เรื่องสั้นแนว Tragic Love และนิยาย Bias Face Slapping

My wife's first love fell seriously ill. To save him, she gave away the kidney donor that was meant for me. Afraid I would cause a scene at the hospital, she locked me inside our home. Day after day, she stayed by his bedside, cooking for him, caring for him, never leaving his side. All she left for me was a box of stale biscuits… and expired milk. A month later, she finally opened the door. "Have you thought it through?" I looked at her, pale and desperate. "If I don't get that transplant, I'll die." "Why are you talking about dying?" she snapped. "You've endured this for so long already. A little more pain won't kill you. Are you trying to scare me?" "But Vincent is different. He's never been able to handle pain. Can't you be more understanding?" "Understand…" I nodded stiffly. Then, I walked out, without looking back. Only for her to be stabbed multiple times… yet still refuse to let go of my hand!

When I was being harassed by the Romano family’s consigliere, my fiancé, Don Luca of the Villani family, was busy kissing and drinking with Gianna at a party. To secure the partnership, I had no choice but to drink the glass the consigliere pressed against my lips. My stomach churned violently, and I could barely breathe. However, Luca never once looked at me. Instead, he focused entirely on picking the lime slices out of Gianna’s drink, coaxing her gently into finishing it. Once the party ended, Gianna casually mentioned she was bored, and Luca immediately made me get out of the car so he could take her bar-hopping afterward. “She’s been helping me manage the accounts lately, so I’m taking her out to relax. “You don’t even like bars, so don’t come along. “And I’m staying with her tonight until she has fun. So we’ll postpone the wedding again, since I can’t make it to the church tomorrow.” Our wedding had already been delayed for eight years. This was the ninety-eighth time Luca had canceled it on his own. I simply nodded. Since he was always too busy, maybe this wedding didn’t need to happen.

In a pack, your mate comes before everything else. But my boyfriend Kyle always put Lina first. When my fever hit 104°F and I needed him most, he was out patrolling with Lina. He said, "You're still able to call me, aren't you? How sick can you be?" Later, when my back injury flared up again, he was helping Lina move. On my birthday, he was buying Lina a moonstone pendant. But back when I asked him for a gift, he said, "I love you. You know that. I just don't like giving gifts. It feels too formal." That was the moment I finally understood. He never hated giving gifts. He just never wanted to give me one. On the day I left, he chose Lina again, as always. I just quietly packed my things. He didn't know that today was the day I would leave him for good.

During summer break, I returned home unannounced, hoping to surprise my family. But the moment I stepped through the door, my elder brother, Ronan, called the police. "Hello. I'd like to report a burglary at my house." Only when the police officer handcuffed me did I snap out of my trance and scream, "Dad, Mom, Julian, don't you recognize me? I'm Alba!" My parents shook their heads in unison. "We don't know her." Even Julian Murphy, the man I had dated for five years, averted his gaze. "I guess she's a stalker who thinks I'm her boyfriend." I spent fifteen days drowning in despair. Finally, my best friend, Samantha Lynch, showed up and bailed me out. I couldn't help but complain bitterly about the absurdity of the situation. "Sammy, how could Ronan do this to me? If it was a prank, it wasn't funny…" But Samantha offered no comfort. Instead, she took me to a five-star hotel. Before I could ask why we were there, I looked out the window—and froze. Outside in the courtyard, Julian and my twin sister were kissing passionately among the rose bushes. My parents stood nearby, smiling proudly as they raised their glasses to the guests. Samantha sighed. "There's one thing I need to tell you. Julian has always been in love with Bianca. It was their engagement ceremony the other day. However, your unannounced return triggered her, and she almost committed suicide. Your untimely return almost ruined the wedding. You already had Julian to yourself for five years. Why don't you let him go now and give them the happiness they deserve?" As confetti poured down like rain, two trails of hot tears marked my cheeks. Everyone I knew had worked together to protect Bianca, as though she were made of glass. But they treated me like an outsider. And from beginning to end, I had been the only one left in the dark.

