Best Friend Familial Bond 단편 소설 & 소설

On the day the university entrance exams ended, I ran out of school with the crowd. Amid the sea of laughing faces, I spotted my parents’ backs almost immediately. I was about to wave at them, my heart brimming with joy, when I realized they were gathered around my best friend, Lydia, chatting and laughing. My boyfriend, Jerome, stood beside her, holding a bouquet of flowers, his cheeks flushed. My phone vibrated incessantly. In a group chat named ‘Race to the Exam,’ my parents had already worked out every detail of their plans to celebrate the end of Lydia’s exams. There were over a hundred messages, yet not once had anyone mentioned my name. The next moment, my mother turned around and spotted me standing behind them. Her gaze fell on the chat history displayed on my phone. A flicker of guilt flashed across her eyes. “Diana, you know what Lydia’s been through. We’re going to take her out to celebrate first. Once we get home, we’ll throw you an even bigger celebration.” The summer sunlight was blinding, and the cheerful chatter around me gradually faded into a muffled blur. By the time I came to my senses, they had already vanished into the crowd. I glanced at the four bouquets I had ordered on my phone and canceled the delivery without hesitation. As I watched everyone around me laugh and celebrate, I gave a bitter, self-mocking smile. It was fine. After all, I was about to leave this place behind and chase a future of my own.

My best friend, Mia Sullivan, called me in tears. She told me that a creep had been stalking her and that she was too scared to stay in her apartment alone. In my past life, I felt sorry for her, so I agreed to let her stay at my house. Two weeks later, Mia uploaded a video online in which she accused my dad of having assaulted her. She cried her eyes out. The video instantly sparked outrage online. My dad’s reputation was ruined. He fell into depression and eventually jumped to his death. Even then, Mia kept demanding compensation from my family. She took everything we had until we went bankrupt. I had nothing left to live for, but she only looked at me with a mocking smile. “Charlotte, thank you for giving me the chance to gain both fame and fortune.” I returned to the past on the day Mia called me in tears. “Charlotte, please help me. There’s a man who keeps following me. My apartment isn’t safe anymore. I’m scared…” I forced down the joy that surged through me. “Sure. Come stay at my house.”

When volunteers were being chosen for the dorm fire drill, I instinctively moved toward the back of the group. I had asthma, and the last thing I wanted was to be picked. But my own brother, standing at the front, called my name without hesitation. "Quinn Warren, step forward!" I had barely opened my mouth when my best friend, Kenzie Lane, coughed softly beside me and raised her hand. "Captain, Quinn isn't feeling well. Cough, cough... Why don't I take her place?" My brother's expression darkened, and somehow, that only made him angrier. He shot me a vicious glare. "Quinn, what's with the act? "Kenzie isn't even feeling well herself, and she's still offering to take your place. Meanwhile, you're always coming up with excuses to get out of doing anything. "I might let it slide any other time, but this is fire safety. Everyone's life could depend on it. This isn't just about you!" Then, without hesitation, he made me the first one to enter the simulated fire zone. The hallway was thick with choking smoke, and within moments, I could barely breathe. I turned back to him and pleaded in a weak voice. "Please... I can't breathe. Can I..." He didn't even let me finish. He grabbed me and dragged me straight into the storage room, where the smoke was at its thickest, then ordered me to stay behind as the "model student" who would be the last person evacuated from the entire floor. As the suffocation closed in, my vision slowly went black. I slid down the wall until I collapsed onto the floor. It wasn't until the alarm signaling the end of the drill finally rang that my soul walked out of the smoke.

After the four others in my group forgot my birthday three years running, they finally promised to join me for a stand-up show this year. On the day, I arrived early with five pricey tickets I’d bought. All I needed was to wait and pass them out: one for my fiancé, one for my best friend, one for my childhood friend, one for my adopted sister. I was holding the last ticket for myself when a hand stretched toward it. I spotted a strange werewolf behind my adopted sister Marian. “This is Leah, a classmate. She just split with her boyfriend and wants the show to cheer up,” My childhood friend Noah said cheerfully. “We’ve got extra tickets. Della won’t mind, she hates seeing Leah hurt.” My best friend Lisa linked arms with me. “I got your favorite chestnut cake. You can go collect it now.” Marian hesitated and offered to give Leah her own ticket, but Noah and Lisa cut her off at once. “No, you’ve been looking forward to this forever. We planned to watch together.” My fiancé Victor snatched the ticket from my grasp and handed it to Leah. “Let Leah take it. You aren’t that into stand-up. It’s freezing out here. Go get the cake and head home. We’ll celebrate your birthday after the show.” Marian had to go in as we’d arranged, Leah had to go in to mend her broken heart. I was the only one with no place inside. They forgot I planned this whole outing and paid for every ticket. This was meant to be my birthday, yet I ended up locked out. I stood there watching the five of them file forward for ticket checks. It dawned on me: in our little group, only four seats were permanent. The fifth was never guaranteed to be me. It could be anyone. Right then, I knew I didn’t need them for my birthday. And I didn’t need them in my life at all.

