All Chapters of Rising from the ash: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Chapter 71Lana noticed it.She noticed everything when it came to Ryan.The way he always fell too fast, too easily. The way he wore his heart on his sleeve, handing it over to any girl who gave him the slightest bit of attention. The way he never seemed to look at her the same way.It was always someone else.Always.And each time she thought she might finally say something, that she might finally get the words out—he was already gone. Already caught up in someone new, already chasing another girl who would break his heart just like the last one.Like right now.Lana sat across from him, watching as he grinned at his phone, completely lost in whatever message he had just received.She didn’t even have to ask who it was.Another girl. Another distraction.She sighed, stirring her drink absentmindedly. “You do realize it’s been, what? 4 months since you were losing your mind over Taylor?”Ryan looked up, his smile faltering for just a second before he rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, La

Chapter 73“Ryan felt this was the best time to get to know her more. So,” Ryan asked, glancing at her, “what do you study again?” “Well, I study Public Health,” she answered. He nodded. “Nice. So you want to work in healthcare,or something?” “Yeah, something like that. I want to focus on community health and also help people who can't afford basic healthcare.I'm doing this because when my grandmother fell sick maybe work with organizations that help underserved areas.” Ryan looked impressed. “That’s actually really cool. So basically,and I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, you want to save the world?” Sophia chuckled. “Not the world, but maybe a small part of it in the little way I can” Ryan smiled. “Well, that’s more than most people can say.” She tilted her head. “What about you? What do you study?” I wanted to study a medically related course at first but I had to switch to business management,” he replied. She smirked. “Ah, so you’re gonna be one of those

Chapter 75Sophia barely had time to step inside the dorm before she was met with chaos.Mia and Olivia were waiting for her. Not just casually sitting around—no, they were positioned.Mia stood dramatically in the middle of the room, arms folded like a disappointed mother, while Olivia sat on her bed, smirking like she had been preparing for this exact moment all night.Sophia didn’t even get the door fully shut before Mia pointed at her.“Oh. My. God.” Mia gasped, loud and theatrical. “SOPHIA .”Sophia flinched. “What—”“Who the hell just dropped you off in a car at this ungodly hour?”Sophia blinked. “Wait, what?”Olivia grinned, shaking her head. “Oh, don’t play dumb. We saw the headlights from the window.”Mia nodded aggressively. “Yeah! You think you can sneak in here after disappearing ALL DAY and we wouldn’t notice?”Sophia exhaled, already exhausted. “You two are ridiculous.”“We’re concerned,” Mia corrected. “You’ve been gone forever. We don’t know if you got kidnapped, join

Chapter 77So much for sleeping for fourteen hours," Sophia muttered to herself, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. The room was quiet except for the soft breathing of her roommates, Mia and Olivia, who were still fast asleep. She envied how easily they could drift off and stay asleep, but she wasn’t as lucky. Once she woke up, going back to sleep felt impossible, no matter how tired she still was. It had always been like that for her. She groaned and turned onto her side, rubbing her face. "Arggg, why did Justine have to call so early?" she grumbled, reaching for her phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up, nearly blinding her in the dim room. Squinting, she unlocked it and sighed when she saw the time—6:47 AM. Way too early for a Saturday. Since going back to sleep was out of the question, she started scrolling through her notifications, hoping to at least pass the time. Her Instagram feed was the usual mix of posts from friends, influencers, and random pages she fo

Chapter 79The idea of walking into a room where Zach and Taylor could be—where they would be—made his stomach turn. He had told Lana he would come, but now that he was thinking about it, was it really worth it? He hadn’t faced them properly since everything went down the last time they met at Zach's place, and honestly, he preferred it that way.Zach. His friend. Or at least, the guy who used to be his friend. The guy he had trusted. The same guy who didn’t hesitate to take Taylor right from under him. They were still close to each but Ryan always held that grudge It wasn’t like Ryan and Taylor had the perfect relationship, well to him it was but he had loved her—or at least, he thought he did. It was hard to tell now. It had been a messy breakup, not just because Taylor left him, but because she left him for Zach. That was what stung the most. The betrayal. The way Zach acted like it wasn’t a big deal, like Ryan should just get over it.But Ryan wasn't over it.He leaned against th