Eight years ago, my daughter, Joey Porter, was stuck in the desert of death. Her GPS had blinked out, and she ran out of supplies. She kept calling for me for over a dozen hours over the walkie-talkie. The only rescue team was an hour's flight away from her, only to get intercepted halfway there. Later on, I found out that my wife, Ruby Shaw, spent 800 thousand dollars bribing the dispatch center, rerouting the rescue team's flight route just so they could save Ruby's younger brother, Howard Shaw, instead. Howard had had too much to drink at that time, causing him to lose his way outside the resort that was located at the edge of the desert. When he was found, it turned out that he was about a mile away from the resort. But the rescue team never came for Joey, who waited for them till she was dehydrated and, later on, died in the desert. Since then, I've quit my job and made this living hell my new home. For the next eight years, I work as a desert guide, ultimately saving over 100 people. Every inch of the dunes and the hidden sand currents are engraved into my mind. Today, my partner decides to give me a rescue order that's worth an astronomical amount. He urges me to pack my things and set off immediately. I glance at the photo, only to see a familiar face. That's when I turn off my walkie-talkie and get up to my feet before heading outside. "I can't save this person."

The day before Thanksgiving, I walked into a bakery and found Talia Rademacher, the wife I'd been secretly married to for seven years. She wore a dress that looked completely out of place in the shop, and she was patiently helping the owner arrange the shelves. The owner, Bastien Delorme, greeted me warmly and asked what I needed. When he noticed me watching Talia, he smiled and introduced her. "That's my girlfriend. She got off work early today and came to help out." I remembered the text Talia had sent me half an hour earlier: [Working late tonight. Won't be home for dinner.] I looked down, smiled humorlessly, and said nothing. Sensing something was off, Talia looked up. Panic flickered in her eyes the moment she saw me, but she recovered almost at once. "Hello. What can I get for you?" she asked politely. She played the part well, as if I were just another customer. I played along. "I'm here to pick up my order." Bastien pulled it up right away. "Mr. Ashcombe, you ordered our Thanksgiving pie box for two." He grinned. "Spending the holiday with your wife? You two must be really close." I looked at the box on the counter. A couples' theme. Then I glanced at Talia, standing so close beside him that they looked like they belonged together, and the irony hit me. "No. My wife and I are about to get divorced."

Serena Sutton was my fiancee, but she wanted to marry my bodyguard, Evan Brooks. The man was a cheat. I didn't want her taken in, so I took her to see for herself what he really was. While the two of them were fighting, a car came through at speed and killed him. And Serena hated me for it with everything in her. In the third year of our marriage, she killed our son. I was in so much pain I was coughing up blood, and she put a knife in me. "Adrian, this is what you owe me for Evan." Only then did I learn that she had never forgotten him. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the second before I meant to expose him. This time, I'm staying out of it.

On my wedding day, my twin sister refused to take off my dress. "The groom's car is almost here, Isabella. Give it back." But my father was already smoothing her skirt. "Let her have it. You're twins—no one can tell you apart." My mother pinned her veil and tossed me the bridesmaid dress. "It's just a ceremony, Camilla. You're still the one getting married." Just like always. Whatever Isabella wanted, I wasn't allowed to fight for. The last chicken wing. The only scholarship. Now my own wedding dress. I reached for my phone to call Luca. Isabella snatched it from my hand. "Let's play a game. We swap places—no one tells. I want you to see, with your own eyes, who Luca really loves." I almost said no. Then I saw it. A bump in the lace, right over the heart. I pulled back the silk and read a word stitched in pale gold thread. Tesoro. The name he whispered to her a hundred times. The name he had never once said to me. My wedding dress had never been meant for me. So I unclasped the diamond necklace he gave me and set it down. "Then she can have the audience too." I slipped into the burgundy bridesmaid dress and watched my sister walk down the aisle wearing my name and my life. Then Luca pressed a key into my palm and whispered, "Come to the penthouse tonight, Tesoro." He had no idea he was confessing to the wrong sister.

