Setting: The quiet, familiar space inside Seth’s bedroom within the male dormitory block.
Outside the heavy wooden door, the distant, muffled complaints of Rey and Jasper can still be heard, but inside, the room lines are completely still as the afternoon light filters softly through the drawn window blinds.
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Seth: (Stands completely rooted to the floor tiles, my backpack still slouched heavily over one shoulder. My chest is heaving slightly from the frantic sprint across the lawn, my fingers trembling as I tightly grip the fabric of my hoodie pockets. I stare stubbornly down at my workspace template, completely terrified to meet his gaze as the heavy silence of the bedroom layout takes over. I brace myself internally, waiting for the massive explosion of jokes, teasing, and theatrical drama that Lest usually unleashes whenever my system hits an error.)
Lest: (Leans his back flat against the locked bedroom door, crossing his arms slowly. He doesn’t laugh, and he doesn’t shout out to the boys in the hallway. Instead, he drops his hands to his sides and takes a slow, steady step forward, his voice dropping into a low, completely quiet tone that cuts straight through my lingering panic.) “Relax, lone wolf. I kicked Rey and Jasper out. They didn’t see anything. But you and I need to have a real conversation right now, completely off the record.”
Seth: (Clears my throat roughly, pulling my hoodie down just an inch as I keep my eyes tightly fixed on my computer monitor, my voice sounding flat and defensive.) “There’s nothing to analyze, Lest. I told you guys on the pathway, I just had a calculation error in my head and panicked when you guys jumped me. Let me just open my laptop and check the script framework lines for the evening coding lab.”
Lest: (Walks over to the side of my desk, leaning against the wooden frame as he looks at me with a serious, deeply sincere expression.) “Seth, stop running the defense protocols for a second. I saw her. I saw the girl on the parallel avenue—the one you were running straight toward before the boys tackled your shoulders. I saw the bright purple plastic star clip resting in her dark hair. It’s the exact same custom piece I saw sitting right on your laboratory desk yesterday morning.”
Seth: (My entire body completely locks flat in absolute shock, my breath catching sharply in my throat. The hot, blinding crimson blush on my cheeks completely freezes as his words hit my system. I stand totally silent, my independent walls failing completely as the truth is laid out bare on the desk between us. I squeeze my eyes shut, my logical brain unable to compute a single defensive lie to save my layout.)
Lest: (Offers a soft, comforting sigh, his tone filling with genuine warmth as he places a heavy, supportive hand firmly across my slouched shoulder.) “I’m not here to mock you, man. I swear. I kept my mouth completely shut in front of Rey and Jasper because I realized this isn’t just some casual joke to you. For three full years, Jasper, Rey, and I have watched you handle absolutely everything entirely on your own. You bury yourself under mountains of structural assignments, drowning in coding anomalies, and building massive walls to protect yourself from the stress of the world. You never ask for assistance, and you never let anyone see when your code is struggling.” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Lest: (Steps closer, his eyes holding an intense wave of respect and sincerity as he speaks softly into the quiet room.) “But yesterday, when you brought that orange moon keychain back to the porch, your whole posture looked different. And today, when we caught you on the concrete path, you weren’t analyzing formulas—you looked completely alive, Seth. Your eyes were actually looking at the pathways instead of just staring at the gravel. So, I need to ask you cleanly, as your best friend… who is she? What’s her story? Do you even know her name, or are you just going to stare at her block from a distance?”
Seth: (Slows down my breathing, intentionally keeping her name and our midnight contact exchange hidden entirely by myself. I am completely protective of the secret data path we built under the streetlamps, completely unready to share her identity with the squad just yet. I look down at my hands, my voice cracking slightly as I try to articulate the terrifying chaos happening inside my chest.) “She… she’s an elementary education student from across the campus crossroads. We kept crossing paths entirely by accident—at the canteen, in the rain at 7-Eleven, and even at the lobby lines yesterday.”
