Lahat ng Kabanata ng Her Bloom Isn’t Red Anymore: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Chapter 20: Love Me Like You’ll Still Be Here Tomorrow Aria woke to warmth that wasn’t sunlight. Her eyes stayed closed, but she could feel Jules — bare skin against her back, breath soft against her shoulder. Fingers drifted lazily across her stomach, not trying to wake her, just tracing lines only Jules could see. It started as comfort. Then it changed. Jules’s fingertips moved slower. More intentionally. They circled her navel, slid down and paused just above the hem of the shirt Aria hadn’t bothered to button. It had slipped open sometime in the night. So had everything else. Aria’s breath caught. Her mind flashed to the way Jules touched her last night. Finger inside her. Lips everywhere. The way she whimpered into Jules’s mouth when she came, how her hips had moved on their own, how good it had felt to be seen and wanted and held all at once. She bit her lip without meaning to. Jules noticed. She always noticed. Jules shifted closer, her hand now gliding up instead, draggi

Chapter 22: We Shouldn’t Have. But God, We Did Anyway Aria remembered the way Jules used to kiss her — like she already knew all the parts of her that mattered. Even back then, even when things weren’t supposed to be serious, it always felt like Jules was holding something back. Not out of disinterest. Not out of detachment. But because she was scared of what might happen if she didn’t. It was easier before Dominic. Before she tried to do the “right” thing. The grown - up thing. She wanted something simple, stable, something without the weight of history and emotion. She wanted something that wouldn’t ruin her if it ended. That’s what Dominic was supposed to be. Someone she liked. Someone who seemed sweet. He asked her out in the quietest voice and looked nervous when she said yes. She wanted it to work. God, she really did. But she didn’t expect how time with Dominic would feel more like waiting than living. They had been dating two months and only kissed once — on the cheek. Th

Chapter 24: She Was Falling Apart, But In Bloom Too The morning dragged itself out like the sky was caught between a sigh and a storm. Rain fell in slow, uneven drops, wetting the cracked sidewalks and washing the city in a soft gray haze. Aria pulled her umbrella low over her head, its worn nylon barely keeping the chill off. The streets were almost empty, quiet except for the steady tap of rain on pavement and the distant hum of a city reluctant to wake. She moved with a weight pressing down on her chest — like the sky was folding in on itself and she was caught in the middle. She didn’t know where she was going. Not really. Her boots splashed through puddles, careless and cold, as if the water couldn’t reach inside her. Passing the old bookstore next to the café — a place usually closed on Mondays — Aria blinked. The door was cracked open, just enough for a shadow to slip through. She stopped, heart skipping. The air smelled of damp paper and something sharper underneath. Metal?

Chapter 26: When Shadows Bloom and Mirrors Break the Silence The streets were slick with rain, reflecting neon and streetlights in fractured puddles. Phones buzzed in pockets, notifications piling up and disappearing as if the city itself couldn’t keep up. Aria’s own phone glowed, alerts from Jules, Niko, and unseen warnings scrolling too fast to read. Every flicker, every stutter of light, made her pulse tighten. Somewhere nearby, Mrs. Yune moved through alleys and abandoned corridors, a predator in human skin. The hunger inside her had sharpened to an edge that could cut through instinct, memory, and conscience alike. Faces she once knew passed too slowly for her control, each step a calculation, each movement precise, silent. Nothing escaped her notice, and nothing could stop her. Meanwhile, hidden in apartments across the city, the goddess lingered. Chains bit into her wrists, fluorescent lights glinting off her pale skin and pink hair, glowing faintly like embers. Her finger

Chapter 28: Hugging Strangers, Listening To Stories, Packing Life Behind Aria stayed quiet as they stepped into her apartment. The familiar hum of the refrigerator, the soft buzz of her phone notifications, the faint drip from the leaky window sill — it all felt heavier now, somehow sharper. She had no idea why her stomach twisted like this, her chest beating faster than normal. Selene moved beside her with the kind of calm precision that made the air feel denser, almost magnetic, and Aria couldn’t help the small shiver that ran down her spine. Selene stopped, turned, and without hesitation, wrapped her arms around Aria. The hug was firm, deliberate, carrying a sharp, cold edge — but strangely familiar — and it pulled something loose in Aria she didn’t know she had. She should have pulled away. She should have kept her distance. Rational thought told her to retreat, but her heart beat faster than her mind could process. Slowly, instinctively, she returned the hug, pressing closer,