Semua Bab Winning Her Back: Bab 101 - Bab 110

The silver dress lay heavy on the bed, shimmering like captured moonlight turned cold. It wasn’t fabric; it was armor. A suit of emotional chainmail I was strapping on for battle. My reflection in the vanity mirror stared back, eyes wide, pupils dark with a determination that felt brittle. Operation Fall in Love with Michael: Phase One Commences.I touched the cool, slippery silk. Michael’s taste, mint, coffee, a void still lingered faintly on my lips, a phantom reminder of the hollow kiss. A fresh wave of self-loathing washed over me. He’d been radiant, buoyant, utterly convinced that the kiss was a declaration of love. And I’d let him believe it. Because the alternative, admitting the terrifying emptiness inside me, the persistent ghost haunting my veins felt like stepping off a cliff."Become her," I whispered to the reflection. The woman who belonged in this dress, with that man, in that safe, respectable life. "Become her now."The process felt alien. Brushing my hair until it s

The day was just starting, but I already couldn’t wait for the end. The silk of the cobalt dress whispered against my skin, a cool counterpoint to the feverish effort thrumming beneath. Michael’s hand rested possessively on the small of my back, guiding me through the throng of the city’s elite at the Van Derlyn Gallery opening. Crystal chandeliers refracted light onto polished marble floors. Laughter and the clink of champagne flutes formed a brittle soundtrack. I was the picture Michael wanted: poised, elegant, his.Operation: Fall in Love with Michael – Phase 3: Public Integration.I focused on the solid warmth of his hand, the proud tilt of his chin as he acknowledged acquaintances. See? I lectured my treacherous heart. This is security. This is admiration. This is where you belong. I leaned into him slightly, offering a smile I’d practiced in the mirror, warm, engaged, loving. He squeezed my waist in response, his eyes soft. Triumph flared in him; he saw progress. He saw success

The world dissolved into heat and the devastating taste of him, coffee, mint, and something uniquely, irrevocably Ethan. His lips moved against mine, not gentle, not tentative, but claiming, consuming, a wildfire ignited by months of suppressed longing and the shattering truth of my silence. My hands fisted in the cotton of his Henley, anchoring myself as much as pulling him closer, needing the solid reality of him against the dizzying spin of sensation. Rational thought was ash. There was only the searing pressure of his mouth, the scratch of stubble against my skin, the possessive grip of his hand on my waist burning through my shirt, and the low groan vibrating in his chest that echoed the desperate whimper trapped in my throat. The orphanage garden, the sunshine, the children’s distant laughter, all vanished. There was only Ethan, his kiss a brand, his presence the only gravity left in my collapsing universe.His tongue swept against the seam of my lips, a demand and a plea, and I

The stale air in my apartment had become a tangible thing, thick with the scent of unwashed despair and cold pizza crusts. Days bled into each other, marked only by the shifting patterns of grey light filtering through the perpetually drawn blinds. I’d become a ghost haunting my own life, jumping at the buzz of the intercom, letting calls from unknown numbers bleed into voicemail oblivion. My phone, permanently silenced, lay buried under a couch cushion like a live grenade I couldn’t bring myself to defuse. The world outside felt like a minefield, one step held the potential for Michael’s icy shrapnel or Ethan’s consuming fire.The tearing sensation inside me hadn’t lessened; it had fossilized into a constant, grinding ache. Heart: Ethan. The phantom heat of his kiss still lingered, a brand on my lips that pulsed with treacherous longing whenever I closed my eyes. Brain: Michael. The image of those scattered red petals, the chilling finality of his silence, the imagined emptiness of

The click of the lock engaging behind them echoed like a gong in the sudden, profound silence of my apartment. Michael and Ethan. Gone. Together. The image was seared onto my retinas: Michael’s stiff posture holding that absurdly fragile white rose, Ethan’s intense gaze softened by something perilously close to remorse. Their words, apology, pursuit, respect, your choice hung in the air, thick and disorienting, like smoke after an explosion you somehow survived.I stood frozen, my back pressed against the cool wood of the door, staring at the single white rose Michael had gently laid on the small entryway table before leaving. It lay there, pristine and utterly incongruous against the dark stain of spilled coffee spreading across the tiles near my feet. The shattered cup, forgotten moments ago, now felt like a monument to the chaos they’d just declared over. My heart hammered a frantic, uneven rhythm against my ribs, not with the familiar tearing agony, but with a dizzying vertigo. Th