across from him was surprised. So far, Liam had always managed to keep his cool. The only times he broke professionalism were when Gavin managed to make him laugh or curse. Now, it was neither—and it wasn’t a positive thing either.

"I'm sorry." Gavin had uttered the same words only moments ago, but now it was clear he meant them differently. His apology was sincere, and he was truly sorry for wronging Liam.

The blond man shook his head. "You don't have to apologize. I know it can be frustrating. My point is, if you give up and stop being open because you feel like others aren't either, you might miss out on someone great."

"What if I find someone great, but they're out of my reach?" Gavin asked—a question Liam hadn't expected, just like the soft tone he used. He almost sounded vulnerable.

"Do you have anyone in particular in mind?" Liam had to ask since that was exactly how it struck him. Did Gavin like someone outside the app? Liam wasn't going to pry—it was none of his business.

The tall man cleared his throat and shook his head. "No, it was just a hypothetical question."

It didn't sound like one, Liam thought. Outwardly, though, he just nodded and gave a soft smile. "So, what are you saying? Are you going to give our app another chance?"

"Yep." Gavin nodded and added with amusement, "Hopefully, I can find someone normal next time so you don't think I'm the problem."

As it turned out, however, that statement—though Gavin took it as a joke—wasn't as far from the truth as he'd thought. Liam found that out later that evening when the last client of the day walked into his office.

The owner of the agency took a moment to put a name to a face, but the moment he did, he couldn't believe the coincidence. "Benny, hi. How are you today?"

After Liam gave him a friendly smile, the other man's expression changed as well. Instead of continuing to frown, he returned the gesture.

"Hey. I'm surprised you even remember my name. I was so sure I wouldn't need help," Benny said, sitting down across from him after Liam motioned to a chair.

"I remember all my clients. It's my job," the blond assured him.

Benny seemed intrigued by his answer, so Liam shouldn't have been surprised when his next question was, "Do you have a client named Gavin?"

"Yes," Liam replied. He couldn't say much about his clients to other clients, but admitting that Gavin fell under him and not his aunt was harmless.

"We were on a date," Benny revealed, unaware that Liam already knew this information.

"How'd it go?" the blond asked.

"Terribly," the guy with the buzz cut, wearing a maroon sweater, replied.

Both Gavin and Benny seemed to have the same impression of the date, and Liam was surprised. From Gavin's point of view, it sounded like he blamed Benny for the failure of the date, but the other man saw it differently, so Liam was finally able to get information about Gavin's dates from a different perspective.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Liam said first, then asked, "What do you think went wrong?"

Benny sighed, leaning back against the back of his seat. "I think the guy was prepared for the date not to go well before it even started."

His words took the blond by surprise, causing his expression to shift uncontrollably and his eyebrows to arch upward. "What do you mean?"

"He was nice in the messages. We didn't text very often, but that was understandable since we were both at work. Still, we seemed to have a lot to talk about until we met in person," Benny began to explain.

"I was kind of looking forward to our date," the lean man admitted. "But I don't think the same could be said for him. Yes, he was a gentleman—he opened the door for me, moved my chair for me, and even paid for my meal. But that was all. It was as if he thought those were his duties and beyond that, he didn’t need to pay attention to me."

Liam immediately remembered Gavin complaining about Benny talking too much.

"What was your conversation like?" he asked.

Benny laughed, but there was nothing humorous about it—rather, it was tortured and tired just from the memory. "Painful," he summed up in one word before giving further details.

"It was fine at first, but the longer the date went on, the less he paid attention to me. It was like he decided halfway through that he wasn't interested, so he stopped trying." The guy with the buzz cut shook his head.

"How did you react?" Liam asked, even though he had a hunch where this was going.

"After a while, I was annoyed that he stopped trying, so I did the opposite. I don't think I've ever talked that much." Benny laughed. "I swear there wasn't a second of silence, and even when he tried to say something, I didn’t let him finish a couple of times."

Before he could stop himself, an amused smile curled on Liam's lips. "Petty," he commented.

The irony was huge, since on paper, Benny was the perfect partner for Gavin. Just like him, he was petty, but Gavin hadn't figured it out since Benny’s pettiness was directed right at him.

"I did try, but it didn’t seem worth it," Benny assured him.

"So no second date?" Liam asked just to be sure. If it were up to him, he'd make them meet again. After all, they seemed to have had chemistry in the beginning, and one bad date didn’t mean they didn’t have a chance. However, he hadn’t forgotten that Gavin had supposedly written this date off before it even started, so he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea.

"Absolutely not." Benny shook his head.

"I have to ask, though." Liam's curiosity still wasn’t satisfied. "You never came here for advice after a date. Why now?"

The lean man sighed. "I don’t want to say this date discouraged me, but it's my third failed date in a row. I guess I just wanted reassurance that there's nothing wrong with me."

"Of course there isn’t," Liam replied without hesitation. "Sometimes people just don’t click, and there’s nothing weird about that. And it’s definitely better if they realize it on the first date rather than getting together and being miserable."

"You’re right, I guess." Benny nodded. "My wounded ego needed to hear that." He put his hand on his chest and gave the blond a smile.

"You're still the full package, even with a bruised ego," Liam assured him, returning his smile. "Don’t be hard on yourself and don’t give up."

"Then I'll feel the sun from both sides?" Benny hinted amusedly at the quote that was lit up on the LED board today.

Once again, Liam couldn't help but notice the similarities between him and Gavin and wonder how it was possible that Gavin had sabotaged this date right from the start. Benny seemed perfect for him.

Outwardly, however, he didn’t let his confusion show and instead replied to Benny with a soft laugh, "Exactly."