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AGAINST COMPANY POLICY
Last Updated:
2025-03-21 00:31:54
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PRETEND PRINCESS I CAN'T HELP IT
Yuki's povI looked around the room. Just in case.Because the last thing I needed was another episode—like Jacob showing up in the corner again with those big, innocent eyes, ready to ask more stupid questions while I was actually going crazy.I checked under the bed. The closet. Even the freaking bathroom.No one.Just me.I took a shaky breath, locked the bathroom door for safety, and stepped into the shower, cranking the handle to full blast.The cold water hit my skin, but it was not enough to put out the flames burning through my body.Creed's voice was still resonating in my mind.What are you doing sleeping around with a co-worker?His lips, oh God, his lips had been so rough, so demanding, like he was angry that I was kissing someone else and not him.The way he pushed me against the wall.The way his tongue—I groaned, pushing my forehead against the cold tile, but it did nothing to ease the ache between my legs. I was already hard. Painfully, ridiculously hard. I circled
Last Updated : 2025-03-22PRETEND PRINCESS TRAPPED WITH YOU
Yuki's pov Listen! It was a heat of the moment thing, okay?! And now I don't know what the fuck to do!"Lily was wheezing for real. "Oh my—oh, this is gold. This is better than any of my dramas!""Lils, I called you for help, not to be a laughingstock!""Oh honey, you were already a laughingstock."I groaned. "You're useless.""Oh please, you love me. Now, aside from your terribly messy sex life—""I don't have a sex life.""—How's the trip? And before you say anything, Grandpa and Suzu are doing great. Roman actually remembered me today. Whole two minutes before he asked where you were."My heart constricted. "He did?""Yeah. Said he had a dream about you running around in a dress or something."I paused. "Uh. weird.""Mmmhmm. And Suzu? He peed in my shoes. Again."I snorted. "Atta boy."Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. But seriously, Yuyu, what's your plan?"I sighed. "I don't know, Lils. I really don't.""Well, whatever you do, don't fall for him.""…Yeah. Of course not.""Yuyu.""Goodnig
Last Updated : 2025-03-22PRETEND PRINCESS FREEDOM
Warm fingers touched mine.A shiver ran up my spine as Creed’s grip tightened, pulling me up slowly, carefully, as if afraid I’d slip. His hand lingered, his thumb ghosting over my wrist before letting go.The air between us felt charged, the darkness making everything more intense.I took a cautious step back, only to bump into a table. His chuckle was quiet but there, curling in the air between us.“You okay?” he asked."Peachy." My heart wasn't, but my voice was firm enough.The room was smaller. The blackness dragged time out, each second lasting forever. I could hear him move, feel his movements in the air.Then—his voice.Lower this time."What's freedom to you?"The question made me stumble. "What?""Freedom." Pause. "What does it mean to you?"I furrowed my brow, the conversation more intense than I'd expected."I don't know…"I dangled there. "Being able to do what I want, I suppose. Without fear."He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice sounded reflective. "I use
Last Updated : 2025-03-22PRETEND PRINCESS BACK TO REALITY
Yuki’s POVIt was Sunday.Which meant—thank fucking God—the resort was over.No more Creed. No more Steve. No more running around trying to avoid my boss while simultaneously losing my mind over him.I should’ve felt relieved.I wasn’t.It was two days since I last saw him. Two days of acting like I didn't wait for the unfortunate coincidence of running into him. Two days of trying not to recall the taste of his lips, the way his hands wrapped around me, the way his voice softened when he said my name.I missed him.The realization curdled my stomach because—what was wrong with me?I was being put under some kind of spell. That was the only rational explanation. Because no rational human being would be pining for the presence of a man who was probably sleeping with his fiancée and playing with me simultaneously.I swept up my things and followed my teammates to the car we waited for, relieved for the distraction. Time to go back to the real world. Time to remember whatever stupidity h
Last Updated : 2025-03-23PRETEND PRINCESS BE BETTER
