Setting: The quiet interior of Seth’s bedroom inside the male dormitory block.
The orange glow of the early evening sky fades outside the window, leaving the room lit by the white display of his phone.
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Seth: (Stares at the glowing display screen, my fingers tightening as I look at the new message bubbles from her profile layout. My entire system holds its breath, bracing for a formal or distant reply from her education major mindset. But as I read the text, my chest relaxes in surprise.)Cara Mina [Text]: “Hi Seth. It’s okay, no worries at all. Honestly, I was just curious why your three friends wanted to catch you like that.”
Seth: (My jaw drops slightly in the dim light of the bedroom. A sudden, warm blush rushes straight up to my ears. She isn’t angry at all—she is just naturally curious about the chaos from earlier. Sitting up slowly on the edge of the bed, the white towel slides down to my shoulders as a wave of relief floods through my system. For three years, my lone-wolf defense walls kept my life perfectly isolated. But looking at her text, I experience a clear change of heart. I want to keep this conversation going.)
Seth: (Picks up the phone, my thumbs hovering over the keyboard layout. My pulse steadies as I decide to push past my usual security blocks. I type out an explanation for the afternoon rush: “I’m really glad I didn’t ruin things. About this noon, my squad is completely chaotic. They were just looking for me to drag me to lunch, but they always make a massive scene out of everything. I’m sorry you had to see that execution error.”)
Seth: (My thumb hesitates for a fraction of a second before I forcefully press the send icon, officially transmitting the data block. A heavy spike of guilt instantly hits my core as I stare at the text bubble. I just lied to her. My technical brain immediately runs an internal log analysis, screaming at the massive contradiction. They didn’t chase me down just to get food. Lest, Jasper, and Rey were aggressively hunting me down because they noticed a massive system anomaly in my behavior lately, wanting to pry into my defensive walls. There is no formula in my coding to explain that truth to her right now.)
Seth: (I set the phone face-up on my knee, my eyes locked on the screen to escape my own chaotic thoughts. The waiting layout feels intense, but only a minute passes before the interface updates with a fresh notification.) Read the latest chapters at g.com.
Cara [Text]: “Oh, so that’s why! Don’t worry about it, it actually looked like you guys are really close. They must really care about you to chase you down like that.”
Seth: (Stares at her reply, my face warming up again as I try to suppress the internal error trace about my lie. I type a quick response to shift the focus away from my friends, changing my question to something more natural.) “They care a bit too much sometimes. I’m just glad they didn’t cause a scene for you too. Did you have a class right after they dragged me off?”
Cara [Text]: “Yes, I did! I went straight to my afternoon lecture. It was pretty quiet after all that excitement.”
Seth: (Reads her response, feeling a strange urge to keep the data link active instead of shutting it down like I usually do with other people. My fingers tap the screen carefully.) “A quiet lecture sounds like a good system reset. What subject was it?”
Cara [Text]: “It was Educational Psychology. We were talking about behavioral patterns today. It actually made me think of how fast you ran when you saw your friends coming.”
Seth: (A low, helpless groan escapes my throat as my blush deepens. I pull my hood further over my damp hair, typing back with a slight scowl.) “Please tell me you aren’t analyzing my escape trajectory for a class project. My structural parameters were completely compromised by their ambush layout.”
Cara Mina [Text]: “Haha, no, I won’t use you as a case study, I promise. But it was definitely an interesting deployment of speed.”
Seth: (Stares at the text line, a small, genuine smile cutting through my defensive expression. I lean my back against the wall, getting more comfortable on the mattress.) “Good to know. I usually calculate my routes to avoid high-traffic chaos, but Lest always manages to bypass my security firewalls.”
Cara Mina [Text]: “Lest is the loud one with the backward cap, right? He seemed very determined to capture you.”
Seth: (Taps the keys rapidly.) “Yes, that’s him. He is the main source of system instability in our block. The other two are Jasper and Rey. If you ever see them heading in your direction, I highly recommend executing an immediate detour protocol.” You are reading on NovelPing, the official source.
Cara [Text]: “Thanks for the warning! I’ll keep my eyes open. Are you always this technical when you talk about your friends?”
Seth: (My thumb freezes flat over the keyboard for a second. I blink at the question, suddenly self-conscious about my engineering jargon.) “I guess so. My brain just formats things into data blocks and structures. Is it too weird?”
Cara [Text]: “Not at all. It’s actually pretty unique. It feels very ‘Seth.’ It’s nice to see how your mind works.”
Seth: (An uncharacteristic warmth floods straight into my chest, completely bypassing my logical brain’s defense protocols. Feeling a deep sense of comfort in just talking to her, I type a final response.) “That’s good to hear. Thanks for not filtering me out after today, Cara.”
Cara [Text]: “Of course not. Have a good night rest!”
Seth: (Stares at her final message line, the warm feeling in my chest lingering as the screen slowly dims. I set the phone carefully down on the dark blue blanket beside me, leaning back against my pillow with a calm, steady breath. But as the silence settles back into the bedroom, my technical brain immediately forces a severe system reboot on my thoughts. Her words echo heavily over my internal logs: It feels very ‘Seth.’ My chest tightens all over again with that strange, uncalibrated pressure.)
Seth: (I stare blindly at the ceiling fan tiles, unable to compute these volatile variables. Am I actually catching feelings for her? Lest’s mocking voice flashes violently through my memory core from earlier, shattering my remaining logic structures: “You are a ridiculously dense guy, Seth! That scrambled code is just you finally catching feelings! You are completely in love with her!” I cover my burning face with both hands as a fierce crimson blush returns full force. For three years, I have engineered my life to be completely flawless and detached. But sitting here alone in the dimming light, looking at her simple text sign-off, the lone wolf of civil engineering is completely paralyzed, totally unable to deny that my entire defensive system has just been permanently overrun by her.)
[ END OF CHAPTER 21 ]