جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

Later that evening, I sat on the small porch behind the apartment, the sky dimming into shades of orange and lilac. My laptop rested beside me, open to another email. We’d love to have you part-time. I read the line again, my thumb brushing over the trackpad like it might change if I didn’t keep touching it. Clara stepped outside, balancing two mugs carefully. “Coffee,” she said. “Though I think it’s mostly milk at this point.” “Perfect,” I replied, taking it from her. The warmth settled into my palms, slow and steady. She dropped into the chair beside me, stretching her legs out. “So, future lawyer with a job. Look at you.” “Don’t say it like that.” “Like what?” “Like it’s already figured out.” She took a sip, watching me over the rim. “Isn’t it?” I shook my head slightly, eyes drifting back to the screen. “It’s a start.” “That’s all anything ever is,” she said. I let out a quiet breath. “You make it sound simple.” “It is simple,” she replied. “Not easy. Just simple.”

*Bella’s POV* The café smelled of cinnamon and old coffee beans, that kind of scent that wraps around me like a memory I didn’t know I missed. The hum of quiet conversations and the low strum of jazz floated through the air. It was warm inside, a mercy against the October chill. I sat by the window, a notebook open but untouched. The babies had finally fallen asleep before I left, and Clara had promised to watch them. I told myself I’d use the break to write my law school essay. Instead, I’d spent the past hour staring at an empty page. The pen twirled in my hand, my reflection staring back faintly from the glass — pale, tired, and a little lost. My hair was up in a loose bun that was losing the fight, strands falling like soft punctuation around my face. I sipped my coffee and exhaled. Maybe the universe was laughing. Maybe it always has been. Then, a voice. “Is this seat taken?” I looked up, startled. A man stood beside my table, tall, a little rain on his shoulders. His smil

*Bella’s POV* I sat near the window, flipping through a stack of law prep notes, though my eyes hadn’t truly read a single line in minutes. My mind wandered, as it often did lately, to the spaces between my thoughts—the quiet ache I’d learned to carry like breath. “Still drowning in those?” a familiar voice teased. I looked up and found Daniel leaning against the chair opposite mine, sleeves rolled to his elbows, that disarming smile tugging at his lips. He always looked too comfortable in his own skin—clean-cut, confident, the kind of man who made heads turn without meaning to. I managed a faint smile. “You make it sound like I enjoy suffering.” He pulled out the chair and sat without waiting for permission. “I’m starting to think you do. You’ve been in this exact seat three days in a row.” “Law doesn’t study itself.” “Neither does life,” he countered. “You have to live that too, you know.” I huffed a soft laugh, mostly to mask the tightening in my chest. “I’ll add

*Bella’s POV*The late afternoon light slanted through the kitchen window, casting gold over the cluttered table — baby bottles, open notebooks, and a cold cup of tea that I had reheated three times but never finished.The faint hum of the ceiling fan stirred my hair as I rocked Evie in one arm and tried to scroll through my phone with the other.The university page kept refreshing. Nothing had shown. Still no result.I sighed, setting the phone down beside the baby’s bottle. “Anytime now,” I murmured, mostly to myself.Clara looked up from the counter, where she was chopping vegetables. “You’ve checked that thing at least twenty times today. You’ll break the poor site before they even upload anything.”I smiled faintly. “Maybe if I stare long enough, they’ll take pity on me.”Clara laughed, the sound bright and warm against the dull rhythm of the knife. “You’ll pass, Bella. You know that, right?”“I hope so.”“No,” she said, turning to face me, hands on her hips. “Not hope. You will.

*Bella’s POV*The email came on a Tuesday morning.I almost missed it—buried somewhere between subscription spam and another bill reminder.I opened it absentmindedly, half-expecting another “Thank you for your patience” note. But when my eyes caught the first line, everything inside me stilled.We are pleased to inform you that you have been offered admission to the Faculty of Law.The world tilted.My breath caught somewhere between my chest and my throat. I read it again. Then again, slower this time, like maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. My pulse thudded, uneven, climbing higher with every word that refused to change.“Clara!” I shouted, my voice shaking. “Clara!”Footsteps rushed down the hallway. “What? What’s wrong? Did someone die?”I turned, holding up my phone like it might disappear if I didn’t anchor it in the air. “No. No one died. I… I got in.”She blinked. “Got in where?”“Law school.”The scream she let out could have cracked glass.“Oh my God, Bella!” She crash