Creed's POVI held onto Zara and dragged her into her house. She was obviously on something—I just had no idea what.The entire drive back, she had been acting off, like she was drunk. The answer was staring me in the face, hovering on the edge of my mind, but I didn't want to believe it. There was no way she hid something from Chicago to the resort.Someone had to have given it to her.And I was positive sure it was that stupid surfer guy, Steve. He was the type of guy who drank anything he could get.When we got to the door, I looked down the driveway. No car.Her mom wasn't home.I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want her to worry. Hell, I didn't even want her to know I was home.This was when I was going to inform Zara that I was calling off the wedding.But it seemed like that was not going to happen tonight.She clung to me, rambling incoherently—words tumbling together, spilling apart, not coherent.I had to grip her, because if I released her, she'd get herself killed or s
Last Updated : 2025-03-23PRETEND PRINCESS BIRTHDAY MELTDOWN
Yuki’s POVI had never planned a party this hard before.Actually, scratch that—I had never planned anything this hard before.I sprinted across the community center's event hall, dodging a tray of drinks, repairing the banner that was slipping off the wall, and then rushing towards the old record player we'd borrowed to make sure it was working. The music had to be perfect. The food had to be perfect. The decorations had to be perfect.Because tonight wasn't just any night.Tonight was Grandpa Roman's birthday.And I was going to make sure it was going to be awesome.Lily was already on the job, floating around the room in the prettiest dress I'd ever seen her wear—a light lilac-colored thing that made her look forebodingly dateable. She had a tray of drinks in hand, smiling at the older visitors, making sure they were alright. An angel.And of course, because she looked like an angel, some dude had already started circling around her.I side-eyed the dude—a tall, broad-shouldered du
Last Updated : 2025-03-24PRETEND PRINCESS IT'S NOT OK
Yuki's POV"It's okay, Grandpa! Everything will be okay," I pleaded, clutched his trembling hands as he struggled, his eyes desperate with something besides rage—despair.It wasn't.Roman's face twisted, veins bulging on his temples as he tugged on the tablecloth, plates shattering to the ground. Short, rasping gasps were his breathing. "Lori! Come home now! Come home!" His voice cracked, raw and pleading, as if he believed he could call my mother back from the dead by yelling her name."Grandpa, please!" My voice cracked too, but for an entirely different reason. Pain. The kind that wrapped around your ribcage and refused to let you catch your breath. He didn't recognize me. I wasn't his Yuki then. I was just another name in a cloud of remembered nothing.Lily hurried swiftly, herding the guests. "Everyone, outside." Her warm smile was never there tonight, instead being usurped by one of urgency as she ushered out the flabbergasted elderly guests.Gym Bro, or the guy who'd been flirt
Last Updated : 2025-03-24PRETEND PRINCESS EVERYTHING HURTS
Zara's pov"Creed, no, it's not alright." I shook my head, gripping my fork a little more tightly. "I don't like it when everything feels so tight between us. The way we aren't close anymore like we used to be. I don't like it when you put me on this 'you might break' pedestal."He stiffened but said nothing.I breathed in deeply and cut my pancake, bringing the chunk to my mouth. As soon as it hit my tongue, I softly moaned, closing my eyes for an instant. "God, why are these so good?"Creed snorted a little laugh, but I knew it was fake.I opened my eyes and gazed into his. "I don't want you to worry about me that way, Creed. Not like I'm some delicate thing you have to tiptoe around. I know I screw up. I know I do crazy things sometimes, but I don't want it to be this—this burden between us."I put my fork down."We're going to get married soon."Creed's jaw tightened."And I don't enjoy the thought of us not being on the same page," I continued. "I don't want to be with someone wh
Last Updated : 2025-03-25
Latest chapter
PRETEND PRINCESS MY HEART HURTS
