Chapter 50: Operation: Confession
"You go confess to her. That'll round the rejection count up to an even ninety."
Leo's eyes practically bulged out of his skull. His mouth opened and closed like a landed fish, cycling through several reboots before his vocal cords finally came back online.
"Wait, me? And what do you mean 'round it up'? Am I just filling a quota here?!"
He grabbed his own hair with one hand and pointed an accusatory finger at Uriel with the other. His facial expressions rapidly cycled between you're out of your mind and actually, hear me out.
"No, no, no, this is way too sudden. Wait, why am I sweating? There's no way the great Leo gets rejected. But hold on, that's Seraphina we're talking about. The undisputed champion of the eighty-nine streak. But what if? What if I'm the chosen one who breaks the curse? She'll look into my eyes and realize I'm the one she's been waiting for—"
Kai nodded thoughtfully from the sidelines. He stroked his chin, his eyes gradually clearing into a state of pure, unadulterated stupidity.
"Yeah. I should go confess too. What if it actually works?"
A microscopic crack appeared in Uriel's perfectly composed expression.
Hold on. He was just retaliating for the gay joke earlier. How did this escalate into a dual suicide mission?
Leo threw an arm over Kai's shoulder. Both of their eyes were burning with the exact same energy. It was the kind of delusional confidence that only spawns after witnessing eighty-nine consecutive failures.
"Let's go, bro! Time to strategize!"
The two of them marched off toward the dorms, arms slung over each other's shoulders. Uriel was left standing alone under the shade of the tree, watching a stray leaf from the flowerbed blow past his shoes and spin twice in the dirt.
He stood there in the breeze for a while, letting his mind wander. Then he started to seriously analyze the situation.
Wasn't this what a normal student life was supposed to look like?
Debating who was confessing to whom, hyping up the drama, and sabotaging each other over lost bets.
Maybe he should go confess too. Confess, get rejected, suffer the heartbreak, and walk back to the dorms. It was a mandatory rite of passage. Every normal student had either been through it or watched their friends go through it. Since his friends were already convinced he was some weirdo with zero interest in women, getting friend-zoned right now was the perfect way to clear his name.
It was a simple procedural walk-through. Confess, collect the rejection card, and secure the resume of a "normal high school boy." If anyone ever questioned his normalcy again, he could just pull out the ultimate alibi.
This was what youth was supposed to look like. Exactly the kind of thing a forgettable background character should be doing.
Then, a secondary objective locked into his brain.
Tian and Seraphina. They had interacted. On the exact day of the attack, Seraphina had conveniently taken a leave of absence. Right before that, Tian had casually warned her, under the guise of a classmate, to "watch out for the Headmaster."
At the time, it sounded like a throwaway line. Looking back, the timing was way too precise. Seraphina was sharp. Had she connected the dots?
Uriel's brow furrowed.
This was bad.
He needed to neutralize the threat before it bloomed. He had to verify if Seraphina was actually suspicious.
If she was, he could use this confession event to misdirect her attention.
If she wasn't, it was a free opportunity to monitor her baseline reactions.
And he couldn't run this op solo. He needed to bring Tian. First, Tian was the one who delivered the original warning, so putting them face-to-face would gauge Seraphina's aggro level. Second, Tian could also go confess and get rejected, further cementing her cover as a normal male student. Perfect.
The plan was set. Execution had to be immediate.
Uriel pivoted on his heel and marched back toward the hotel, already drafting the briefing he'd give Tian tonight.
---
When Uriel pushed open the hotel room door, Tian was sitting on the edge of her bed, deeply engrossed in a book. The cover was a chaotic explosion of pastel colors, and the title was written in exaggerated, swirling calligraphy: 100 Ways to Confess Your Love: A Collection of Sweet Phrases to Make Your Crush Fall for You.
She was studying it with intense focus, her brows slightly pinched and her lips moving silently as she memorized what she clearly considered high-tier tactical data.
"Mom, I need your help with something."
Tian snapped the book shut and looked up, blinking. "Sure! What is it?"
Uriel sat down opposite her and laid out the operational parameters. To maintain his cover as a normal student, he was going to confess to Seraphina. It was a fake-out. Just go through the motions, secure the rejection, and abort. The primary objective was to check if Seraphina was suspicious about the other night, while simultaneously patching his background character profile. Tian needed to tag along to run her own confession op for male-student credibility, and to act as his spotter to observe Seraphina's micro-expressions.
