Stand

I'm the most hot-tempered stand-in by Emily Kelley's side. When she smiled at another guy, I smashed her million-dollar car. When she had dinner with a man, I set her multi-million-dollar mansion on fire. Everyone thought Emily would kick me out in anger, but instead, she fell even more in love with me. It turned out my arrogant, jealous attitude was exactly like the lost love she couldn't forget. I spent eight years with her, turning a spoiled heiress into a devoted girlfriend who texts back instantly and apologizes at the first sign of trouble. We were about to get married. My friends envied how well I had trained her and thought we would live happily ever after. But on the day we were supposed to get our license, I waited for her at the city hall for hours—only to find out she had married her first love instead. When I arrived at the wedding, Emily looked at me with complicated eyes and apologized. "You should know you were just a stand-in. I never loved you. Now that my one true love is back, it's time for you to go." As I walked toward the altar, the guests backed away in fear, worried I might lose control. I looked at my system screen, which showed they had already gotten married, and calmly handed her the bouquet. "Got it. Wish you happiness. Have a good life." No one knew that all my jealous tantrums and drama were just me completing missions assigned by the system. Now that she and her first love are finally married, my mission is complete. I can finally go home. This game is over.

My boyfriend pulled in two million a year. He told me that once he'd banked five hundred thousand, he'd invest in my gallery. Year one, he said the startup was bleeding money; he hadn't saved a cent. Year two, he needed a new car to keep up appearances; no funds for me. By year five, he was on his private yacht brokering a major deal and told me not to bother him. I stood outside the cabin door and listened to the laughter rolling out from inside. "If Celeste wanted to open a gallery, Eth would write her a million-dollar check without blinking." "Hell yeah. If Celeste hadn't gone abroad back then, that knockoff he's got now wouldn't even be in the picture." Ethan's voice drifted through the crack in the door, lazy, dismissive. "Enough. Emily's been with me five years. I'll still put something in for her." "She's a free drafting machine. She's not worth five hundred grand. One day's revenue at the firm, maybe. Call it round. Two thousand bucks." My eyes burned. I pulled out my phone and called the one man Ethan hated most in all of New York, Adrian Sterling. "Mr. Sterling. That partnership agreement you offered me? I'm signing it first thing tomorrow morning."

Adrian Chen is the golden standard of the marketing world—brilliant, commanding, and emotionally impenetrable. At thirty-two, he's built an empire on control: controlling projects, controlling people, controlling himself. He's never been vulnerable with anyone, and he's never had to be. Eli Reeves is twenty-seven, underestimated, and fighting twice as hard as everyone else to earn respect in an industry that dismissed him the moment he walked in. He's competent, passionate, and invisible to anyone important—until Adrian's firm brings him in as the fresh voice on a multi-million-dollar campaign. Adrian resents him immediately. Eli's creativity clashes with Adrian's rigid strategy. Eli's openness threatens Adrian's carefully constructed emotional distance. And the physical pull Adrian feels toward him is absolutely unacceptable. But forced proximity becomes forced honesty. Arguments become negotiations. Dismissals become defense mechanisms. And when Adrian finally kisses Eli after weeks of suppressed tension, neither of them can pretend anymore. What begins as dangerous attraction becomes something more: Eli's discovery that submitting to Adrian (both in the bedroom and emotionally) is empowering, not diminishing. Adrian's terrifying realization that loving Eli requires surrendering the control he's built his entire identity around. Their secret relationship deepens through escalating intimacy and escalating risk. But when someone in the firm begins sabotaging them—threatening to expose their relationship and destroy Adrian's reputation—they face an impossible choice: separate to protect their careers, or fight together and risk everything they've built. In a relationship where dominance and submission define their passion, Adrian and Eli must learn that true power lies not in control, but in trust. That surrender, when chosen, is the bravest form of strength. And that love worth fighting for is worth burning for.

Set in a time ruled by magic, curses and love. Fighting for Us is a story about Vanessa and Xavier. Vanessa is the only child of her father and heir to one of the most powerful kingdom’s. He locks her up to keep her safe and protect her. Ruling her kingdom is all she looks forward to. Xavier is the supposed heir to the throne, but he doesn’t want to be king. In the event of the death of King Neil. Xavier I sent by his father to rescue her from her captor who plans to wed her to become king, meeting Xavier Vanessa realizes she might not be ready to be Queen and she doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. Realizing she has little time to get married and fight her Step Mother’s strong hold on the throne, they both race against the clock. Before its too late Vanessa has to find a way to protect all she cares about most without getting anyone she loves killed. Hopefully.

Harmony is a teenage girl living in Taguig, her family is wealthy and she can get everything that she asks for. But also because of that, she didn't have anyone. Her parents are always away and no one tries to befriend her. She’s basically a loner. Not until she got dragged into a fight that rather changed her life. She got something that she never wanted to have. A disease. A fight between life and death. Hoping to survive, she met a few people that accompanied her through her journey. Violet Hayes, the girl who hated her during middle school. Page Crawford, the nerd transfer that everyone dislikes. Magnus Grey, a strange boy who always looks at her from afar. But the question is, how can they help someone who’s losing hope as the day goes by? How will Harmony cope with her daily life trying to live normally?

We have differences, we are born not to impress anyone but to show them what and who we are. What if one day you'll end up losing your confidence? what if one day you'll never know who you are? what if because of one person you'll be lost your smile, lost everything including your happiness. Are you willing to trust again? to love again? Are you willing to be fooled and played again? lies... heartbreaks. betrayal..... played. fooled... pained... We all experience this, it's up to us to handle it properly. smile... laugh... mingle... meddle. Words that we can use to ease those pain words to enlightened our mood words that help us to go through and make our day complete. MASK the only thing we can use to hide what we feel inside. mask it hides the pain the heartaches and betrayal We often use a mask to simply smile to show the world that we are strong. strong enough to face the reality.