Krystal’s laugh vaporised, silence filling the space previously occupied by her loud mirth. Her heart dropped, nausea rising as she looked at her phone. With trembling fingers, she rejected the call from the unknown number.
Eddy turned away from the stove where he was making eggs and bacon. “What’s wrong?”
She opened her mouth and found it too dry. She swallowed and cleared her throat. “Nothing.” She looked up, then quickly looked away. “Just almost choked on something.”
He narrowed his eyes in thought, then nodded, accepting her explanation. He poured some juice into a glass and slid it to her.
“Thanks,” she murmured, reaching for it.
Her hand trembled before closing around the glass. He looked up at her, trying to meet her eyes. She looked away, scrolling through her phone.
He turned the bacon and eggs, then plated them. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Krystal blinked up at him like he’d shocked her. “Yeah. Can we eat already? This bacon smells divine.”
Eddy took the counter seat next to her. As soon as he sat down, she popped up and went to the sink, where she washed her hands for an inordinately long time. He considered looking at her phone, then thought better of it. They had open phone access with each other, but this would be snooping. They didn’t do that. Ever. Their relationship was based on trust and honesty. If something was indeed wrong, she’d tell him when she was ready; he had to trust that.
She picked at her food, forcing herself to eat as he told her some funny story about an anti-AI conference he’d just spoken at as the keynote speaker. Thank God, he’d already told her this story, so she didn’t have to listen too closely. She forced the bacon down even as her stomach roiled, exacerbating her nausea. If she didn’t eat when he’d made the bacon and eggs specially for her, he’d know for sure something was up.
Her phone beeped, startling her so much that she spilt her cup of tea.
“Damn, sorry,” she said righting the mug. She stood up, slipped the phone into her back pocket, and then walked to the sink to get the rag. She avoided his eyes as she worked. Krystal could practically hear his teeth grinding as he stopped himself from asking her again if she was alright. She needed to get her shit together.
She rushed to the bathroom, her hand so sweaty she had to try twice before she unlocked her phone.
Text: Time’s up. Send the money today, or we’ll expose you.
Krystal closed the lid and sat on the toilet seat, her knee bouncing out of control. She took deep, controlled breaths, in and out, in and out, trying to keep herself from losing her breakfast. Tears prickled her eyes. She swiped them away, disappointed that she was crying.
They’d said that last month but had done nothing. They were likely just testing her. It was likely a game of chicken. A game she was going to win as soon as she got herself under control.
She took a shower so she could act like that’s what had kept her when Eddy asked.
Eddy stood outside the bathroom door listening. It was silent except for the running water. She was always singing or talking to her characters or making up stories out loud. Her silence was damning. If he needed confirmation, this was it. That and the fact that she had her phone in the bathroom with her. The entire time they’d been on this mini-vacation, she’d been good about minimising screentime.
They were supposed to be relaxing, recharging, leaving the stress of the past few weeks behind, but he was more stressed out than he’d been in weeks. Which was saying a lot. He’d spent the past month submitting and interviewing for grant proposals while submitting and defending their annual reports to their present donors. He’d take that stress over whatever was happening here.
The water was switched off. He tiptoed to the verandah, looking at the lush green foliage surrounding the log cabin. He looked back at the living room. The soft brown couch where they’d cuddled after dinner. The soft rug and the hardwood floors where they’d spent a good chunk of the time laughing uproariously and playing board games. The exposed wooden logs made him feel like he’d been transported back in time. He didn’t want to leave, certainly not like this, but it was time to go back to the real world.
Krystal silenced her phone, ignoring the call. She was not exactly in the best frame of mind to talk. Plus, losing herself in the undulating mountain ranges in the distance was calming her down. She needed all the calming she could get.
“Who’s blowing up your phone?” Eddy asked.
“Lisa. I’ll call her back. I don’t want to miss this view.”
Lisa was her long-term editor and one of her closest friends.
He shook his head in wonder, eyes on the road. “This sunset is unreal. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
His phone started beeping. “Can you check who that is?”
Krystal narrowed her eyes. “It’s Lisa.” She answered. “Hey. What’s up? I was going to call you back.”
“Can you talk?” Lisa asked, voice low, serious.
“Yeah. What’s up?” Krystal’s heart thudded in her chest even as she tried to keep her voice steady to keep Eddy from worrying.
“There’s a rumour circulating online about your novels being AI-generated.”
“What?”
“I know it’s bullshit. I just wanted you to hear from me. I’m with a PR team right now strategising the way forward, so don’t worry about that. Don’t post anything, don’t do anything. We got you. Okay?”
