CHAPTER 102: SO MUCH WORK

’Alright.’

The word was quiet. It was so small and simple that for a moment, neither of the adults in the room seemed to process it.

Ms. Albright’s professional smile faltered. She blinked, her head tilting just a fraction. ’Did he just... agree?’

Principal Joseph, who had been leaning forward with the grim weight of his argument, just stared. He had expected a debate. He had prepared for a panicked refusal, for a long, difficult conversation. He was not prepared for a single, calm word of acceptance.

Kofi looked from one adult to the other. Their shock was almost comical.

’They look like I just solved a math problem they’ve been stuck on all week. But this isn’t math. It’s a person’s life. My life. Her life.’

His own calmness was a surprise even to him. A few weeks ago, a request to answer a question in class was enough to send him into a low-grade panic. Now, he was agreeing to take on the legal-ish guardianship of a traumatized girl, and his heart was beating at a relatively normal pace.

’This is what it feels like, I guess. When the choice is so obvious there’s nothing to panic about. The other options are just... not options.’

"Kofi," Ms. Albright finally found her voice. "Are you sure you understand what you’re agreeing to?"

"I think so," he said, his voice even. "It’s a way to keep her safe. It gives us a story that makes sense. A brother taking care of his sister. It’s better than the other stories people will make up."

He looked directly at the principal. "And it’s better than leaving her with no one."

The principal just nodded slowly, a profound, weary respect in his eyes. He had underestimated this boy. They all had.

"We will need to speak with your parents, of course," Ms. Albright said, recovering her professional composure, though she was still looking at him with a new curiosity. "We’ll need their formal consent over a recorded video call. We can arrange that this afternoon."

"They’ll agree," he said with a certainty that left no room for doubt.

"Alright then," she said, closing the file on her desk. "We have a plan."

The meeting was over. Kofi stood up, gave a small, polite bow that felt strangely adult, and walked out of the office.

He stood alone in the hallway for a moment.

’Foster brother.’

He let out a long, slow breath.

’No turning back now.’

---

Nina was not in class. She was pacing in the hallway, biting her thumb in anxiety. The second she saw him, she stopped, her eyes wide.

’Lol, why is she just pacing around.’

"So? Are you expelled?"

"Worse," he said, his face completely deadpan.

Her own face went pale. "What did they do?"

"They want me to adopt a sister."

She just stared at him. Her brain went through a series of expressions: confusion, disbelief, and then finally, a complete system error.

"A what? They want you to do what? Are they on drugs? Did you hit your head again?"

He started walking, and she scrambled to keep up, grabbing his arm.

"Kofi, I’m serious, what the hell is going on?"

He pulled her around a corner, away from the many ears. He leaned against the wall and finally told her.

"It’s a foster sibling arrangement. A temporary legal thing. It’s to protect us from gossip. To make it a story people can understand."

She just listened, her hand still gripping his arm, her expression a mess of shock and dawning understanding.

"A brother and sister," she whispered, testing the words. She looked at his face, at the tired lines around his eyes. "They’re really putting all this on you."

"It’s the best plan they had," he said with a shrug. "And they’re not wrong. It’s better than the alternative."

She let go of his arm and just looked at him. The worry in her eyes was mixed with something else now, awe.

"You said yes, didn’t you?"

He just nodded.

She let out a shaky breath, a sound that was half a laugh and half a sob. "Of course, you did. You’re a complete idiot."

"Probably."

"...You are the best you know that?"

He noticed the blush on her face and could not help himself, "say that again?"

She got closer, the teasing glint in her eyes replaced by something else, something deeper and more serious. The space between them shrank until the busy hallway, the other students, all of it just faded into a dull, distant hum. A

ll he could feel was the heat coming off her skin.

Her eyes locked with his. "I said," she whispered, her voice a really low, velvet sound that seemed to vibrate right through him. She leaned in, so close he could feel the ghost of her breath against his lips. "You are the best."

His brain just shut down. All thought, all reason, all the complicated mess of his life just evaporated, replaced by a single, overwhelming need. His eyes dropped from hers to her mouth.

Her lips were soft, parted just slightly, and he felt a low, burning ache start deep in his stomach. It wasn’t a choice anymore. His body was moving on its own, drawn in by a force he had no power to resist.

He could smell the vanilla of her perfume, a dizzying, sweet scent that was all he could breathe. The last inch between them was electric, a space so charged it felt like the air itself was holding its breath. He was going to kiss her. It was the only thing in the world that made sense.

Closer... his own lips parted...

BRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!

The morning bell cried out, the noise ripping through the moment and tore them apart.

They both flinched back, the spell violently broken. Nina’s face was a deep, mortified crimson. Her eyes were wide with a kind of dazed panic, and she couldn’t seem to look at him.

"I— I have to go," she stammered at the floor. "Class."

She didn’t wait for a reply. She just turned and fled, leaving him standing alone in the hallway. A statue of romantic failure in the middle of the hallway. His brain was a blue screen of death, displaying a single, looping error message: ’Kiss.exe has stopped working.’

’What... what just happened? Did that just happen?’

His legs felt like they had been replaced with cooked spaghetti. He leaned back against the wall for support, his hand coming up to touch his own lips, which were still tingling with the ghost of a moment that never was.

He could still smell her perfume in the air, a sweet vanilla scent that was now mixed with the bitter smell of disappointment.

’We were so close. I was going to... I was actually going to kiss her.’

The realization hit him. He, Kofi L Dameire, the boy whose primary social skill was pretending to be invisible, had been seconds away from kissing Nina Shoka. The most popular, most beautiful, most terrifyingly competent girl he had ever met. And he hadn’t even planned it. It had just... happened.

A natural, terrifying, wonderful progression of a moment that felt more real than anything in his entire life.

And the bell had ruined it. The bell. The final boss of all romantic cockblocks.

’Of course. Of course, that’s what happens.’ The thought wasn’t angry. It was a statement of pure, resigned defeat. ’My life has officially become the kind of cheesy high school manga I used to make fun of online. The kind where the main characters get interrupted by a ringing bell or a falling cat right before they kiss. It’s pathetic.’

He finally managed to push himself off the wall, his movements feeling slow and disconnected, like he was piloting a robot from a great distance. He had to get to class. That was a thing people did. They went to class, even after their entire emotional landscape had been nuked from orbit.

He started walking, his feet moving on autopilot. The hallway, which had been a blurry, insignificant backdrop just a minute ago, was now painfully sharp and real. He saw other students laughing, talking, completely oblivious to the fact that a world-altering event had just failed to transpire right next to the water fountain. It was infuriating.

’Look at them all, just existing. Not a single one of them almost kissed their pillar in the hallway. Their lives are so simple.’

He slid into his seat just as the teacher started talking, the words washing over him without making any sense. He pulled out a notebook and a pen, a pantomime of a normal student. But his mind wasn’t on the lesson. It was replaying the last five minutes on a torturous, high-definition loop. The way she’d leaned in. The soft, serious look in her eyes. The sound of her quiet whisper.

He risked a glance over at her desk. She was staring straight ahead, her posture ramrod straight.

’Is she finally...’

That single thought was both a comfort and a whole new level of terror. This wasn’t just him. It wasn’t a one-sided delusion. The moment had been real for both of them. And now, they were supposed to just sit here and pretend to learn about adjectives? It was impossible. It was the most ridiculous, most excruciatingly awkward situation he could possibly imagine.

He let his head fall forward until his forehead was resting on the surface of his desk.

’This is so much work. Being a person is just so much work.’