Prologue
TMZ– A Runaway Fiancé? Remember when Lucas Freeman and Vivian Hall told us that their breakup was mutual? Sources tell us that Vivian got cold feet before she was set to move in with the billionaire heir. It seems there is more to this story than either of them are letting on.
The Superficial– Cold feet or cold heart? A few of Vivian Hall’s exes have come forward to share their stories of what it was like to fall in love with the former fiancé of Lucas Freeman. She’s fiery and passionate, but bad with intimacy and commitment. Is it any surprise that Lucas is another addition to her trail of broken hearts?
Celebrity Gossip–The heartbreaker is giving love advice? Instead of getting back into the dating scene, sources tell us that Vivian Hall has been on a matchmaking quest before her move to Paris. Is the fashionista preparing for the city of love or has the ice queen warmed up to the idea that a happily ever after is possible?
1
Love Theory
Vivian
Most don’t believe me when I tell them they can attract anyone they desire. The usual response is a flood protests, but I assure them, under the right conditions and circumstances, itispossible. And it isn’t some law of attraction New Age belief. This is based on pure science and psychology.
I’ve spent the past month trying to prove my theory, and so far, the results speak for themselves.
Take Pam, our receptionist. She had been pining after Derek—the very muscular UPS driver who comes in regularly with packages—for nearly seven months without so much as a second glance from him. After one session with me at our Singles Club, Pam took my advice, and now she and Derek are about to go out on their fourth date.
Then there’s Brie. She wanted her ex back. After many failed attempts of drunk I-miss-you texts she later regretted (and copious amounts of chocolate and ice cream binges through buckets of tears), I taught Brie how to win him over. Now her ex is the one sending the late-night messages and begging for her to come back.
My most recent masterpiece was Kyana. After a long string of relationships with guys who just couldn’t commit, she was desperate to settle down and put her biological clock to rest. I advised her on how to get a man to go all in, and her on-and-off boyfriend of two years finally popped the question yesterday.
How did I become such an expert in the world of love and attraction? It all started with an engagement breakup…which later led to a semi-meltdown.
Lying in bed one night, memories and moments from every crush and relationship I’d ever had flashed through my mind in dizzying succession until they were overtaken by one vivid image: that of my future self, old and alone. I threw off the blankets in a cold sweat, my heart pounding inside my chest.
But then something strange happened. A weird, calming silence washed over me, and all that was left was one burning question:
What is love?
Love. A subject that has puzzled humankind for thousands of years was now something I was determined to solve.
After seven consecutive days of Google searching and poring over articles, books, and essays, I had a eureka moment—a single moment of clarity when all the pieces of the puzzle scattered around me magically clicked into place.
I finally had my answer.
Love doesn’t exist.
All those fairy tales and stories and movies… they have it all wrong, and they are the reason why so many of us are unhappy. We are pining after something that never existed in the first place. And once I understood that, I felt the most liberated I ever have in my life.
Here’s therealtruth about “love”:
There are three stages (and it’s purely physiological): lust, attraction, and attachment. Without lust, humans wouldn’t feel the need to procreate. Without attraction, we would have no desire to form relationships. And without attachment, we would find it impossible to bond or feel any sense of responsibility to care for offspring.
That euphoric feeling we have when we first “fall in love”… you know, when everything in the world feels magical because of that one special person? That feeling isn’t love, it’s our hypothalamus gland pumping high doses of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin into our systems. In short, we’re literally high. Love is an addictive drug, and all we’re doing is searching for our fix.
And that’s when I came to another conclusion: love is in the mind, not the heart.
My quest was to master the rules of attraction and prove that anyone can play the game…and win.
* * *
“The blue or the red?” Imani, our intern, held up two scarves.
“Red. If you’re unsure,alwaysgo with red.”
Imani smiled and slung the blue scarf back over the rack. “Oh, before I forget, Crystal wanted you to swing by the studio before you leave.”