My best friend and I. A witch and a Fae from Whisperwood. I have the blood of a Seer. My three rune bones can see a kingdom's rise and fall. She's a gold-touched Fae. Born to attract wealth. One roll of the dice in a goblin casino, and she'd empty their vault. When we were eighteen, we found a disgraced Grand Duke in the capital's slums. His stepmother had thrown him out. We saved him. She amassed his gold. I spun his fate. We helped him claw his way back to the capital. He took back his land. His scepter. The first thing he did? He asked my best friend to marry him. They had a son. A gifted heir. I grew tired of the noble squabbles. I went back to my hidden cottage in the woods. Ten years later, a little princess. Blessed by the Moon Goddess. Finally born in the Duke's castle. He was ecstatic. Flew his griffin over the mountains that night. Begged me to come bless his daughter. Of course, I agreed. I stood over the cradle. Drew a sacred blessing rune on the baby's forehead. Before I left, I had a sudden urge. I tossed my three rune bones. A quick look into my friend's future. But they hit the floor and turned to dust. Black magic choked the air. An omen of death. Her soul was gone. Ice flooded my veins. If my best friend was already dead...then who was the Duchess, smiling at me from her velvet chaise?

I, Nora Jackson, was the fake heiress of the Jackson family, a billionaire family. When the biological daughter, Chloe Jackson, returned, she played the sweet sister act in public. Behind closed doors? She would squeeze out tears to our parents, claiming I looked down on her humble background. Furious, I dumped salt into her morning milk. She retaliated by shredding over a hundred of my designer gowns. For six months, we waged outright war, each praying the other would get kicked out. Then came my birthday bash. I walked in to find my boyfriend, Julian West, playing a mouth-to-mouth shot game with my best friend, Janet Fraser. I slapped them both. Julian kicked me so hard and cracked my ribs. He grabbed me by the hair, dragging my face into the floor while humming with a cigarette hanging from his lips. “Still playing high-society princess? You’re just a fake.” Janet smirked down at me. “Bow to me ten times and apologize. Then we’ll call it even.” Desperate, I looked over at my older brother, Ethan Jackson. He just swirled his glass of red wine. “Be realistic, Nora,” he said coldly. “In your position, you can’t afford to offend a single person in this room.” Just as I gave up hope, the real heiress, Chloe Jackson, strolled in with a hundred armed bodyguards, shutting down the entire hall. She glared at me first. “Pathetic.” Then she stepped up and slapped Ethan eighteen times in the face. She pulled out a buyout agreement, tossing it onto the table. “Julian West, right? I just bought out your family’s entire company. Go on your knees now or enjoy living your life on the street.”

I was diagnosed with cancer. After much deliberation, I called my husband. He fell silent for a long while. “Most of our mortgage is unpaid, and our children need money for school. You should go for conservative treatment.” I called my mother while weeping. “You’re so troublesome. None of my friends or family have cancer!” I stopped crying and started living for myself. God favored me and let me see reality early in my life. He even gave me a chance to start over.

My classmate Bianca and I have the same taste. She wants every man I’ve ever dated. She says I’m too naive. That I don't see how powerful men think. She calls it “testing” them for me. She says she’s helping. Then she sleeps with my boyfriend. Then she rubs it in my face. “See? I told you that you can’t handle them. These men are sharks. If it wasn’t for me, you’d have been eaten alive by now.” I choked on my rage. I said nothing. This time, I went behind her back. I went after the king of New York's underworld. When she found out, she made her move. But she has no idea. This man isn't my endgame. He's the trap I set for her.

In my past life, my mate Marcus ran off to the forest to make love with my best friend Scarlett, who was eight-month pregnant. That’s when they'd be surrounded by a pack of rogue wolves. Scarlett, heavy with child, started bleeding heavily. Both of them desperately called for the Border Guard. As the Chief Warrior, I had risked everything to fight those rogue wolves. But Scarlett still died along with her unborn pup. My mate Marcus led others to accuse me of using my position for personal revenge. He personally severed both my hands with a silver blade. "A warrior without morals like you deserves to burn in hell!" he snarled. But I remembered clearly—when I drove off the rogues and got the pack healer to Scarlett, she barely had a scratch on her. Finally, Scarlett's parents arrived. I begged them to examine her body and investigate the truth. Instead, they reported to Alpha that I had neglected my duties. They claimed I was high on wolfsbane while guarding the border. Alpha exiled me for fifteen years. With both hands severed, I had no way to fight or shift properly. I survived by begging scraps from neighboring territories. Fifteen years later, I returned to the pack. I saw my mate Marcus walked through the airport's first-class terminal with Scarlett and their son. They were using my inheritance to fund their luxury vacation to the Maldives. They spotted me. Without hesitation, they pushed me into a silver pit to destroy all evidence. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Scarlett faked her death. This time, I took one look at the scene and declared them beyond saving. I told my assistant to send them to bury them directly.

