CODE HEART ♥

*CHAPTER 8: Blindfolded*

National Championship - Round 1. Serena Hotel Ballroom, Islamabad.

The ballroom was converted into a giant coding arena. 20 tables, 20 teams, 20 giant screens. 200 students from all over Pakistan. Live cameras. Judges from Google Pakistan and Microsoft Pakistan walking around. The air conditioning was full, but everyone was sweating.

Host on mic, a famous tech YouTuber, "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Round 1! This round is not about speed! This round is about TRUST! This round is called TRUST CODE!"

He held up a black blindfold.

"One partner will be blindfolded. Fully. Cannot see anything. The other partner cannot touch the laptop. Cannot type. Only voice. You have to code a full, working program in 60 minutes! One syntax error, you are out! One wrong instruction, you are out!"

Whole hall: _GASP_

Every team started fighting instantly.

"I'm not getting blindfolded!"

"You will, you type slower!"

Lucas whispered loudly from St. Augustine's table, "Bro, Alex will kill Charlotte if she makes him blindfolded. He has trust issues with the whole world."

Jack: "Or Charlotte will kill Alex! She will say 'press delete' and he will delete System32!"

Host looked at the list, "For our first demo, let's start with the team who broke the record yesterday - Alex and Charlotte from St. Augustine Elite Oxford! Come on stage!"

The spotlight hit them. 200 eyes on them.

Charlotte froze. Her hands went cold. She hated being on stage. She hated 200 people looking at her.

Alex, without a second of hesitation, immediately picked up the black blindfold from the table.

Alex: "I will be blindfolded. You speak. You guide."

Charlotte was shocked, her mouth open, "What? Why you? You never trust anyone! You said you don't even trust Lucas with your laptop! And you want to be blindfolded in front of everyone?!"

Alex was already tying the blindfold, his black hair messy under it, "I trust your voice. That's enough. Let's go. We have 60 minutes."

Silence in the hall. Even the host stopped speaking for 2 seconds.

The cold bully of Crestwood. The boy who had a rule "I don't let girls come near me, I don't trust anyone." Was trusting Charlotte Lane. Blindly. Literally blindly. In front of the whole country.

Sophie in the audience grabbed Mia's hand, "Oh my God, did he just say 'I trust your voice'? On national level?"

Mia: "I'm not crying, you are crying!"

Simon, sitting in the second row with his team, heard it. His fists clenched on his knees.

The timer started. Big red numbers on screen: 60:00.

Charlotte's voice was shaking at first. She was so nervous. Her medical brain knew logic, but giving voice instructions is different.

"Okay... okay Alex... type... def... d-e-f... detect_animal_health..."

Alex's fingers were fast, but he was fully blind. He typed `def detect_animal_helth` - spelling mistake.

Charlotte panicked, "No, not there! Health! H-E-A-L-T-H! Line 1! Backspace! Backspace 5 times!"

Alex didn't get angry. He usually gets angry if someone shouts at him. But he just said calmly, "Tell me exactly, don't panic. Slow. I am listening only to you."

Charlotte took a deep breath. She understood. He needed her calm voice, not her panicked voice. She did something she never did.

She came closer. She pulled her chair right next to his. So close her shoulder touched his. So close her whisper was only for him, not for the mic, not for the hall. Only for Alex.

Charlotte, softly, right near his ear, her voice steady now, "Okay listen... slow... we can do it... like last time in the suite... together... breathe with me... type... def... space..."

Alex's hands, which were shaking slightly because he couldn't see, stopped shaking. He smiled under the blindfold. A small, invisible smile that only Charlotte could feel because she was so close.

For 60 minutes, her voice was his eyes. And his fingers were her hands.

"Line 23, add if condition..."

"Done."

"No, indentation! Two tabs!"

"Done."

"Now add Cookie's temperature data... 103 to 99..."

"Added."

It was not coding anymore. It was like a dance. She spoke, he typed. She corrected, he fixed without ego. For the first time, Alex Shepherd, who never listened to anyone, was listening to every single word of a girl.

The host was whispering to the judges, "Look at them... they are not even fighting..."

Last 1 minute! The timer was red!

Host: "10... 9... 8... Teams, wrap up! 7... 6..."

Charlotte's voice was now almost shouting but still soft for him, "RUN! Press run! Control plus R! RUN!"

Alex, blindfolded, his hand searching for the keyboard, pressed Enter. Hard.

The big screen behind them was black for 3 seconds. The code was compiling.

Everyone held their breath.

Then the screen flashed bright green.

*CODE EXECUTED SUCCESSFULLY - ALL TEST CASES PASSED - SCORE 100% - FIRST TEAM TO QUALIFY!*

The hall ERUPTED! Like a football stadium!

Sophie screamed so loud her voice cracked, "THEY DID IT BLINDFOLDED! 100% BLINDFOLDED!"

Mia was jumping, "This is not coding, this is love! This is literally trust fall but with Python!"

Lucas and Jack lifted their St. Augustine flag, "CODE HEART! CODE HEART! CODE HEART!"

Simon clapped from the audience. He was clapping loudly, because he is a gentleman. But his heart was breaking into pieces. Because he saw how Charlotte looked at Alex after he removed his blindfold - like he was her hero. Like she had never looked at anyone before.

Alex removed the blindfold slowly. His eyes took a second to adjust to the bright lights. His eyes were a little red from being blindfolded for an hour. And the first thing his eyes found was Charlotte's. Both sweaty, both breathing fast, both so close their foreheads almost touched.

The noise of 200 people disappeared for them.

Charlotte, whispering, tears of joy in her eyes, "We did it... we actually did it... 100%..."

Alex, looking only at her, not at the scoreboard, not at the trophy, just at her eyes behind her glasses, whispered back, his voice a little hoarse,

"We did. Because you didn't leave me in the dark."

For a second, everyone else disappeared. It was just them on that big stage. The blindfold in his hand, her voice still ringing in his ears.

It had a double meaning. She didn't leave him in the dark in coding. And she didn't leave him in the dark in life.

Until the host shouted, breaking the moment, "INCREDIBLE! WHAT A PERFORMANCE! NEXT TEAM! SIMON KEYES AND ETHAN COLE! PLEASE COME TO THE STAGE!"

Simon walked to the stage, his face calm, his gentleman smile on. But his eyes were not on his laptop. They were not on the code.

They were on Charlotte and Alex, still sitting so close, still looking at each other.

He walked past them and whispered just enough for Charlotte to hear, "Congratulations, Charlotte. You two were... perfect together."

Charlotte didn't know what to say.

*[End of Chapter 8 - CLIFFHANGER]*

> _Host announced after all rounds, "Congratulations to the 10 qualified teams! Tonight, there is a formal dinner party for all finalists at the rooftop. Dress code: Formal. And partners must come together as a pair."_

>

> _Alex has never taken any girl to a party in his life. He hates parties. Charlotte has never been to a party in Pakistan, and she has no formal dress._

>

> _What will happen when they walk in together on the rooftop under the Islamabad stars... and Simon asks Charlotte for a dance in front of everyone? Will Alex... get jealous again and finally confess?_

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