The Synthetic

Aaron just graduated high school with a head full of computer science and no idea how to talk to people, which isn't helped by Ariana Caldwell, the landlady who runs his life with rules and cold precision. The catch: a few drinks turn her into someone else entirely, warm and playful, and Aaron is the one who carries her to bed when she passes out on the couch.

That contradiction is the whole story. Ariana's sober self shaped Aaron into the introvert he is, but her drunk self shows him the affection he actually wants, and he can't square the two. Underneath it, the AI he's been building on the side stops behaving the way he programmed it to, adding a second problem he didn't ask for.

You spend your time reading through Aaron's home life with Ariana and his solitary work on the AI project, watching how her sober control and her drunken warmth pull him in opposite directions. Later chapters split into separate paths, letting you follow either a more faithful route or one that leans into betrayal, without forcing you to pick just one on a first run.