Cerita Pendek & Novel Bias Awakening

On my birthday, Genevieve Rothwell posted a photo with her male executive assistant, Ethan Kline. They were wearing matching rings. [Partners at work. Partners in life.] I commented: [You two make a great couple.] Genevieve called me right away, yelling that I was sick in the head and couldn't take a joke. Before she'd even hung up, she was gently comforting Ethan, who was tearfully blaming himself. Before, I'd have stormed over there and thrown a hysterical fit, making a fool of myself in front of everyone. But this time, I felt nothing. I couldn't have cared less.

Don Petty is a man of ironclad principles. When he makes a promise—no matter what it is—he'll definitely honor it. So when his ex-girlfriend, Taylor Stapley, shows up clutching a stack of long-expired relationship coupons, he honors each and every one of them. "This is a 'Movie Time' coupon. You promised to watch this re-release with me." So he abandons me, his fever-ridden wife, to spend the entire night at the movie theater with her. "This is a 'Let's Go On a Trip' coupon. You promised we'd take a trip every year." So he ignores me, his heavily pregnant wife, to watch the stars with her in the desert. "This is a 'Companionship' coupon. You need to come keep me company when I'm feeling down." So he promptly walks out on me, fresh out of surgery after a miscarriage, to be with her. That is the last time I make a scene. With bloodshot eyes and tears streaming down my face, I cling to him, begging him to stay. But Don simply yanks his hand away with a frown. "I need to honor the promises I've made," he says irritably. "That is a matter of principle! Don't be unreasonable!" But he seems to have forgotten that he's broken every promise he's made to me. Not long after I'm discharged from the hospital comes the anniversary of Mom's death. And once again, Taylor cashes in another coupon and takes him away. This time, I don't bother stopping him. This marriage that's long past its expiry date, I don't want it anymore.

After six years together, Isabella McCarthy proposed to Gabriel Hart six times. He accepted all six. But when she proposed for the seventh time, he didn't immediately offer his hand. She looked up at him with sincere eyes, wisps of black hair falling across her forehead as the lights gilded the fine contours of her face. Gabriel looked at her and suddenly gave a sardonic smile. "Does this proposal actually count?"

Everyone says Zachary Suffold is hopelessly in love with Madison Fulmer. He's stayed by her side at her poorest, working three jobs a day to support her so she can focus on playing the piano. He's drunk himself into the hospital with a bleeding stomach just to secure performance opportunities for her. Over the last three years, he has poured his heart and soul into turning her into a renowned pianist. He's especially protective of her hands, the very hands she uses to play the piano. Once, a rival deliberately threw boiling water at Madison's hands. Without a second thought, Zachary threw himself in front of her, using his own body to shield her from the scalding water. Madison walked away unharmed, but Zachary suffered third-degree burns. Even now, an ugly scar remains on his arm. Later, someone from the orchestra asks Madison, "When do you plan to marry Zachary?" She merely frowns in displeasure. "When did I ever say I'd marry him? He's not even my boyfriend. He's just a loyal little simp who does whatever I tell him. He's not good enough to marry me." Little does Madison know, she's not good enough for him, either. After all, she's nothing but a stand-in.

My adopted Omega sister, Maya Bardolph, is known to be innocent and kindhearted. Before the practical admission assessment, I specifically tell her not to interfere in any way. But she secretly puts a prohibited performance booster into my water bottle. I am reported for cheating on the spot. My results are canceled, and I am permanently blacklisted. When I break down and demand an explanation, she bursts into tears, looking pitiful and wronged. She weeps, "Sierra, I just wanted you to get first place... I didn't know things would turn out like this." My boyfriend, Dale Ashshade, immediately pulls her into his arms and blames me instead. He scolds, "She is only trying to help. Why are you being so harsh to her?" My parents chastise me frostily as well. "Isn't it just one practical assessment? She's an Omega. She doesn't understand these things. Can't you be more patient with her?" To apologize, Maya smilingly brings me a cup of herbal tea later. "Sierra, I made this just for you. Promise you won't be mad at me anymore after you drink it, okay?" Without thinking much about it, I drink the tea. But what she uses to brew the tea is highly poisonous silver oleander. I die from the poisoning. Outside the emergency room, Maya cries hysterically, "I'm sorry! I didn't know silver oleander is poisonous... I just wanted to apologize to Sierra..." When questioned by the Enforcers, Dale calmly gives false testimony. "After Sierra was caught cheating, she became mentally unstable. She couldn't accept how things turned out and took silver oleander to kill herself..." When I open my eyes again, I return to the day before the assessment.