On the third anniversary of my marriage to Leon Castellano, the most powerful mafia boss in Chicago, I waited for him alone all night in a cabin up on the snowy mountain. A blizzard had sealed off the mountain. The ice cream cake on the table melted down to nothing. I kept calling Leon, but his phone went unanswered. In the early hours, he finally called back, his voice rough with drink. "Sorry. Cecilia's back. I went to pick her up from the airport and forgo our anniversaryt." He left me stranded on that mountain all night. I walked down alone the next morning, and a ranger passing by picked me up in his truck. He didn't know that after that night, I took off my wedding ring. He didn't know that the woman who'd stolen my credit for saving his life was tearing our marriage apart, step by step. That day, Leon slammed the divorce papers down in front of me, his words dripping with disgust and scorn. "Who do you think you are, claiming the credit for Cecilia's kindness to me? She is the sole legitimate heir of the Rosse family, and you? You're nothing but a mistress's bastard! If you hadn't deceived me back then, I would never have missed out on all those years with her!" Something in me finally let go. I signed the papers, faked my death, and flew off into the Sicilian night without looking back. Three years later, I met him again as the princess of Europe's Moretti family. And then Leon was the one full of regret.

After a fire broke out at the company, I shoved the only rescue rope into the hands of my husband, Peyton Shepherd. However, he yanked the smoke mask off my face and turned to secure it on his secretary, Hannah Russell, instead. Peyton escaped using the rescue rope, and Hannah remained unharmed thanks to the mask. I collapsed from inhaling toxic smoke, and then a falling pillar crashed into my stomach. Blood pooled beneath me. Just as the firefighters lifted me onto a stretcher, Peyton grabbed me and pulled me back down. "Serena, it's just a minor injury. Why are you lying on the stretcher? Let Hannah go to the hospital first. Her condition is serious, and she needs a comprehensive medical exam!" The firefighters and paramedics stared in shock. They looked at my blood-soaked dress, then Hannah crying pitifully over her blistered hand. My colleagues tried to intervene. "But Mr. Shepherd, Serena's injuries are clearly more severe!" Peyton snarled through gritted teeth. "Enough! I'm Serena's husband. Don't you think I know her condition? If Hannah's treatment gets delayed because of this, none of you will escape the consequences!" I pressed my hand against my slightly swollen lower abdomen and nodded, agreeing to let Hannah take the ambulance first. I decided that from this moment forward, neither I nor my unborn child owed Peyton anything.

For the past two months, I’ve been getting photos. Photos of my fated mate, Andrew, fucking his mistress, Crystal—a sultry omega. 【Dear Luna, Andrew left so many marks on me last night. He said I'm the only one who's ever made him feel a real orgasm.】 【Oh, and that famous soothing ability you're so proud of? I have it too. He says I can replace you completely now.】 【Don't worry, I'll take good care of your mate for you.】 In the photos, a smudge of Crystal's lipstick was a glaring stain on Andrew’s mate mark. Looking at those messages, disbelief curdled into despair, and finally, into a cold, hard numbness. Until tonight, when the Moon Goddess finally answered my desperate prayers. I could sacrifice half of my soothing gift for one chance to sever our mate bond on my own. In seven days, I will finally leave Andrew for good.

At the annual Rinaldi family charity gala, I bent down to pick up a dropped pearl earring. When I looked up, my fiancé—the ruthless Mafia Don, Caspian—and my former best friend, Sienna, were already at the other end of the ballroom. I grabbed my dress to follow them, but my place by his side was already gone. They stood close, whispering about bloody business I couldn’t touch. I felt like a stranger. I always knew my marriage to Caspian was arranged. We grew up together. We even went to the same college. Until Sienna showed up. She used to be my best friend. Now, she was Caspian’s sharpest blade. His right hand. Caspian and Sienna were the family's golden duo. They thrived in the dark, ruling through bullets and blood. Me? I scrubbed their dirty money clean, yet I was just arm candy. A smiling trophy locked out of his dark world. Caspian always loved tracing my jaw with his calloused fingers. "Your innocence is charming," he’d murmur. Then he’d turn around and handle the bloody family business with Sienna, without a second thought. Watching them fade into the shadows, a bone-deep exhaustion hit me. I was done chasing Caspian.

