All Chapters of So This is Love : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Norah couldn’t move for a second. She just stared — blood on his shirt, breath uneven, eyes too calm for someone who’d walked through hell.Instinct kicked.“Oh my God — get inside.”She grabbed his arm, not gently, and dragged him in before anyone in the hallway could see.“I’m fine,” he muttered.“Shut up.” She slammed the door closed behind them. Her hands were trembling, which only made her angrier. “You’re bleeding again. How — why would you even—”He winced as he sank onto the edge of her bed. “It’s nothing.”“Nothing?” Her voice rose before she could stop it. “You show up at my door like this and you expect me to believe it’s nothing?”His jaw tightened. “I didn’t come here to argue.”“Well, congratulations.” She snatched the first-aid kit and moved with too much force. “Because I’m already arguing.”She wiped blood from his side; he hissed.“Don’t do that,” she snapped.“Do what?”“Pretend it doesn’t hurt.”He looked at her — really looked — and something in him softened. Then

Ivan reached out and cupped her face in his hand, his thumb gently brushing the dust from her cheek. His gaze locked with hers, and in her eyes, he saw a storm of emotions, anticipation, excitement, longing, wonder, and something else he couldn’t quite name.Slowly, he leaned closer, his breath mingling with hers as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Norah’s heart began to pound so hard she feared it might leap right out of her chest. She held her breath, eyes fluttering shut as every thought, every nerve, focused on one thing — her lips.This was it. Her first ever kiss.A heartbeat passed… and then she felt it — the gentle pressure of his soft lips against hers. And suddenly, the world stopped turning. It was just her and him, in that perfect, suspended moment where nothing else existed.His kiss was soft, unhurried, and it unraveled her completely. But when he kissed away the tiny droplets on her lips, her knees grew weak, and her heart threatened to burst. She had ne

Norah stepped out of the bathroom for the third time, tugging at the hem of her blouse.Mary and Kim stared at her… then made the same face again.“No,” Mary said immediately. “Absolutely not.”Kim crossed her arms. “Norah, be serious. This is Ivan we’re talking about. You can’t go looking like… like somebody’s Sunday school teacher.”Norah let out a frustrated breath. “What’s wrong with this one again?”“It’s lame,” Mary said. “So lame.”Kim nodded. “Too safe. Too simple. Too… Norah.”Nora dropped onto the edge of the bed. “I’m tired. This is the third outfit.”“Exactly why we’re taking over,” Mary announced. She grabbed Norah’s wrist and pulled her up. “Come on. We’re picking the outfit. End of discussion.”Kim was already digging through the wardrobe. “Ooh, this one. This is perfect. Trust me.”Before Norah could protest, they had her standing there while they zipped, clipped, adjusted, and changed her into something they approved of.Then came the makeup.“Mary, no,” Norah groaned

Ivan disappeared down the hallway the moment she turned back to the stove.Norah didn’t think much of it… but inside that bathroom, Ivan stood under the shower with the water turned all the way to cold.Ice cold.He braced one hand on the wall, water running down his back as he dragged in a slow breath.He needed this. He needed it.Because his mind was hot. His body was hotter. And that kiss—her mouth, her legs dangling off his counter in his shirt, her soft little sounds—had him losing his damn mind.The rain hadn’t cooled him. The apartment air hadn’t cooled him. Nothing was working.“Get it together,” he muttered to himself, letting the freezing water slam over the heat rolling through him.He stayed until his pulse stopped hammering, until he could finally breathe without wanting to walk back into that kitchen and take her right then and there.When he stepped out and wiped a hand through his hair, he forced himself calm—forced himself normal—before going back out.The kitc

Ivan leaned back in the café booth, phone pressed to his ear, voice soft enough to melt steel.“Norah… you home yet?”Her surprised laugh came through.“You just dropped me an hour ago.”“I know,” he murmured, smiling to himself. “Still wanna know if you got in safe. And you left my place without breakfast… that’s messed up.”Across the table, Jay and Liam stared at him like he’d grown wings.Liam mouthed, bro, what?Jay raised his brows, smirking.Norah cleared her throat, flustered.“I wanted to go home and get ready for class.”“So what I’m hearing,” Ivan drawled, “is that you ditched me.”Her breath hitched.“Ivan, please.”He chuckled low — warm, teasing, flirting slipping into every word.“Relax, sunshine. Let me make it up to you. Come out with me this evening. I wanna take you somewhere.”There was a pause… a long one.“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said finally, “not until you talk to your mother.”That cut through his smile for a second — a wound and a challenge all