Melodramatic Short Stories & Bias Defy Fate Novels

“Shawn, Ethan and Wendy are engaged. Stop trying to come between them. We’ve already booked your flight. Stay abroad for a few years, then come back after their wedding.” Shawn Yates looked at his parents’ faces, at the way they seemed so sure they were doing what was best for him, and realized he had been reborn. He had returned to the day his parents forced him to leave the country and give up Wendy Stone for good. In his previous life, his parents talked him into leaving, but he couldn’t accept it. He told Wendy again and again that he was the one she loved. He begged his parents to tell her the truth and stop letting his brother, Ethan Yates, take his place. All it did was make Wendy despise him even more. When a car accident left him close to death, she even told the nurse on the phone coldly, “What’s he trying to pull this time? Tell him to stop trying to ruin my wedding with Ethan.”

Vivian Grant had changed. Everyone in Riverton’s elite social circle was talking about it. The notoriously spoiled heiress of the Grant family had gone from a shameless heartbreaker to a hopeless romantic. She used to drive her Porsche straight onto campus, shove a bouquet of roses into some handsome guy’s arms, and walk away without a second glance. Now, ignoring the cheers and teasing around her, she walked up to the campus heartthrob, politely held out her hand, and introduced herself. “Hi, Nathan Hayes. I’m Vivian Grant.” Once, on her twentieth birthday, she had made a wish. “This year, I’m going to sleep with every good-looking man in Riverton.” But now, she and Nathan had been together for four years without ever breaking up. Even their graduation photos looked like wedding pictures. She had once torn up their engagement agreement in public and stormed off, her heels striking the floor with every furious step. Now, the company she and Nathan had founded together was about to go public. Vivian was already planning to propose to him the night of the IPO. She had even bought the ring. A platinum band with their initials engraved on the inside. On the day the company went public, Vivian cooked dinner herself. She was terrible in the kitchen. Hot oil splattered across her hand, making her hiss in pain, but she still carried the dishes to the table with a smile. Her fingers brushed over the ring as she murmured softly, the satisfaction of finally setting everything right filling her voice. “Nathan, I’m going to make up for every regret you’ve ever had.” “From now on, there’ll be nothing left for us but happiness.” No one knew the truth. Vivian had been reborn.

A fortune teller once said that if I married before my older brother, he would spend the rest of his life alone. To save Arlo Pennick from that fate, my parents and my older sister, Lorna Pennick, did everything they could to tear my relationship apart. The night before my engagement party, they even abandoned me in the mountains. Four or five drunk men stumbled by and went out of their way to start trouble, rushing at me with fists and boots. I called home in tears and begged for help, but my parents never picked up. Lorna answered, only to tell me coldly, "Mom and Dad already decided—Arlo is marrying your fiancée now, and she's agreed to it. Arlo is this close to beating that prophecy. Can't you stop thinking about yourself for once? "You can play the victim all you want. I'm not coming to get you!" The line went dead, and I closed my eyes in despair. The next day, Lorna finally came to pick me up. On the drive back, she told me to behave and not make a scene once we got home. She expected me to snap at her, but I only nodded quietly. "Okay." Her expression softened a little. "Once Arlo is married, the prophecy will be broken. When that happens, Mom, Dad, and I will find you a better match." I said nothing. What she did not know was that to escape those drunk men, I had made a promise to the spirit of that mountain. In seven days, I would leave everything behind and bind myself to her as her husband.

"Sienna, he looks so pitiful." In my last life, I listened to my younger sister and chose the black fox who hadn't even taken human form as my fiancé. I poured everything I had into helping him take human form, but he carved out my inner core and presented it to my sister to curry her favor. When I lived again, at the mate-selection ceremony, my sister once more pointed pitifully at the black fox. In front of everyone, I chose the four-tailed white fox she wanted most. Then I "gifted" the black fox to her.