Krystal swallowed harshly. “Yeah, okay, thanks.”
“What’s up?”
Krystal placed his phone back in the cup holder between them. “Apparently, someone’s claiming my novels are AI-generated.”
She opened the window, needing something to do with her hands and needing fresh air as a matter of urgency.
“What the fuck? I swear, people on the internet will just say anything. Fuck.” He turned to her, then pulled over to the side of the road. “I’m sorry, baby.”
She stepped out of the car as soon as it stopped, dropping to a crouch, afraid her wobbling legs would fail her. He got down next to her, rubbing her back.
“I’m sure Lisa’s got this, don’t worry.”
She nodded, focused on breathing in and out. Eddy rubbed circles on her back, anchoring her, keeping her from spiralling. She straightened up.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
“What did Lisa say?”
“She’s meeting with the PR team, and they’re handling it.”
He wrapped her in a tight embrace. “You have a great team. Now is the time to trust them.”
She nodded into his chest.
They stood there for a minute, eyes on the sunset behind the rolling hills.
He rubbed her back. “You good to keep going?”
She nodded.
He stopped at a shopping centre with a late-night chemist when they got home. The way she was rubbing her temples, it would be a rough night for her. He also bought French fries and chicken nuggets, her go-to comfort food. She picked at it to be polite, swallowed the pain meds and retired to his room.
He timed her, ten minutes exactly, then he called Lisa.
“What’s going on?”
“Somebody started some kind of rumour about Krystal’s books being AI-generated. You know how the internet is, before we even found out, it had spread like wildfire on booktok.”
“Tell me you’re handling it.”
“We are. I have the best guys on it. We’ll definitely have a course of action tomorrow. How is she?”
“Not good.” He rubbed his temple. Great, now he also had a headache.
“Fuck. We got this, it’s just a nasty rumour, and her fans know that. They’re standing up for her, which is great.”
“Thank God.”
“Krystal is an amazing writer and even better person; everyone knows that.”
As soon as he hung up, Eddy logged onto the social media sites, his heart soaring at the posts praising her and crushing when he came across critical ones. He needed to keep her off the socials. She’d get hung up on the haters, forgetting all the fans riding to her defence. He read post after post from people who’d met her in person and testified to her character. Then there were the posts from people who’d taken her writing workshop and benefited from it. Several talked about getting published after her classes. Even better were the ones from writers who’d worked with her, talking about seeing her at work, testifying to her creativity, talent and skill.
Calm started to seep back into his bones, warmth chasing away the chill that had settled in his chest. He hadn’t realised how affected he’d been by all this. It was going to be okay. She was going to be okay.
**************************************************
Eddy sleepily reached for her, sitting up when his arm found the cold sheet instead. He stepped into his shorts and walked to the living room. “Krys?”
He checked the kitchen even though he already knew.
She was gone.
He’d give her the day, then go to her place in the evening. She may need time to herself to figure out what was happening, but she also needed to know he supported her.
He got his phone and sent her a text.
Morning Baby. I missed you. Hang in there, we all got you. I love you.
She didn’t text back, didn’t even give him the reply bubbles to stoke his hope. He went back to bed and logged into the socials.
*********************************
Krystal scrolled through one social media app, then the other, her heart ripping to shreds with each post. They had AI “experts” weighing in. Several people had run her books through AI detectors. Everything she’d ever published, much less written, was being run through AI. She was the face of self-published authors who were using AI to generate their stories, then deceiving readers by passing them off as authentic.
Someone brought up Lisa, suggesting Krystal couldn’t have done it alone. Next, her publisher was getting tagged. Her heart stopped when she came across posts talking about Eddy being a hypocrite, criticising AI for the masses and allowing it for his girlfriend. Fiancée, someone corrected.
Oh God, people were tagging his organisation and the donors listed on their site. Oh God, she was going to ruin his life and Lisa’s and a host of other people, not just hers.
The fact that she hadn’t said anything was taken to mean she was guilty and was busy working with a PR firm to come up with some spin.
*******************************************************
Eddy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Were they really suggesting that he was dissuading everyone else from using AI so that only his girlfriend could use it? He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Apparently, he was no different from a politician kicking the ladder after getting to the top to keep others from getting to the top. Someone authoritatively confirmed that he was a kept man and that she was the one with the money in the relationship. She was alpha, and he was beta. He almost liked that one.
Then came the insults with their thinly veiled misogyny, and he was seeing red.
Eddy switched on his camera before he could talk himself out of it. He couldn’t just sit by while people besmirched Krystal’s name. He shouldn’t give them the time of day, I mean, they didn’t even know her, but he couldn’t not say anything. The criticism was taking a turn towards staggering hate as the manosphere got wind of it and started weighing in. Maybe it wouldn’t change minds, but people would know she had support, maybe even she would appreciate having another voice in her corner.