Creed's PovIt was past midnight.The bottle that I held was almost empty, but I did not mind. I was not drinking to be joyful. I was not even drinking to forget. I was drinking because it was the only way I could make the silence that greeted me endurable.I reclined slumped on the couch in my living room, the sole item of furniture that was more like a cell than home. There were shadows everywhere. The clock chimed out so loudly it sounded like a hammer in my head.And still.Still, I couldn't stop thinking about Yuyu.Fucking Yuki.With that goddamn smirk and those fuckin' sparklin' bright eyes and the way he looked at me like I was something, anything when he had no idea who the fuck I even was.I hated him.I missed him.I hadn't the fuck idea what I was feelin' anymore.Was I gay now? Did I swing this way? Did I just FUCKIN' happen to be feelin' desperately for someone, anyone, to look at me like I weren't a damned monster?Jesus Christ, no.I tipped the bottle to my lips again,
PRETEND PRINCESS NEW BEGINNINGS
Yuki's pov The flying part wasn't scary.I wasn't terrified of airplanes.I wasn't terrified of turbulent flight or height or any of that.I was terrified of beginning again.Terrified of seeing myself.For three weeks — almost four — I had done nothing but rot. Fault myself. Cry. Break things. Apologize to specters.That was enough.I couldn't keep going on like that.Mom wouldn't have wanted me to go on like that.Grandpa wouldn't either, even if he didn't always recall me.I stared out the plane window, clouds streaking across the horizon like wet paint, my chest aching.Memories ripped at me — Creed's voice, his smile, then the shock in his eyes.Grandpa's laugh, the way he used to call me his "boy."Lily's hugs.Small shattered pieces of my life slipping further and further away from me as the plane flew east.I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood.No more tears.No more pity parties.I can do this.This is my new start.Mom would be proud.I hugged myself hard, wrapped the th
PRETEND PRINCESS GOOD BYE
Lily's POVThe ride to the airport was too short.I continued to sneak glances at Yuki beside me, soaking him in—his dark, messy hair, the nervous drum of his fingers against his jeans, the nervous bounce of his knee.As if if I stared long enough, I could burn the picture of him into my head and never forget.He caught me staring and smiled weakly. "What?""Nothing," I said quickly, attempting to smile. "Just. don't chicken out."He grinned, but it wasn't natural. "Too late to run now, huh?""Way too late," I taunted softly.The problem was, I wished he would run.I wanted to bang the car doors closed, drive us somewhere a thousand miles from here, and wish he wouldn't be going.But I couldn't.He had to go.He needed this new start.Even if it killed me.We pulled up to Departures. Yuki opened his backpack, fiddling with the straps like they were the most fascinating thing on earth.I pulled up and turned off the engine.We sat there, neither of us moving, for a moment.Then Yuki le
PRETEND PRINCESS TAKE CARE OF HIM FOR ME
Yuki's POV"You're leaving today."Lily's voice was gentle, but it hit me like a punch.I crouched at the foot of the bed, staring at the carpet. My fingers tapped on the frayed cuff of my jacket, pulling at loose threads as if I could somehow roll back time and stay here in this cramped safe room, stuck forever.I didn't look at her. I didn't move."Yuki," she said once more, coming to kneel beside me. Her hand lay lightly on my knee. "Then I think it's time you saw your grandfather."I shook my head."No, it's not," I grunted. "I'm not ready."She let out a tired, aching sigh, the kind you do when you don't want to cry. "You've been here for a month. You're better now. You're stronger, plus do you really plan on going halfway across the world and not seeing him before you go.""Stronger?" I laughed roughly. "I'm still a mess.""You're recovering," she amended. "And you have to — you'd just have to visit him before you go."Her words sliced through me more deeply than I cared to ackn
PRETEND PRINCESS CURSED
Creed's POVI slammed the office door shut so hard that the walls vibrated. The secretary outside yelped as if she thought the damn ceiling was going to come crashing down."Get me the quarterly reports," I barked. "Now."She rushed out of her seat, almost falling over her own feet. Pitiful.I paced in front of my office like a wild animal in a cage, blood pumping hotter each passing second. All of this was pissing me off every day now. The terrible coffee. The creeping elevators. The godforsaken interns' breathing out in the corridor.Five weeks. Five weeks since I let go of that imposter, yet my heart clenched at the thought of her…of him !Anger boiled in my veins over and over but today a particular anger took over me, one o couldn't explain but already had ties to That imposter I didn't need him and I wasn't gay!There was no going back for me. And I felt the whole office knew that from the very moment I resumed, a week ago Besides they couldn't blame me for their incompeten