When the family posted the assessment results and started handing out placements, everyone crowded around my twin sister. My brother, Alessandro, tapped the Manhattan headquarters on the list. "This one. Obviously. You stick with me, learn how the family works. " "Once I take over the Vittore family, you'll be the most spoiled little princess in New York." Matteo slid the Brooklyn branch file in front of her. "Don't listen to him. Come to Brooklyn. I'll train you myself. We'll run things together someday." My parents smiled and nodded along. "Staying in New York is perfect. With your brother and Matteo looking out for you, we won't have to worry." It took them a long time to remember that I had taken the assessment too. "Stella, your score's too low. Just pick any branch in New York and sit there for a while." My brother didn't even look up as he said it. "Yeah. We'll all be in New York anyway. Easy to keep an eye on you." Matteo nudged me along out of habit. "Confirmation closes in half an hour. Don't space out again. Nobody wants to clean up after you." Slowly, I tightened my grip on my score sheet. When we were little and played pretend, my sister was always the princess everyone fought to save. My brother was the loyal knight. Matteo was the prince who fought his way through the thorns. And me? I was always the wicked witch nobody liked. Turns out growing up didn't change a thing. If no one wanted me around, then I would put in for a transfer overseas, somewhere as far from them as I could get. Let there be oceans between us. I would not look back.

By the time I'm done interviewing the final guest, the blister on my ankle has been rubbed raw, turning the spot into a bloody mess. Sadie Jensen, whom I've been secretly dating, appears with a plaster. However, she brushes right past me and walks up to Connor Lewis, my best friend. "You've been standing in those dress shoes for over ten hours now! Are you trying to destroy your feet on purpose? Don't come complaining to me about the pain later!" Laughter ripples through the crowd. "Ms. Jensen is so stubborn. If she's worried about him, she should just say it! Why's she hiding her concern behind her sharp tongue?" "When it gets cold, she brings him a jacket. When his blood sugar level drops, she brings him chocolate. The second he says he's tired, she immediately cancels everyone's overtime!" "I'll bet a month's worth of breakfast that she's hopelessly in love with Connor. I'm positive the two of them are secretly involved with each other." The entire department erupts in teasing hoots and whistles. Blushing, Connor waves them down. "Oh, you guys… Stop being so ridiculous!" He hands me the plaster. "My feet are fine. You can have this." I withdraw my outstretched hand and force out a weak smile. "It's fine. I don't need it." To avoid raising any suspicion about our relationship, Sadie shoves me aside. She pushes Connor down onto a chair before crouching down in front of him. Then she takes off his shoes and socks and, in one swift motion, puts the plaster on for him. By now, our colleagues are practically hollering with glee. As their cheery voices echoed all around me, I'm hit with a realization. All that talk about not wanting to arouse any suspicion? That's just a lie. The truth is, Sadie's heart belongs to someone else now.

After ten years of agreeing to remain child-free with my husband, Scott Gibson, he suddenly tells me that his first love, Claire Tate, is pregnant with his child. His friends immediately step in and try to talk some sense into me. "Jenna, don't be upset. Scott just wants to leave an heir for his family." "Claire and Scott haven't had it easy all these years." "Besides, you can't even have kids. Are you seriously going to throw away his family's massive fortune?" Claire blinks innocently, placing a hand on her belly. "Jenna, I really love Scott. I don't want his family to end up without an heir." They sound so sincere, but just last night, they secretly called me barren. Scott is drinking at the time and sighs. "I don't want to hurt Jenna either, but my mom always said a woman isn't truly complete without children." I collect my thoughts and nod. That night, I find Scott's older brother, Nate Gibson, who lives abroad and rarely keeps in touch with the family. "They are dividing up the inheritance. Aren't you coming to see what's yours?" He has slept around for years and already has eight illegitimate children. I guess they don't have to worry about the Gibson family line dying out now.