Tian listened, nodding along. Then she raised the book, flipped to a specific page, and pointed at a paragraph.
"Do I just lift her chin and say, 'Woman, you are fatally sweet,' like in the romance novels?" she asked in her usual gentle, syrupy tone.
Uriel's fist hovered in the air, twitching with the urge to knock some sense into the publisher.
"What kind of trashy romance novels are you even reading?!"
He snatched the pastel monstrosity from her hands, glanced at the cover, and his mouth twitched. Which publishing house was printing this garbage? This thing was a public menace.
"Just look her in the eye, keep a straight face, and say, 'I like you. Please go out with me.'"
Tian set down the book, stood, and clasped her hands in front of her. With absolute, deadpan sincerity, she delivered the line with absolute, deadpan sincerity.
"I like you. Please go out with me."
"Exactly like that."
"But won't that make me fail?" Tian looked genuinely confused, her eyes drifting back to the confiscated book. "The guys in the novels always succeed when they do the chin-lift thing."
Uriel reached out and pinched both her cheeks, pulling them gently outward. Tian's golden eyes blinked rapidly, her lips puckering into a small pout as a muffled "mew" escaped her throat.
"Failing is the entire point. And those cheap trashy novels are lying to you. Forget them."
With her cheeks still stretched, Tian mumbled a compliant "okay." Uriel let go, leaving two faint red marks on her face. She raised her hands and rubbed them softly.
---
The next day, during the break between classes, the dual-operation officially commenced.
The corridors of the Fourth Academy's teaching building were always a zoo during recess, but the west wing annex was noticeably quieter. Seraphina was frequently cornered in this specific zone. It wasn't a location she chose; it was the unofficial, universally agreed-upon spot where suitors dragged her to make their confessions feel more "solemn."
Today was no exception.
When Uriel and Tian arrived, a Fourth Academy guy was already standing around the corner. His head was bowed, hands white-knuckling the seams of his trousers, the tips of his ears burning red. Seraphina stood opposite him, her hair swaying gently in the cross-breeze of the hallway. She wore that standard, polite smile. Her lips moved, her voice too soft to carry more than a few feet. But judging by the way the guy's shoulders completely collapsed as he turned to leave, another premium friend-zone card had just been issued.
She didn't even look annoyed. After rejecting him, she gave a slight, courteous bow and watched him walk away. Her posture was so flawless she looked like she'd just finished a demonstration in an advanced etiquette seminar.
Uriel pulled back behind the corner and nudged Tian with his elbow.
"You go first. I'll hang back and observe."
Tian gave a soft "okay" and stepped out from behind the corner.
Hearing the footsteps, Seraphina turned around out of habit, the polite smile already pre-loaded on her face. Then she actually registered the person walking toward her. Short silver hair, soft facial features. It was none other than her classmate, Tian—the exact same person who had warned her to "watch out for the Headmaster" in the dorms.
Seraphina's expression locked up.
It was a micro-stiffening of her facial muscles, so subtle you'd miss it if you weren't staring. The curve of her smile remained, but a crystal-clear spike of panic flashed in her eyes. Her fingers instinctively pinched the hem of her skirt.
Uriel didn't hide. He strolled out from behind the corner, took a few steps to the side, and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He didn't say a word, just stood there in plain sight, radiating the aura of I'm just next in line to confess. The logic was simple: he needed to be close enough to read Seraphina's tells, and if his mom went off-script, he could intervene instantly.
Tian stopped in front of Seraphina. Her hands hung neatly at her sides, her expression as serious as a student about to deliver a final thesis presentation.
"I like you. Please go out with me."
Her tone was grave, her enunciation flawless, and her delivery dripping with absolute sincerity. She had executed Uriel's standard-issue script to the letter, with zero influence from the trashy romance novel.
Seraphina didn't answer.
But the corner of her mouth twitched. It was as if a bizarre, hidden switch had been flipped, and her lips began to tremble in microscopic spasms.
Cold sweat beaded at her temples, catching the glare of the hallway's magic lamps. She stared at Tian's completely pure, utterly serious face, her pupils dilating and contracting as she weathered some internal psychological hurricane that no one else could possibly comprehend.
The light instantly vanished from Seraphina's eyes, leaving behind a pair of completely dead, hollow orbs.
"P-please go back," she announced, slowly backing away in a completely flat monotone. "I am going to sleep now."