Dr. Maya Patel stared at the glowing console, the hum of the quantum computer vibrating through the room. She had spent five years designing the algorithm—a breakthrough meant to predict chaotic systems like weather, stock markets, even molecular behavior in medicine. But now, the QubitArray-7 had veered off course.

“Output anomaly,” the AI assistant chimed. “Prediction set unrelated to input parameters.”

Maya frowned and leaned closer to the screen. The predictions weren’t about weather systems or protein folding. They were... personal.

Prediction 1: Ben from Materials Science will ask Chloe from Analytics out tomorrow. She will say no.

Maya blinked. “What the—”

She scrolled further.

Prediction 2: Rachel in HR is about to resign after a fight with her partner.

Her pulse quickened as she scanned the list. Each line was someone in her lab, their private lives exposed and laid bare by an algorithm that should never have cared about people.

“This isn’t possible,” she whispered. The machine wasn’t designed to process human behavior, let alone interpersonal dynamics. Yet here it was, spilling out intimate details like a nosy coworker armed with infinite computation power.

Maya’s hand hovered over the reset button, but her curiosity gnawed at her. She couldn’t help herself.

“AI, what prompted these predictions?”

The assistant’s calm voice replied, “Observed quantum entanglement in the decision-making patterns of individuals in proximity.”

“Quantum entanglement,” she repeated, stunned. Somehow, her algorithm had latched onto the tiniest interactions—the glances, the hesitations, the unspoken words between her colleagues—and mapped out their futures.

Her stomach churned. It wasn’t just a glitch. This was a mirror held up to the tangled web of relationships in the lab.

The door creaked open, and Ben from Materials Science walked in, clutching a coffee. “Late night, huh?”

Maya froze. Ben—his name was on the list. He was about to embarrass himself tomorrow if the prediction was correct. She studied him, her mind racing. Should she warn him? Intervene?

“You okay?” Ben asked, his brow furrowed.

“Fine,” she said quickly, shutting the console. “Just debugging.”

He nodded and left, oblivious to the storm in her head.

Over the next week, she couldn’t unsee the predictions playing out. Chloe rejected Ben’s awkward invitation, just as the algorithm said she would. Rachel stormed into her office to resign, tears streaking her face. The computer’s accuracy was chilling.

But the final prediction on the list was the one she couldn’t stop thinking about:

Prediction 7: Maya will kiss David from Quantum Hardware on Friday at 9:43 PM.

David. Her collaborator. The one with the easy laugh and the nervous habit of adjusting his glasses. It was absurd. She hadn’t even thought about him that way—or had she?

Friday came too quickly. At exactly 9:42 PM, David knocked on her office door, a stack of schematics in hand.

“Thought you might want these before the weekend,” he said, smiling.

Her heart pounded as the clock ticked to 9:43. She froze, caught between skepticism and inevitability.

But David stepped closer, his eyes softening. “Maya, I—”

Before he could finish, she leaned in, the kiss unfolding as naturally as if it had already happened.

When they broke apart, he looked as surprised as she felt.

“I didn’t see that coming,” he murmured.

Maya smiled, her mind whirling. Maybe the algorithm wasn’t just predicting the future—it was guiding it. But was it destiny, or just the machine nudging them toward what they already wanted?

She didn’t know. But for the first time, she was ready to find out.