After my family went bankrupt, I begged my fiancé Ryan to pump cash into our business. He didn't just refuse. He turned around and got engaged to someone else. When I was at the end of my rope, Ethan Brooks stepped up, tossing all his savings into my family's mess. Sadly, we missed our shot, and our company crashed. My parents couldn't handle it. They jumped off a building. Even so, I was thankful to Ethan and married him to pay him back. Three years later, at Lily Carter's birthday party, I overheard her talking to him. "You tanked the Harper family so I could win that bid. Won't Kelly blame you?" "For you, I'd give up everything. I'll just make it up to her." My blood ran cold as I realized our marriage was all a lie. The one he loved was Lily all along. I turned and left. If he was that hooked, I'd set him free.

When Harry Carson is reborn, he finds himself back at 27 years old, married to the richest woman in the world, Laura Jensen, with a son and a daughter. Laura holds the top spot on the Global Wealth Index year after year. The Pinnacle Magazine names her the world's most desirable woman to marry, and even the royal family of Eldoria hopes to arrange a marriage between her and their prince. Everyone says Harry is the luckiest man alive, but the first thing he does is take the divorce agreement straight to Thomas Bright, the man Laura has always loved. He slides the papers across the table and says calmly, "I want a divorce. Laura's yours, and so are the kids." Thomas stares at him in disbelief. He can't believe that Harry, who has been Laura's husband for six years, is suddenly willing to step aside. Harry simply adds, "Since they all prefer you anyway, I'm giving you what you want. Just get Laura to sign the papers. Once the divorce procedures are over, I'll walk away." This time, Harry refuses to repeat the mistakes of his previous life. He's done being "Laura's husband", whom everyone treats as though he doesn't exist. Thomas unconsciously runs his fingers along the rim of his cup, his brows furrowing. "Harry, what the hell are you playing at?" Harry watches the expressions flicker across Thomas' face before calmly repeating himself, "I'm not playing games. I've just had enough." "Harry, do you have any idea how many men out there would kill to be in your position?" "I do." Harry looks him straight in the eye. "That's why I'm giving it to you."

I ignored my friends and family’s objections and insisted on pursuing my now-girlfriend, who was disfigured in a car crash when she tried to save her first love. Some laughed at me for being a back-up plan, but I didn’t care. I worked day and night, earning money for her plastic surgery, and stayed by her side as she walked out of depression. But on the eve of our wedding day, as I was doing her laundry, a marriage certificate dropped out of her pants pocket. The groom was her first love. I was about to make things clear with her when I overheard her conversation with her best friend. “I know Steve saved me, but if Yves doesn’t marry me, he’ll be forced into a marriage alliance. I don’t want to see him lose his freedom. “As for Steve, I’ll find someone to forge a certificate for me. Don’t blurt this out, okay…” I felt my blood then grow cold as I quietly changed the groom of our wedding three days later to her first love. By the time she found out about the surprise, I would have left for abroad, never to return.

When I was six, a car crash wiped out most of my memory. My foster parents told me my parents had died that night. They said they had taken me in, given me their name, their home, and the protection of one of New York's most powerful families. So I spent twelve years proving I deserved to stay. I cleaned up my younger sister Bianca's messes, handed her the credit for my work, and locked every trophy I earned in a wooden archive box because my success made the family's real daughter uncomfortable. Then, at eighteen, I ordered a certified birth record for my student visa. The clerk looked at me and said, "Your parents have always been Vittorio and Elena Romano. There's no adoption on file." I had never been an orphan. Bianca knew. My relatives knew. The family attorney knew. Even the old butler who carried me home from the hospital knew. For twelve years, everyone had played a part in the same lie. So I hid the birth certificate and kept playing the grateful adopted daughter. I fixed Bianca's speech, prepared her heir's gala, and smiled while my family erased my name one last time. They had no idea I'd already booked a one-way flight out of their lives.