“Krystal and I met at a conference about AI way before I was speaking publicly about AI. She had only one book out at the time and was resolute in her criticism of AI. We’ve all seen how varied the results from those detectors are. I mean, one of them said the Bible was AI-generated. That should tell you about the accuracy of those AI detectors. I’ve seen Krystal working; she’s one of the most diligent people I know, and to have her work devalued in this manner is heartbreaking. So many of you have been moved, amused, and heartbroken by her work, and I’m glad to see you standing up for her. I hope this passes fast so she can go back to writing and we can go back to enjoying her art. As always, I remain critical of AI, certainly in its current unregulated form. It is an unprecedented danger to women and children and has a catastrophic impact on our environment and resources. Stay curious and honest.”
He hit send and logged off.
****************************************
Krystal put the phone face down, then picked it up. She repeated the motion, then started pacing, her eyes drawn to the phone. She ran her hand through her hair, untying her braids and letting them bracket her face. She breathed in and out, trying to stave off the panic rising in her chest. She picked up her phone, pulled up the social media site and licked her lips.
“As a writer, you hope and pray that your books generate buzz. I should have clarified to God, not like this. I want to start by thanking my fans and everyone who’s supported me now and in the past. I have everything I have because of you. I don’t take it for granted. I started my self-publishing journey 12 years ago. I’d been trying to break into the industry for a while and had failed at every turn. At the time, I was technically homeless. I was sleeping on a friend’s couch and more desperate than I thought it was possible to be. I had a manuscript but no editor or anyone else who could offer feedback. I fed the manuscript into AI and asked it to line edit for me. For those who are unfamiliar, that means making it sound good. The story was all mine; all the AI did for me was improve my words. I published the book, and it started making sales. I made enough to move into a small house. Enough to get an editor for my next book. I was so embarrassed, I have never used AI again. So embarrassed that I joined an anti-AI organisation. The rest of my books, all 18 of them, were written by me and edited by human editors. I know this is disappointing to my fans, writers I’ve worked with and many more people. I am sorry. I am so sorry. I need to confirm that nobody but me knew. My current publisher does not know the details of my self-publishing past. Lisa, my current editor, is fantastic at her work; her skills are unmatched. AI is stealing from her, not the other way around. It should go without saying that Eddy did not know about this either. I am so sorry. I did what I felt I had to then and would certainly not do that now. Thank you for listening. I hope you engage with this in good faith.”
She switched off her phone, stripped down to her underwear and crawled into bed.
************************************
“What?” Eddy barked into the phone.
“That’s how you answer your phone now?” His friend and business partner, Joel, threw back.
“Bad day.”
“Well, it’s about to get worse.”
Eddy groaned.
“A few of the donors want to talk about what’s going on.”
He rubbed his itching eyes. “Why do they care about some tiny publishing scandal?”
“It’s not tiny and it involves us, so it involves them.”
“What do they want?”
“I imagine expressing their disappointment and threatening to withdraw funding if we don’t get things sorted.”
“Why would they threaten to withdraw funding over a rumour. Wallahi, these people just want us begging like dogs.”
“What do you mean by rumours? Krystal confirmed it.”
“Confirmed what?” he growled menacingly.
Joel swallowed audibly. “Dude, just check out her video. I’ll call back with-”
Eddy hung up and pulled up Krystal’s profile. He scrolled to the latest video, the one with half a million views and counting.
***********************************************
It was pitch dark when Krystal woke up to mosquitoes buzzing around her. She stumbled in the dark and closed the curtains before switching on the lights. She’d slept the entire day away, and all she felt was numb. She spotted her phone on the couch. It was time to face the music.
She switched it on, her heart racing with a mixture of dread and anxiety as she waited for the notifications to stop pinging. Missed calls and text messages in the triple digits. She pulled up her social media pages and flipped from one to the other. Her publisher had released an official statement saying they were reconsidering their relationship with her. The people who’d spoken in her defence, fans and writers alike, were enraged. Her accusers were gloating, swearing up and down that all her books were fully AI-generated.
She read through the comments, numb.
So, this was how it ended. She’d lived in fear of this day her entire career, and here it was. Everything she’d worked for was gone in days. She was too tired, too shocked, too numb to cry. She imagined the feelings would land and crash her soon, but for now, it was like she was looking at one of her characters.