I was an elite sniper in the special forces, and my best friend was a brilliant sniper too. She died after enduring unimaginable torture when she was captured while covering my escape. The military's top brass and her father, a general, demanded that I reveal the truth about that mission so they could honor her as a fallen hero. However, in front of everyone, I claimed I could not remember a thing. Her father was so enraged that he vomited blood on the spot. My comrades called me a coward and a traitor. Just when I was about to be sent before a military court, my fiancé, Sean Lawson, stood against the opposition and saved me. He promised to take me away from all the trouble. However, the moment I got into his car, he personally injected me with a powerful sedative. "You love keeping your mouth shut, don't you? Fine. Let's see how you like spending the rest of your life unable to speak." He threw me into an overseas black-site prison, where I endured relentless beatings and branding with red-hot irons, all so I could suffer the same despair he believed his beloved had endured before her death. Finally, he strapped me into a military-grade deep memory extraction device, determined to broadcast that so-called 'truth' to the entire world.

When my younger sister gave me a blessed pendant, I immediately hung it around the neck of a pregnant sow. In my past life, my sister and I got pregnant at the same time, and she bought an expensive blessed pendant from Tenezia to ensure my baby and I would be safe and sound. I was touched, and I wore the pendant every day. Months later, my sister and I went into labor at the same time. I gave birth to a deformed, dead fetus, while my sister gave birth to a healthy, chubby baby boy. My in-laws thought I had cursed my son to death and would also end up bringing misfortune to their family, so they drugged me and sold me to Tenezia. I was turned into a freak show and placed inside a vase to become a public spectacle for all who came to see me. It was only after my death that I found out it had all been my sister's doing. She had known from the start that there was something wrong with her baby, which was why she got me the blessed pendant to exchange the fates of our babies. When I opened my eyes again, I smiled as I stared at the round belly of the sow…

My best friend, Eleanor Fitzroy, and I both transmigrated into an era of turmoil, where we happen to become students of a legendary seer. I am born with an uncanny gift for divination. With nothing more than three coins, I can read the signs of fate and predict what is yet to come. Eleanor, meanwhile, possesses an extraordinary mind for strategy. She can decipher the most complex military tactics and, with a single formation of her own design, turn the tide against thousands of soldiers. After leaving Ravenvale, our mentor's secluded valley, we join forces to support the disgraced Seventh Prince, Alexander Wyndham, and help him rise to the throne. Alexander soon falls deeply in love with Eleanor. He marries her in a lavish royal wedding, making her the queen of the realm. 15 years into their marriage, they are still as devoted to each other as ever. They have eight sons together. Then, last night, the palace receives joyous news—the empire of Arden has welcomed its first princess since its founding. Overjoyed, Alexander rides through the night with his eight sons and arrives at the gates of Ravenvale, begging me to come out of seclusion and divine Matilda Wyndham's fate. Of course, I agree. I hurry to the royal palace that very night. I place a dab of vermilion on Matilda's forehead and bestow a blessing of peace and safety upon her. With my task complete, I prepare to leave. But on a whim, I toss my coins one more time, intending to divine Eleanor's fate and see what the rest of her life holds in store. The moment the coins hit the ground, however, the signs turn ominous. The reading reveals chaos, death, and a fate that has been sealed long ago. My blood runs cold. If Eleanor has already been dead for some time, then who is the woman lying on the queen's bed, smiling at me so warmly?

On the day we take our graduation photos, Mom and Dad hold up their cameras, snapping countless pictures of my boyfriend and my best friend. In the viewfinder, the two of them lean in close while my parents watch on with proud, beaming smiles, despite my being their biological daughter and the girl Gavin has been dating for the last four years. I stand off in the corner, clad in my cap and gown, waiting for what feels like an eternity, but Mom never once beckons me over to join them. Once Charlotte finishes her photoshoot, she mentions that she still hasn't lined up a decent job yet. Gavin completely forgets I'm even there and instantly leans in to comfort her. "Why don't you come work at the company I just joined? That way, I can look out for you." Dad nods right along in agreement. "Send me a copy of your resume, Lottie. I'll ask around for you. You shouldn't have to settle, especially when it's your first real job." Nolan walks over carrying a bottle of ice water, but he passes it to Charlotte. "Don't sweat the job hunt, Lottie," he says. "My company's hiring. I'll get you an internal referral." It's only when they catch sight of my hand freezing midair that everyone finally remembers that I'm standing right next to them. "Natalie, you should just find a random job and get on with it," Nolan says. Mom chimes in, "Exactly. You didn't major in anything special, so you should be grateful if a company even wants you. Stop being so picky." As Gavin scrolls through the gallery on his phone, his brow suddenly furrows into a frown. "Natalie's blocking Lottie in this one. I'm deleting it." But out of nearly 400 pictures, that's the only one where I exist. I stand off to the side, my hands tightening into fists. It turns out it isn't a matter of them failing to see me. They see me perfectly fine. They just think I'm a nuisance. It's as if Charlotte is their actual daughter, and my boyfriend belongs right by her side. If that's how it's going to be, then I'm taking the job farthest away from home, and I'm never coming back.