re: INITIATIVE [Detective Fiction]

[#06] The Confession

IF IT happened during sunset, that scene would've been romantic, but it was only four in the afternoon.

Chelsea really wasn't someone you'd be interested in getting romantic with. Instead, she was someone you'd encounter in your life, and never forget your memory of her ever, despite not having any special relationship with her.

Now, I'm not saying she doesn't look like someone you'd be romantically interested in - perhaps she's even one of the most popular girls in school, because of how attractive and elegant she was - especially her mystifying white hair. Each one of us have our own distinct feature that makes us different from one another, and Chelsea's feature was her eccentricity.

In other words, she was the type to always get her own special place in everyone's hearts. She was that kind of girl, she was just that indelible.

Chelsea and L were friends, but looking back, they never got the chance to be intimate with one another, yet something about her fascinated L - especially her wide, purple eyes. She was always reserved, and if you'd expect that she'd settle down once she got to know you, then you're wrong. No doubt, Chelsea knew the three of them already. She had been coming back to their club room almost every afternoon since that one tutorial with derivatives, yet she remained as polite and formal as she had always been.

She was like an open textbook - she didn't seem to hide something, and always spoke true to her thoughts, yet she was also an enigma - who, really, was Chelsea Armstrong?

Her delicate pinkish-white fingers were fidgeting against one another, her eyes batted here and there. Her beige, supple upper lips overlapped the lower as she attempted to hold it down.

The question was "Do you have something to confess?"

The answer was "Yes."

Seeing Chelsea obviously getting nervous, L too, struggled to keep a firm grasp on understanding what the situation was all about. What information could possibly be worth being nervous for?

'Wait, what? Confessing what?!' L frantically thought. Deep inside, he was freaking out, but on the surface, he was still able to maintain a calm facade. This was part of who she was - a joke had turned into something sincere.

"I first felt this way back at the acquaintance party when we first met..." finally, she spoke once again.

"Back then, I thought you were the one." She said. L, still frozen in place, couldn't bring himself to believe what was unraveling in front of him. Could this really be his first love confession scene? Was that a 'love at first sight' statement?

L hadn't really thought of a romantic life, but now that a peculiar creature that seemed to have been expressing interest in him was presented before him, he seemed to have been reconsidering his preferences. Does he now consider a romantic life? Does he now want a romantic life?

Chelsea's petite hips tottered. Her bright white hair covered most of her face as it seamlessly flowed until just beyond her shoulders, but the reddish glow at the sides of her rosy-white cheeks hinted a blush.

Or at least, L thought so.

Her knees touched as her dark blue skirt rested on top of her legs. She wasn't slouching, but she looked down, as if she was too embarrassed to look at L in the eye. Her shoulders looked stiff.

"I really think that... you can help me with this, L." She sincerely spoke.

"O-oh, is that s-so? What do you need help with, exactly?" Still feeling flustered, and a little hot, L asked in return.

"The murder of my father."

But it wasn't a love confession.

With that, time seemed to have stopped ticking; L's world stopped turning, and completely flipped upside down.