Lahat ng Kabanata ng No Way to Win Me Back: Kabanata 341 - Kabanata 350

Celeste’s POVBy late afternoon, Rosemary hummed with its usual rhythm with soft footsteps on hardwood, distant chatter from the design floor, but my body felt out of sync, like my pulse was lagging behind the world.I kept my eyes fixed on the sketch before me, even though the lines blurred every time I blinked.I’d been avoiding Ryan all day, ducking into hallways, pretending to be on calls, staying surrounded by people so he couldn’t pull me aside.It was necessary.Because if he looked too closely, I’d break.I was shading the curve of a pendant when I felt the air shift. It always did around him.Then came the soft knock on my open studio door.“Celeste?”I stiffened. “Hm?”He stepped inside, hands in his pockets, hair slightly tousled like he’d run his fingers through it one too many times. His jade eyes scanned my face much too carefully.“You’ve been… distant today,” he murmured.“Have I?” I didn’t look up. My pencil scratched nothing useful.“I’m not imagining it.” His voice s

Ryan’s POVI first noticed it in the way she breathed.Quietly. Too quietly. Like every inhale had to be negotiated with something pressing against her ribs.Celeste wasn’t someone who hid things, not from me.Even when she tried, her emotions lived right beneath her skin, bright and fragile as light through glass.But for the past few days, something had changed. She moved differently. Held herself differently. The air around her felt… guarded.Hushed phone calls behind half-closed doors. Fabric samples untouched for hours. Her eyes avoided mine in a way that wasn’t accidental, but deliberate, as if looking at me was suddenly dangerous.And she had started flinching when I said her name.That was what scared me most.By Friday, I couldn’t take pretending anymore. I needed answers, if not from her, then from someone who knew more than I did.Which is how I ended up walking through the marble corridors of Crown Luxe headquarters with a tension behind my breastbone sharp enough to cut th

Ryan’s POVI didn’t remember getting into the car.I didn’t remember driving from Rosemary to Crown Luxe.All I remembered was Celeste’s voice, small and shaking, telling me my father had threatened her.The image of her eyes when she admitted it. The way she apologized as if she had done something wrong.By the time I strode into the lobby of Crown Luxe Headquarters, I was running on pure adrenaline.The staff stepped back as I passed, whispering, eyes wide. I didn’t slow down. I didn’t acknowledge a single bow, greeting, or nervous “Mr. Edwards—sir—”I hit the top-floor elevator button with enough force to shake the panel.Every second felt like I was breathing through fire.My father had threatened Celeste.I pressed my palms against my eyes, forcing myself to breathe.I’d always known he was capable of manipulation, subtle pressure, veiled commands, corporate coercion. But this?Threatening her career? Using information Vanessa should’ve never even had access to? Trying to separate

Celeste’s POVI took two days off.Two whole days where I didn’t step foot in Rosemary, didn’t look at my sketchbook, didn’t pretend everything was fine.My mother kept Molly busy, filling the house with drawing papers and Barbie shoes and giggles that felt like sunlight through fog.And I… unraveled.Quietly. Alone. In the slow, aching way exhaustion makes a home beneath your ribs.The entire ordeal with Maximilian had drained me. The confrontation that followed, Ryan’s heartbreak, his fury, the way he crumbled in my arms, had hollowed me out completely.By the third morning, I woke up with a strange kind of clarity humming through me.Like the emotional fallout had burned away all the excuses I’d used to keep myself at a safe distance.Fear was still there, but it wasn’t steering anymore.I showered, dressed, and drove to Rosemary with the same nervousness I used to feel before big presentations, except this time the stakes were my heart.When I walked inside, I could already tell Ry

Celeste’s POVRyan had insisted we spend the evening doing something “normal,” which in our case meant takeout, a blanket fort in the living room, and a movie Molly had already watched twice this week.I didn’t have the heart to deny her a third viewing. After everything, the quiet mattered. The softness mattered.And being close to Ryan, close without the fear, felt like breathing without realising I’d been holding my lungs still for months.Molly sat between us at first, her tiny hands buried in a bowl of popcorn far too big for her lap.But ten minutes into the movie, she abandoned her bowl entirely and climbed straight into Ryan’s lap, curling against him like she’d always belonged there.I felt something warm, low in my chest, watching him tuck the blanket around her.He glanced at me once, almost shyly, and smiled.At some point I didn’t even notice our hands finding each other. It happened naturally, the way all the best things between us did, quietly, without announcement.My f