To cash in on a massive life insurance policy, my wife Vanessa Rowe pushed me into the Demon Pit. She had been seeing someone behind my back for a long time, and killing me had been her way to buy her lover a gold sports car. I stood at the edge of the abyss and looked at her one last time. “You are sure about this? Killing me for him. No regrets?” Vanessa laughed and held on to Troy Merritt’s arm. “Regrets? Why would I have regrets? Troy is one of the Demon King’s most trusted men. He only has to put in a word for me, and I get to stay young forever. “You are only a mortal. You age, you get sick, you die. What made you think you ever deserved me?” She shoved me over the edge without a second thought. She did not know that I had been the Demon King. The Demon Pit had been my domain. As for this so‑called trusted man of mine, I had never heard of him.

"Ryder, are you seriously leaving Mona behind and moving abroad?" In the quiet café, Ryder Kane set down his spoon and look at his best friend, Harry Crain, who's staring at him in disbelief. "Mona and I are already divorced." "Divorced?" Harry looks stunned. Then his expression turns angry. "And she actually agreed to it? You've treated her so well these past three years! Even a rock would've warmed up to you by now. Does she seriously have no feelings for you at all?" Ryder give Harry a faint smile, though the truth is, he's not even sure Mona Brent realizes what she's agreed to. Two weeks ago, Ryder handed Mona the divorce papers. She signed them while taking a phone call, barely listening to him before rushing off. She hasn't mentioned them since. In another two weeks, the divorce will be finalized, and he'll finally be free. Just as he's about to answer Harry, a woman's gentle voice comes from behind them.

After our coming-of-age awakening ceremony, my entire family gathered to choose a mate for my twin sister, Celeste. Adrian placed the list of North America's most powerful Alpha heirs in front of her. "Only the best is worthy of Celeste." Then Ryan stepped forward with a courtship application. The same Ryan who had once slipped a black onyx ring onto my finger and promised that, after our awakening, he would ask me to become his mate. Now he offered that future to my sister. "Choose me, Celeste," he said. "No one will ever know you better than I do." My parents smiled as if this were exactly how things were supposed to be. Only after they had planned Celeste's engagement did they remember that I needed a mate too. Dad barely looked at me. "Your abilities are average. Find a young Alpha from some ordinary pack and settle down." Adrian agreed. Ryan even warned me not to embarrass the family by expecting more than I deserved. None of them noticed the documents clenched in my hand. They hadn't read the Royal Talent results, either. If they had, they would have known that Celeste had ranked sixth. And I had ranked first. First in mental power. First in combat. First in royal mate compatibility. While my family was deciding which ordinary wolf might be willing to take me, the most powerful man in our world had already made his choice. I looked at Ryan's courtship application, then signed the contract bearing the royal seal. They could give Celeste every Alpha heir in the North. I would become Alpha King Ronan's Luna Queen.

I loved Alpha Kane Blackwood for seven years, but his parents never approved. Then I took three arrows meant for him in an ambush. That finally moved his parents, Edmund and Eleanor Blackwood, the pack's former Alpha and Luna, to give us their blessing. Then Kane announced he was making Vivian Cole his Luna. She was an Omega he'd only just brought back from a prison camp. When the two of them showed up at Moonbridge hand in hand, the whole pack was stunned. After all, everyone knew how spoiled I was, the purebred white wolf Kane had raised himself. People were placing bets. Most thought I'd smash every bottle at the reception and tear that Omega to pieces, then make the Alpha buy me a gift worth a hundred thousand dollars before I'd let it go. Kane thought so too. The moment I walked in, he pulled Vivian behind him. "Sandra, today is not the day for one of your scenes." But I only gave him a small, pained smile. "I came to wish you and your Luna a happy marriage, Alpha." Right then, lines of floating text started scrolling before my eyes again. [Baby, no! You're the heroine of this sweet guardian romance. Your uncle is only marrying that villainess Vivian Cole to repay a debt!] [Her father was the Beta who died protecting your uncle in the last war. She's the only survivor of his family... The vampires slaughtered everyone else... Give it one more month. Once Vivian wins the pack over and Moonbridge accepts her, he'll split up with her!] [Whose heart just broke? The male lead's! Baby, look at him, he's falling apart!] In my last life, I believed them. I ruined the wedding, and Kane left Vivian for me. Humiliated, she fled Moonbridge and was killed by rogues on the road. Kane found her body, then threw me to the same rogues. "You'll die the way she died. That's what you owe her." When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the ambush, watching the same three arrows fly at Kane. I took them for him once more—not out of love, but to make us even.