It was a drunken game of Truth or Dare with the three boys I grew up running the streets with. Late into the night, riding the buzz, Matteo Bryant leaned in and dropped a bomb. "I’ve wanted you since we were kids, and I’m done biting my tongue... But my father is shipping me out to run Vegas. I know damn well you’re not built for long-distance." His eyes were bloodshot, raw with what felt like gut-wrenching honesty. My chest caved. I swore he meant every word. I had loved him for just as long. Hook, line, and sinker, I jumped right in. "The Hughes family is pushing their territory out west anyway. I’ll tell my parents I’m taking point. That way, we roll into the desert together." Matteo leaned in, pulling me into a slow, breathless kiss. With Nikolai and Julian shouting and egging us on from the couch, I signed the voluntary transfer papers right there on the glass table. The day the transfer went through, I went straight to Matteo to tell him we were set. Instead, I found the three of them locked away in the back room with Gia—the real Hughes bloodline, recently dragged back from the gutter. "You slick bastard, Matteo. Wrapped Sienna around your little finger with one damn kiss, selling her that bullshit about shipping out to Vegas. Fucking brilliant." Gia’s voice shook, sweet and sickening. "Matteo, you shouldn't have done that for me. Just looking at Sienna makes me feel sick that she took my life, but watching you throw yourself under the bus hurts worse." Matteo’s voice came out chillingly flat. "Once she’s tucked away in the desert, I won't have to waste my breath playing the doting boyfriend." I shoved the heavy door open. Our gazes collided right as the color drained from their faces.

From the moment she was born, Seraphina Grant was doomed to live a life without being loved. Her dad, the Alpha of the pack, said to her, "You owe Layla too much. Give her the Moonshadow Blade blessed by the Moon Goddess." Her mom, the Luna, asked her, "Are you really going to stand by and watch Layla die? We're just asking that you give her a bit of your life essence each day. You'll be fine." Later, Seraphina met Damien Norman. He swore that across lifetimes, whether as a wolf spirit or in human form, he would love only her. But later still, Damien told her, "Layla ended up like this because of you. Staying with her is my way of helping you atone." Even her son said, "I don't want you to be my mom. I want Aunt Layla!" In the end, every single one of them demanded that she give her life for her sister, Layla Grant. All because she belonged to the legendary Sunfire bloodline and possessed the power of Ember Rebirth. So Seraphina did what they wished and set her own life ablaze, not to trade it for Layla's, but to erase them all from her heart forever.

I am finally pregnant with a child after being married to Anthony Johnson, my husband, who has azoospermia, for five years. Emily Johnson, my 30-year-old unemployed sister-in-law who lives off her family, tears the ultrasound scan apart and angrily accuses me of carrying someone else's baby. She then takes out a notebook packed with detailed records of every time Anthony and I have slept together since we got married. "In the past three months, the only time you slept with Anthony was three weeks ago; other than that, he never laid a finger on you! If you're over a month pregnant, then there's no way that baby belongs to the Johnson family!" I feel incredibly angry at the thought of being eavesdropped on all this time, so I seek out Anthony and demand an explanation. He merely looks at me with a pained expression and says, "You should just produce the evidence if you're innocent, Madison—just like Emily did." I laugh out of sheer exasperation. If they want evidence, then the baby I'm carrying is the best evidence there is.

After our engagement, my fiance, Justin Ford, has someone bring a child back from Verdanne and hand him over to me. An email arrives along with the boy. "Nora, I got bored out of my mind in Verdanne and accidentally knocked Cindy up. Since you've always been sweet and obedient, I'm leaving my son with you. Consider it practice. When we come home, you'll be all set to work as our nanny." Without a word, I hand the child over to the butler. Seven years later, all the CEOs stationed overseas return to headquarters to report in. Justin pulls up in a Maybach with a whole entourage, blocking the entrance to the Ford estate where I live. With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he tilts his head and takes off his sunglasses. "Did you miss me that badly? Is that why you're waiting out here?" He takes a drag from his cigarette before continuing, "By the way, Cindy and I got married in Verdanne so we could get our son registered. From now on, you two can treat each other like sisters. Whatever she gets, you'll get too. "The Shaws and the Fords are practically family anyway. You don't care about a piece of paper, do you?" With that, he blows smoke ring after smoke ring into my face, leaving me choking with tears streaming from my eyes. I quickly step back and wipe away the tears. My son's dad is an extremely jealous man who warned me long ago to keep my distance from the younger men in the Ford family. If my husband catches his nephew harassing his wife, all hell will break loose in the Ford family.