PRETEND PRINCESS NOT WHO I REMEMBER
Lily's POVToday became tomorrow.Tomorrow became next week.Next week became three endless weeks.And somehow, despite all the promises I made to myself, I still hadn't met Yuki.I don't even know how it all tightened up like that — how every small detail became so hard. Between caring for Grandpa Roman, going back and forth to the hospital for meds, doctor appointments, dealing with his therapies — life had gotten tangled around my neck with no mercy. I didn't have space to catch my breath, didn't have time to think. And amidst all of this, something gnawed at me:Yuki trusted me.I had been entrusted with Grandpa Roman — with one of the only people he loved — and deep, way down deep inside me, I knew I didn't want to let him down.But today. today was different. Today was the day. I was really going to fix all of it.I was going to go see him, apologize for whatever stupidness drove us apart, tell him about what he'd seen that day with Dan, tell him everything.Dan.He officially m
PRETEND PRINCESS AGAIN
Zara's POVThere's regret.There's pain.And then there's anger — thick, bitter, wild anger.I didn't deserve this.I was the last person in this damn world that deserved this.He wasn't supposed to push me away.He wasn't supposed to treat me like… like I was nothing.I was supposed to be by his side.I was supposed to be the one to fix him. To save him.I paced back and forth in my chamber, my hands in my palms, trying to contain the storm raging inside me.The walls were closing in, the air heavy, and my mind was filled with his face. His eyes. His lips. His voice when he'd instructed me to leave.I hated him.I loved him.God — I loved him.I couldn't take it anymore."Call Zed," I barked at one of my servants.She stopped. "Now, ma'am?""Now!" I screamed.My hands were trembling. My heart thudding. I was unraveling, going crazy and I didn't give a damn anymore.Within minutes, Zed arrived.Tall, dark, as calm as ever.He always had been.The man who took orders quietly, who had a
PRETEND PRINCESS ALL ALONE
Yuki's POVTwo weeks.That's 20,160 minutes. Twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes of pure torture.I'd texted Creed so much. Too much, really. Sorrys I couldn't phrase correctly first, things I didn't have the courage to tell him out loud before, little things I knew he didn't want to hear. I texted anyway, hoping for a crumb of a reply.But there was nothing. No dot. No word. No fucking breath.So I made up my mind. I'd made it up the day everything went wrong—the day everything went in the opposite direction of my plans, like some sick cosmic joke. I was leaving New York. Done. Finito. Finished.Lily hadn't called me for two weeks either. It was as if my world had burst wide open, and I stood in the middle of a great emptiness. Grandpa Roman… two weeks of nothing from him too. Two weeks of not hearing his shaking, bewildered voice, of not chasing after him when he got me mixed up with my mother. Two weeks alone, tearing myself apart, living on my own regrets.I was complet
PRETEND PRINCESS THIS ISN'T YOU
Creed's POVTwo weeks.Fourteen days.20,160 minutes.I knew because I counted them. Every goddamn one of them.It's ironic that you know exactly how you feel about someone after 20,160 minutes of silence. No calls. No texts. No presence. Nothing. Just a void where they used to be. The only sound was my own breathing and it had started to get under my skin. My house was worse than my head. Clothes scattered everywhere. Empty bottles. Shattered frames. A grime mountain I could barely bring myself to look at — and still, I hung around there, festering amidst it like some wounded beast.I hadn't left for the office in two weeks. Fourteen days. No one had tried calling anymore. No one knocked. Not since the third day when I ripped the doorbell off of the wall and hurled it out of the window. My stubble was heavy. I barely recognized the face staring back at me in the mirror the occasional time I made the mistake of looking.I flopped onto the bed, blankets that smelled like sweat and guil