Elvira Skye is the idol of every pilot. At 16, she single-handedly rescues hostages. At 25, she takes command of the Northern Air Base. Across tens of thousands of missions, she never makes a single mistake. She is the greatest flight commander of the century. She is different from everyone else. In her world, duty always comes first, and there's no place for personal feelings. To follow in her footsteps, Lance Archer spends five years scaling hundred-meter cliffs with his bare hands and crossing tightropes stretched across two oceans. He graduates top of his class from the flight academy and earns a place at the Northern Air Base. Another five years of evaluations, and he will become an ace pilot—and also Elvira's sole flight partner. But all three missions he undertakes over those five years end in disaster. In the first, he bleeds from every orifice. In the second, his entire family is brutally slaughtered in retaliation. In the third, he suffers multiple comminuted fractures. Each incident is deliberate. Lance tracks down the mastermind behind them, only to overhear Elvira say, "Andre Mosley just couldn't accept that I'm going to marry Lance, so I buried the whole matter. There's no need to ruin Andre's life over such trivial matters." Lance laughs, then leaves behind three things that will haunt her with regret for the rest of her life.

At one in the morning, my husband Grayson's phone lit up. A message from Leah popped up on the screen: [I sprained my ankle during rehearsal. It hurts so bad I can't sleep. Can you come hold me?] Watching Grayson throw on his clothes, I leaned back against the headboard and nearly laughed out loud. She was pouting in the middle of the night and making a married man drive halfway across Seattle to take care of her. For a twenty-two-year-old dance academy intern, she really wasn't very considerate. At least nowhere near as thoughtful as a certain sports science major I knew. That evening, Nolan had just gotten his professional motorcycle racing license and ridden his new bike across the bay to deliver the silver-gray heels I needed for tomorrow's board meeting right to my office building. Before he left, he'd pinned me between the car door and his chest in the parking garage and kissed me until my knees went weak.

After suffering a devastating blow to the head, I unexpectedly regained my memories. Before I could share the good news with my wife, I overheard a conversation between her and the doctor. "Ms. Morgan, Mr. Johnson is showing signs of recovering his memory again. Do you still want us to inject him with the neurotoxin? This is already the tenth time. Mr. Johnson's father already went to prison after taking the blame for you, and his sister was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital. I know you want to protect Liam, but there's no need to do this to Mr. Johnson." "If Damien regains his memory, Liam's role in the hired attack will be exposed. His life will be ruined. Liam is innocent. He just wanted to prove himself. "Besides, Liam and I are about to get married. I won't allow anything to go wrong. "I promised Liam that he and Ben are the only family I have. I will never let them down. It doesn't matter if Damien becomes a fool. I'll hire the best caregivers and look after him as a cripple for the rest of his life. "Let me spend the rest of my life making it up to him." My entire body trembled in agony. So the people who destroyed my family had been right beside me all along. My father was sent to prison on false fraud charges. While trying to clear his name, I was attacked and left with memory loss. Since everything was nothing more than my own wishful thinking, I'll give them exactly what they want.

When Penelope Lawson opened her eyes, her brother was already drugged. "Penny… I'm so hot..." Her brother—a man who was usually ice-cold and completely untouchable—was driven out of his mind by the aphrodisiac. Throwing all restraint to the wind, his ragged breath brushed against her neck as his lips pressed desperately against her skin. In her past life, she would have let the mistake happen. But this time, she shoved him off with all her strength and immediately dialed his first love’s number. Because in her last life, every single tragedy began on this exact night. A night when she had allowed herself to fall for the brother who shared none of her blood.