Love in the cursed office - Mah Yoke Tong

What if a magical building locked you in with your worst enemy... and it was exactly what you needed?

Charlie Hayes is stranded in Singapore during the 2020 COVID lockdown. Her roommates have fled to Australia. Her flights are cancelled. She's alone in a three-bedroom apartment, working for a company that's rapidly falling apart.

Jake Morrison is an American IT director who's been blocking Charlie's data requests for six months. He's alone too-Seattle flights cancelled, parents an ocean away, hiding behind spreadsheets and privacy policies.

When a global vending network failure forces them to work overnight in an empty office building, they expect a miserable night of troubleshooting and mutual annoyance.

They don't expect the building to have other plans.

Pineapple Tower is sentient. Ancient. And it's been matchmaking for a century.

The building locks them in. Plays romantic elevator music. Dispenses extra chocolate from vending machines. Creates a secret rooftop garden with sunset skies at midnight. And finally, provides an executive suite with one very comfortable king bed.

Charlie and Jake resist at first. They set ground rules. They insist the magic isn't influencing their decisions. But the building is persistent-and so is the attraction they've been denying for months.

Over three magical nights, they fall in love.

But when the Circuit Breaker lockdown begins and Singapore closes its borders, the real test starts. Can their relationship survive without magical intervention? Can love conquered in a haunted office building withstand the pressures of a pandemic, distance, and uncertainty?

With the help of Marcus-the building's wise, knowing security guard-Charlie and Jake discover the truth: Pineapple Tower has been bringing couples together for a century. In 1920, a British colonial officer and a local Singaporean woman fell in love in these same walls. Their love is stored in the building's bones, shared every fifty years with people who need it.

Charlie and Jake are part of a legacy. But the building can only create opportunities-it can't guarantee happy endings.

They have to choose each other. Every day. Even when the magic fades.

Through video calls, masked grocery runs, and quarantine together when Charlie catches COVID, they build a life. Jake moves into Charlie's apartment. They meet each other's families over Zoom. They fight for their relationship against borders, distance, and a world that's fallen apart.

Six months after that first magical night, Jake proposes in the rooftop garden where they confessed their love. The building erupts in celebration-flowers blooming, lights dancing, music swelling from its bones.

Their wedding is planned for March 2021, one year after they met. In the rooftop garden. With Marcus officiating (he got ordained online, just for this).

Two people who found each other. Not because of magic. But with magic's blessing.