Chapter 473 - 469: He Has to Work Harder

Back in the dorm room, one of her roommates kept sneaking peeks downstairs.

"Seraphina, it’s a total madhouse down there! Aren’t you going to go down?"

"This is the biggest spectacle so far, right? How long has it even been, and he’s already pulling something like this."

"But it’s so romantic! I’ve only ever seen this kind of thing on short-form videos. I never thought I’d see it in person."

"’Romantic?’ Seraphina turned her head, a cold smile on her lips. ’It’s romantic when the feelings are mutual. This is emotional blackmail. Emotional manipulation. He wants to put me on the spot and pressure me with everyone’s stares? I’m not going. Let him stand there. If he passes out from the heat, I can call an ambulance for him.’"

Seeing Seraphina’s attitude, her roommates all fell silent.

It was obvious she wasn’t interested. She wasn’t giving him even the slightest chance.

Downstairs, the moment Ethan Sterling appeared, Renee Reid caught him and pulled him aside. "Hold on, don’t rush in. The situation is at a stalemate!"

Ethan looked anxious, his heart racing. He froze when he heard what Renee said, as if he couldn’t process it for a moment.

Renee held back the urge to laugh and explained, "That Owen Griffin has been standing there like a statue for ages and hasn’t even gotten a glimpse of Seraphina."

"Seraphina hasn’t shown up?"

Renee nodded. "She hasn’t even opened her window. Besides, this whole stunt from Owen Griffin is completely self-serving. Girls don’t fall for this kind of thing anymore; they actually find it repulsive. If his confession fails today, he’ll probably be roasted to death on the campus page tomorrow!"

Just then, Wayne came rushing over in a panic, having only caught the last part of the conversation. "What’s wrong? What happened? Whose mom died?"

Renee’s brow furrowed as she shot Wayne a disdainful look.

Ethan snapped out of it and quickly made the introduction. "This is my roommate, Wayne James."

"This is Renee Reid, my class president from senior year and my best friend."

"So you’re Renee. I’ve heard Ethan mention you all the time. Hello, hello," Wayne said with a friendly smile.

Renee’s brows knitted even tighter. ’He’s always talking about me in the guys’ dorm?’ she thought, asking suspiciously, "Good things or bad things?"

"Good things, of course! Only good things! Ethan never says a bad word about anyone!"

Renee nodded lightly. That was true. Ethan Sterling’s greatest virtue was his upstanding character.

Soon, Rabbit caught up to them. "What’s the situation now?"

"The situation is that there is no situation," Renee summarized succinctly.

The onlookers in the crowd were also getting impatient. Their initial excitement had gradually turned into annoyance.

"What’s the deal? He came all this way to confess his feelings but can’t even get the person to show up?"

"I thought I was going to witness a romantic confession, but Seraphina won’t even show her face."

"Does this guy really think this kind of gesture is romantic and heartfelt? It’s so outdated. Can straight guys stop being so basic and overconfident?"

"Look how pathetic he is. In the end, it’s all just for his own gratification."

"I’m sweating buckets out here. What a waste of my time. Let’s go, let’s go."

People started to leave, and the crowd quickly thinned out.

Owen Griffin stood there, the expression on his face frozen. He had heard all the harsh comments. For someone with his pride, holding back and not exploding was already his limit.

He stared at the window, the look in his eyes growing colder.

Suddenly, his lips curled into a smile.

’Very good. In all my life, I’ve never been humiliated like this.’

He really didn’t have much experience chasing girls; usually, they were the ones chasing him. That’s why his methods with Seraphina had been simple, crude, and self-righteous.

But that’s just the kind of person he was—unwilling to waste any extra effort on a girl.

Since the crude approach didn’t work, he had even cruder ones. There were always more solutions than problems.

At this moment, after being repeatedly rebuffed by Seraphina, Owen Griffin’s feelings toward her had begun to change from his initial simple goal of targeting Ethan Sterling.

’This Seraphina...’

"Owen, stop waiting. You’re going to get heatstroke."

The friend who had come with him couldn’t watch anymore and stepped forward to persuade him.

Seeing this, a few others also came up to him. "Don’t be mad. A girl who’s hard to get has her merits. It just means she’s not an easy person."

"Or maybe she’s just embarrassed and shy. You did make a pretty big scene."

His friends tried to come up with excuses to console him, afraid his ego had taken a blow.

But Owen Griffin just smiled and sighed lightly. "Alright. If she’s not coming out, she’s not coming out. Let’s go. I’ll treat you guys to a meal."

As he said this, he turned around and immediately spotted Ethan Sterling’s group, who hadn’t left yet.

"Renee, you should head back to your dorm," Ethan said. His first instinct was to get Renee to leave, worried a conflict might break out.

But before Renee could react, Owen Griffin was already walking toward them.

"Well, well. Did you come all this way just to watch the show?" Owen didn’t seem embarrassed at all, still looking at Ethan with his usual devil-may-care attitude.

He wasn’t wrong, though. They had indeed come specifically for this.

"They came to see me," Renee interjected, not wanting a fight to break out between the two groups.

Hearing this, Owen looked at her, his smile widening. The next second, he unceremoniously shoved the bouquet of flowers into her arms. "They’re for you. New Zealand roses. They’re expensive!"

Renee was forced to catch them, a flash of disgust on her face.

Seeing this, Ethan snatched the flowers and shoved them back at Owen. "Nobody wants your flowers. They belong in a trash can!"

"What the fuck did you just say?" Owen’s friend glared at Ethan and took two steps forward.

Seeing this, Rabbit also craned his neck and stepped up. "What? You wanna fight?"

Behind them, Wayne’s hand was already reaching for his belt.

Owen and Ethan almost simultaneously reached out to stop their friends. Ethan shook his head slightly; he didn’t want his friends to get demerits because of him.

Owen might be a troublemaker, but he knew where to draw the line. He would never start a physical fight on school grounds.

"I didn’t mean anything by it. Just thought it’d be a shame to throw them away. Don’t all girls like flowers?" Owen looked at Renee with a smile. "You really don’t want them?"

Renee rolled her eyes.

"Fine, have it your way," Owen said. He walked over to a nearby trash can, shoved the bouquet inside, then turned and waved to his friends. "Let’s go. Time to eat."

His friends shot resentful glares at Ethan as they started to walk away. Wayne and Rabbit glared right back, not to be outdone.

"Asshole!" Wayne couldn’t help but spit. "Ethan, where did you manage to piss off that fucking moron? That jackass looks like he was choked by the umbilical cord at birth."

Ethan looked at Wayne and reminded him, "There’s a girl present. Watch your language."

"Oh." Wayne tapped his mouth. "Sorry, Renee."

Renee just smiled and shook her head, then looked at Ethan. "Alright, it was a false alarm. It looks like this Owen Griffin doesn’t stand a chance with Seraphina, so you can relax a little."

Ethan looked up at the girls’ dormitory. He didn’t know which room was Seraphina’s, but today’s events had filled him with an even greater sense of urgency.

’Owen didn’t succeed, but what if it was someone else, using a different method?’

’I have to try even harder!’