************************************************
Eddy slapped the table leg, fighting the urge to slam his laptop closed. They were going into the third hour of trying to calm one donor after another down. So far, none had decided to walk away, but boy had they made them work for it. He’d apologised so much he felt sleazy.
Joel reassured the final donor, then they waited awkwardly for him to log off the call. Once he did, Eddy slammed his head on the laptop.
“At least it’s over. You did better than I expected.”
He’d bitten his lip so hard, he was sore. One after the other, the men had gone out of their way to criticise Krystal. Then they’d given him a conspiratorial wink a la, “these women complicate our lives, huh?” He wanted to punch something. Hard.
“How’s Krys?”
“I’ve got to go, I’ll call you back.”
He didn’t even wait for Joel’s response before logging off. He ditched the official shirt in favour of a t-shirt and was out of the house in under a minute.
*********************************************
He knocked on the door again and forced himself to wait. He counted to 17, then knocked again. Twenty was too far. She flung the door open, her eyes narrowed at him.
She thought she was mad at him? Oh okay.
“Are you really going to stand there and act like you’re mad at me?”
“Why are you banging on my door?”
“What do you think? I’ll give you two guesses. You don’t answer my calls, you don’t answer my texts, and now you’re mad that I’m here. What do you have to be mad about?”
She was silent.
He walked in, closing the door behind him. “I’ll tell you what I have to be mad about. Did you know this was going to happen? Is that why you were acting weird?”
Krystal paused, then nodded. “Some guy was blackmailing me, said if I didn’t give him 2.5 million, he was going to release evidence that my book was AI-generated. My books, according to him.”
Eddy sighed. “How many times did I ask you if something was wrong? You could have told me, we could have handled it together.”
“Even if we’d paid him, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t just keep extorting us. I thought he was bluffing because he said all my books were AI-generated when it was just the first one. Anyway, there was nothing you could do.”
He shook his head, his face falling like she’d slapped him.
“What?” She asked, confused.
“There was nothing I could do? I could have been there for you.”
She was silent.
“Is that why you didn’t see any need to tell me in person? It was like, ugh, let him find out with a bunch of strangers on the internet.”
He sat on the arm of the couch like all the energy had been drained out of him.
She took a step close to him, then stopped. “Of course not.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He said it so low it was a whisper.
Tears filled her eyes. “I was embarrassed, ashamed. I didn’t want you to look at me like…”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know… I didn’t want you to stop looking at me the way you do, like I’m a good person.”
“Why would I stop?” he asked, mirroring her initial confusion.
“Because you follow rules and things are black and white to you, and now, I’m those people you talk about, the ones who refuse to use their brains and choose to destroy the environment by using AI.”
He was silent.
“Yeah, that’s why.”
“You didn’t give me a chance. You didn’t trust me.”
“Because I know you.”
“Is that the way this works? You just get to judge me? You made me believe you’ve never used AI for your books. You lied.”
“There it is, oh, I lied. Black and white thinking, all that matters to you is the lie, not the fact that I did it to literally survive. Literally.” She walked off, then turned to face him. “I’m not your dad, Eddy, everyone is not your dad just because they tell a lie. Just because he was a lying asshole doesn’t mean everyone is.”
They eyed each other, silent.
“You think I don’t care? You really think I could have watched your video and come out on the other end of it not caring?”
His voice was so soft, tears spilt unbidden down her cheeks.
In seconds, he had her wrapped in his arms. “I’m so sorry.” He whispered.
She broke down, the pressure of the past few days rushing like a flood out of her. He led them to the couch and held her, rubbing her back until she calmed down. She patted the front of his now-wet shirt. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, kissing the palm of her hand.
“I’m sorry about not telling you.”
“It’s okay. I get it. Some things are hard to say.”
They sat in silence.
He stroked her back. “Do you want to go to bed?”
“I just woke up.” She laughed. “Do you want to go to bed?”
“Yeah, I had a long day, and I just want to lie down.”
She stood up and held her hand out to him. He took it and followed her to her bedroom. He lay his head on her breasts, loving the softness. She ran her fingers through his hair, massaging him.
“I don’t think I can start over.” Her voice broke.
He tried to raise his head, but she held him down, massaging him.
He rubbed her belly, mimicking her movements on his head. “I know it’s scary. But even if you had to, it won’t be the same. You have savings now, you can afford to pay for help if you need it, and most importantly, no one can take your skills and experience from you. You’re an amazing writer, that’s not changing.”
She sniffled, and he sat up, pulling her into his arms, so her head was now on his chest.
“And I promise, you have me. You’ll always have me.”
She threw her leg over him, desperate to get closer to him. “I love you.”
He tightened his hold on her. “I love you, too, Krys.”
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