As the year’s end approached, the city of Portlas’ high society joked that there was no need to worship Lady Fortuna. They only had to worship me instead. That was because, after our remarriage, I became the most materialistic husband in all of Portlas. I no longer cared how much Lana Gable doted on that man. Even when my daughter called him “Daddy,” I turned a blind eye. There was just one new rule in the house. Every time they mentioned Eliot Speke’s name, they had to give me one hundred thousand dollars. Thanks to that, I saved up thirty million dollars in less than two weeks. On our wedding anniversary, Lana and my daughter mentioned Eliot once again. The two of them looked stiff, while I simply held out my hand with practiced ease. “One hundred thousand dollars. Transfer it to my account.” My daughter finally could not hold back any longer and looked at me with utter contempt. “Daddy, you’re so vulgar. Is money the only thing on your mind? You’d even demand money for such a trivial matter. You can’t even compare to a speck of dust on Uncle Speke’s shoes.” I did not argue. I simply held out my hand to my daughter as well. “One hundred thousand dollars. Since you brought it up first, you have to pay too.”

Three years back, a crash wrecked Rhea's hearing—and the future she'd built her life around. At her lowest point, Eddie stayed by her side like a hero, pulling her out of the shadows. But the second she got her hearing back and thought she could finally tell him... she heard the truth: he'd planned the whole thing. For his beloved. So she could win. Yeah, he was already engaged. To that girl. Rhea didn't cry. Didn't scream. Just picked up her phone. "Grandpa, I'm ready. I'm taking back the Cliburn name. And I'm entering the international piano competition as your heir."

On the night of my awakening ceremony at 18, Elias Thorne and Holden Cross, the two guys I’d grown up with, pulled me into a game of dares. When it was my turn, Mia Harper, a she-wolf who’d only just joined the pack, asked shyly, “Who’s brave enough to volunteer for guard duty on the far northern border? Conditions there are brutal.” One by one, they nodded and held up transfer orders bearing the official seal. Elias slid the northern transfer orders toward me, then smiled and pointed to my original assignment in Central City. “Brave enough to give up Central City for the northern ice fields? Anyone who backs out is a coward.” That night, in front of everyone, I bit my fingertip and signed the northern transfer orders in blood. With everyone cheering him on, Elias accepted me as his mate and promised to mark me on the next full moon. Then, on the day the transfer took effect, I arrived outside his apartment. “Her northern posting’s been entered into the Elder Council’s system, right?” “Already locked in. The three of us took a risk forging those transfer orders, but it worked. She volunteered for the far north. I’d say that’s a win.” “Gotta say, Mia’s the smart one. She made up some random game and shipped that idiot off to the border.” Then I heard Mia’s apologetic voice. “But Elias... it’s so unfair to you. You had to pretend to accept the mate bond just to trick her into signing.” “Whatever.” Elias sounded like he couldn’t care less. “I just have to play along with her until the full moon. “Once she’s on that armored transport to the border, it’s all over.” With a soft click, the door slid open. I didn’t make a scene. I called in a witch and calmly severed the faint mind-link Elias and I had only just formed. Then, right in front of them, I uttered the ancient words of rejection. “I, Chloe Ward, reject you, Elias, as my mate.”

On the day my boyfriend and I moved into our new home, his ex-girlfriend gave us a mysterious gift. The moment I opened the front door, a swarm of hornets came flying out. I screamed in fright as I felt seven or eight stings from them. His ex, Erica Loft, jumped out from behind the door with a giggle. She shouted, "Surprise! "I went up the mountains to visit a master craftsman. I wanted to get you this specially brewed hornet wine, and I even brought back a hornet's nest for you to decorate your new house with! "Isn't this a great gift?" Erica made a face at us. She was gleeful at the messy predicament I was in. My boyfriend, Joe Fulham, clenched his teeth. He rushed forward to grab Erica by the wrist as he shouted angrily at her. "Are you crazy? Don't you know that hornets are venomous?! Is this really a surprise, or are you trying to hurt us?" I listened to another one of their huge arguments from behind the door, feeling like an outsider in my own relationship. As I felt the stinging pain in my arm, I knew this wedding was about to fall through.