Seth: (Traces my fingertips gently over the orange moon keychain dangling from my backpack on the floor, a soft, rare smile briefly breaking through my guarded features as my mind drifts back to her words.) “When my moon snapped off my bag yesterday, I was completely ready to just delete it from my system to keep my independent routine clean. But she didn’t let it get lost. She pushed through the crowd, rescued it from the dirty floor lines, and went all the way through a department directory sheet just to hand it back to me gracefully on the hidden mahogany path.”
Seth: (My voice lowers into a quiet murmur, thinking back to the words she shared.) “And the star clip you saw on my desk… she dropped it weeks ago. I carried it all weekend trying to keep it completely safe because it belonged to her grandmother who passed away. Her grandmother told her to always shine gracefully like a little star in the night, no matter how dark or scary the world gets. Lest… I spent three years treating everything like a cold mathematical equation. But listening to the beautiful depth of her story… it completely bypassed every security system I have. She effortlessly rewrote my entire internal structure.”
Seth: (I look down at my lap, my fingers tightening as the intense heat stays locked onto my cheeks.) “But Lest… it’s completely breaking my parameters. Every single time I see her, I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore. My heart hammers completely out of sequence. My logical calculations short-circuit, and my entire internal structure feels like it’s collapsing and rebuilding itself at the exact same millisecond. I keep trying to run an error trace on it, but I can’t find the data formula to explain why her presence effortlessly scrambles my entire code.”
Lest: (Stares blankly at me for three seconds in pure, unadulterated disbelief, before a look of utter academic exhaustion takes over his face. Without warning, he reaches out and fiercely clicks his middle finger against his thumb, flicking me right on the forehead with a sharp smack that causes me to wince and clutch my brow in shock.)
Lest: (Shakes his head dramatically, rolling his eyes as he groans aloud at my technical density.) “Ow? Don’t look at me like that, you absolute idiot! Man, you can derive a multi-variable structural load matrix fluently in front of a terrifying professor, but you can’t compute a basic human data block? You are a ridiculously dense guy, Seth! You don’t need a math formula to explain it. You’re completely falling for her, lone wolf. That ‘scrambled code’ is just you finally catching feelings.” Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
Seth: (Blinks blankly in total denial, aggressively shaking my head as my logical engineering brain fiercely rejects his conclusion.
The bright crimson blush on my face deepens even further, but I push back with a stubborn, defensive frown.) “No… you’re completely misinterpreting the data, Lest. That’s entirely illogical. It’s just a cognitive glitch caused by sudden high-stress environments. I don’t catch ‘feelings.’ It’s literally just an anomaly in my daily routine layout.” (I argue defensively, completely refusing to believe his words as I cross my arms tightly over my chest.)
Lest: (Laughs softly under his breath, leaning back with an amused, knowing smirk as he looks at my stubborn posture.) “Trust me, Seth. It’s completely true. Even the romance manga series I read late at night have the exact same symptoms as you when the main character is in love. The heart racing out of sequence, the short-circuiting brain, the complete system failure whenever she walks into the frame… it’s a textbook layout, man. Your mouth can say whatever script it wants, but your face is literally broadcasting a different data block entirely.”
Lest: (Walks back over to the bedroom door, giving my slouched shoulder one final, supportive squeeze before turning the lock layout.
He glances back at me with absolute sincerity, his voice serious but encouraging.) “You must tell the other boys eventually, Seth. Seriously. Rey and Jasper might be completely chaotic, but they care about you more than anyone on this campus. Once they know the truth, they will absolutely support you through every single step of this. But… not yet. In the meantime, just take your time, get your data straight, and figure out your next move.” (He slips out of the room block with a gentle click, entirely unaware that the phone resting in my pocket already holds her direct contacts line.)
Seth: (Waits until the lock clicks shut before pulling my smartphone slowly out of my front pocket. I look at the screen in the quiet room, a massive, deep blush taking over my cheeks as I view her contact entry. A soft, breathless smile escapes my lips, completely captivated by the secret data path we built entirely by ourselves at midnight under the streetlamps, staring directly at the words Cara Mina.)
[ END OF CHAPTER 19 ]