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Blaire Quincy has dedicated the past few years to being the perfect wife, loving one man and one man alone. Jacob Sylvan. But at the end of the day, he chose another. Betrayed by her entire family and one true love, the truth became glaring to Blaire and fed up of everything, she declared for a divorce and isolated herself. Years later, she reappeared but what they never expected was that she was no longer the Blaire Quincy they once knew.

I was the kind of girl everyone called hopelessly lovestruck. That day was no different from any other. I clung to my boyfriend’s arm, leaned in close, and shamelessly asked for a kiss like I always did. However, right before my lips touched his, a line of glowing comments drifted across my vision. They floated in the air like a livestream chat. [Can this side character wake up already? Can she not see the male lead avoided her the entire time? He hated clingy relationships like this.] [The kind of person who really suits him is the female lead. Someone gentle, patient, and understanding.] [Once the real female lead shows up, this annoying clingy girlfriend is definitely getting dumped.] My body froze. I slowly loosened my arms from around his neck. In the next second, he suddenly looked up at me. “Why’d you stop?”

"Tell me, Mr Blue. Was it worth it? Is it worth it? Will it be worth it?" It wasn't and it never will be. Not in Erin's eyes tinted blue. Not in the eyes of the hopeless young man doomed to the clutches of fate; doomed to eternal pain. Did beauty lie between the cracks of fate? Does the Moon know of the Sun who died every night to let the Moon breathe? Erin, a poor, hospital bound boy just wants to be like everyone else, to love someone. Every day, he escapes to the virtual world with his wings of freedom, creating his own reality where things goes the way he wants. That world gave him a real, painless body, with infinite possibilities. Life got that much harder when, Uriel, a rich boy enters this realm and steals Erin’s world. The man who says the ugliest of words with the smoothest of tones. Does he help Erin, or dig him deeper? OR Erin wanted love and got pain instead. Things changed, and so did Uriel. INCLUDES: futuristic virtual reality, Persian mythology (minor), romance, sci-fi, slow burn, enemies to friends to lovers, rich/poor dynamic, mythology, distance, cold families, battles, quests, stars and moon metaphor. WARNING: includes mentions of depression, swearing, and sexually explicit content.

In an East London lock up, two film makers, Jimmy and Sam, are duct taped to chairs and forced to watch a snuff film by Ashkan, a loan shark to whom they owe a lot of money. If they don’t pay up, they’ll be starring in the next one. Before the film reaches its end, Ashkan and all his men are slaughtered by unknown assailants. Only Jimmy and Sam survive the massacre, leaving them with the sole copy of the snuff film. The film makers decide to build their next movie around the brutal film. While auditioning actors, they stumble upon Melissa, an enigmatic actress who seems perfect for the leading role, not least because she’s the spitting image of the snuff film’s main victim. Neither the film, nor Melissa, are entirely what they seem however. Jimmy and Sam find themselves pulled into a paranormal mystery that leads them through the shadowy streets of the city beneath the city and sees them re-enacting an ancient Mesopotamian myth cycle. As they play out the roles of long forgotten gods and goddesses, they’re drawn into the subtle web of a deadly heresy that stretches from the beginnings of civilization to the end of the world as we know it. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Four years into our long-distance relationship, I am on a video call with my girlfriend, Vivian Selby, when her study partner, Sam Caldecott, walks into the frame. He presses his lips together before saying, "Ryan, Vivian still hasn't finished her practice questions yet." I freeze for a second, and before I can tell him we'll only talk for ten minutes, he speaks again. "Oh, by the way, I deleted those celebrity gossip articles you sent her earlier. They're nothing but distractions that keep her from her work." He smiles faintly and adds, "Hope you don't mind." Vivian lowers her head and keeps flipping through her textbook without saying a word. I sit there in shock, thinking about all the things I've sent her before—sunset photos, pictures of street food, and the new game console I bought. She's never replied to any of them. So, they've all been deleted before she even sees them. My chest tightens, and a suffocating heaviness settles over me. Vivian finally looks up and says, "Sam was just trying to help keep me focused. There's nothing wrong with that." Sam suddenly leans close to the screen and lowers his voice. "I heard your SAT score wasn't exactly impressive, while Vivian was one of the top scorers." He pauses, as if choosing his words carefully. "She always says she wants to go to grad school in the same city as you. But given the gap between you two, she has to make compromises and lower her expectations." After saying that, he steps back beside Vivian and gently pats her on the shoulder, saying, "Don't worry. I'll be here with you." Vivian turns her head and nods at him. The look in her eyes is warm and natural, as if she has long been used to having him by her side. My throat tightens. A suffocating pressure slowly builds in my chest. "Get some rest early then," I say, forcing myself to stay composed before ending the call. I stare at the last message I sent her. "It's raining today. Don't forget to put on a jacket." There's still no reply. But this silence isn't new. It is the same silence I've grown used to over the past four years. It turns out she's always there, just never for me.

Zach Shaw and I had been in a long-distance relationship for four years when his study partner, Amy Lewis, appeared in the frame during our video call. Amy pursed her lips together and said, "Megan, Zach still hasn't finished today's homework yet." I froze. I had just wanted to say we would only talk for ten minutes when Amy cut in again. "By the way, I filtered out the celebrity gossip you sent him today. He gets distracted as soon as he sees it, and he's only half as effective then." She tilted her head and then said in an innocent tone. "You won't blame me for meddling, will you?" Zach looked down and flipped through his book without saying anything. I was once again stunned. I thought of the sunset photos, the street food stalls, and the pictures of new dresses I had sent him, the ones he had never answered. She had cleared them all away. A heavy weight settled in my chest. Zach finally raised his hand. "Amy helps me sort my messages. It's a good thing." Amy leaned closer to the screen and lowered her voice. "I heard you only scored 1,200 on the SAT, but Zach scored 1,400..." She paused, as if she was figuring out her words. "He always says he wants to go to grad school in the same city as you, but your scores are so far apart. He has to lower his standards for you." Then, she stepped back to Zach's side and patted his shoulder. "Work hard. I'm here with you." Zach looked up and nodded at her. His expression was soft and natural, as if they had already gotten used to standing next to each other. My throat tightened, and I felt my chest slowly becoming tighter and tighter. "Get some rest, then," I said as I forced myself to keep my pride and ended the call. My phone screen still showed the last message I had sent him. [It's raining today. Remember to wear something warm.] There was no reply. Just like the past four years. So, he had not been absent at all. I was the absent one.