CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER 210

Celena’s POV The next morning, I woke up in my familiar bed, my head pounding like it had been struck by a rock. The throbbing pain came in waves, and the dizzying haze of a hangover lingered. I was still wearing yesterday’s beautiful red gown, now wrinkled and crumpled. Beside me... a familiar, comforting wolf scent lingered. Damn it! Jacob?! I bolted upright, the sudden movement making my head throb worse. Jacob was sleeping right beside me, his arm wrapped around my waist, just like before. My emotions instantly spiraled. What the hell was this?! My noise woke him. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, looking a bit groggy himself, then cautiously explained that I’d invited him in last night. Our arguing had drawn Lily and the others. Lily entered and confirmed Jacob’s story with a resigned sigh. "You snuck several glasses of champagne last night, you little drunkard," Lily said, hands on her hips, looking almost motherly in her exasperation. "You were wasted in no time. You said you wanted to dance, and Melissa, seeing you happy, didn’t stop you." Then I went wild on the dance floor? Even caught the eye of that young Alpha from the Bloodfang pack. He asked me to dance, and I actually... accepted?! Jacob nearly lost his mind watching this, but he had no right to stop me. Instead, he painfully swapped his soda for alcohol, getting himself drunk too. After that dance, a drunken Jacob came over and practically dragged me away. Both of us were stumbling around, clinging to each other instinctively, not really knowing how we made it back. Exhausted and drunk, we ended up falling asleep in my room, wrapped in each other’s arms, comforted by the familiar scent of the other. What a dramatic ending... Jacob’s POV Even though it ended in such chaos, deep down... I somehow didn’t think it was a bad thing. Celena and I fell asleep again like we used to, enveloped in each other’s breath, feeling the long-lost peace brought by our soul connection. It felt so good. Of course, when Celena woke up, she was still a bit embarrassed and angry, kicking us both out of the room. But she wasn’t hysterical, nor was she filled with hatred. She just seemed a little uncomfortable and awkward. This made me feel like our relationship had taken a small step forward. So, before finally leaving and gently closing the door, I gathered my courage. Turning back to see her sitting on the bed, rubbing her temples, I spoke sincerely: "Celena, I still love you. I’m deeply sorry for the mistakes I made in the past. Every day was agony... I truly beg for your forgiveness." Celena’s Perspective He said he still loves me. He said he’s sorry. He said he suffers every day, begging for my forgiveness. What could I say? Forgive him? But Brett really did die because of him. Not forgive him? But last night... sleeping with his scent around me was the most peaceful night I’ve had in months. This was so confusing! I couldn’t utter a word, feeling like a balloon about to burst. Finally, I just pulled the covers up over my head like an ostrich, then rolled over hard, lying with my back toward the door. It was dark and stuffy under the covers. All I could hear was my own pounding heartbeat and heavy breathing. So annoying! So damn annoying! Jacob’s POV She didn’t say a word, just wrapped herself in the covers like a cocoon and sulked back into bed. God, the way she looked... she was damn adorable. Like a little wolf cub that had been annoyed and was puffing up all its fur. She wasn’t exactly intimidating, but she insisted on putting on this "I’m fierce, don’t mess with me" act. I could almost picture her pouting face beneath the covers, brows knitted in irritation. A warm, tingling ache welled up inside me, threatening to make me laugh out loud, but I clamped it down hard. This wasn’t the time for laughter. I’d never dare say it out loud, unless I wanted her to pillow-bash me out the door, or worse. But deep down, I knew this was a huge improvement over her previous states when she treated me like I was invisible, or when her eyes were filled with nothing but ice shards. At least she was "angry" at me now, rather than completely indifferent. This small, awkward reaction felt like a ray of sunshine piercing through the gloom. I backed out of her room as carefully as possible, almost on tiptoe, and closed the door softly behind me. Lily’s POV I watched Jacob emerging from Celena’s room, his face filled with a mix of relief, caution, and a hint of... an uncontrollable... silly grin? Two people who snuck drinks until they passed out, only to end up sleeping in the same room again? This plot twist was fucking ridiculous! If I hadn’t seen them stumbling and tugging at each other drunk last night, I’d sworn this was some moron’s lame lie to fool a three-year-old. But looking into Jacob’s eyes now, I knew this might be farce to others, but for him, it was a huge step forward. As long as Celena didn’t scream him out or hurl the nastiest insults at him, but instead... just childishly buried her face in sulk, it meant she subconsciously didn’t reject his closeness. My dear brother, perhaps... he truly didn’t have to live every day under the shadow of despair and self-blame anymore. That thought brought me relief. Yet at the same time, something felt oddly off. As a woman, my intuition was buzzing. Celena’s emotional shift seemed... a bit too sudden? But on second thought, a little girl who grew up in a dungeon, lacking a sense of security, and whose minds might be far less mature than those of her peers, with unpredictable emotions and contradictory behaviors, seems... It was quite normal, too? She might not even have figured out what she wants herself. "Alright, alright," I told myself stop analyzing a teenager with an adult’s mindset.