Cerita Pendek & Novel Childhood Sweethearts Face Slapping

We were having Full Moon Festival dinner at my apartment. The three guys I'd grown up with arrived with nothing but cheap beer and their friend, Chloe Sutton. Chloe said the smell of raw, bloody meat made her sick. I'd spent all day preparing 12 grilled dishes for the traditional feast. I was setting down the last platter of roast venison when Chloe got a text. She turned to us and asked timidly, "Mia just got kicked out of her pack, and she has nowhere to go. Can I invite her over?" Before I could say a word, Ethan Walsh pulled my chair away from the table. "Aria, don't you have border patrol tonight? You might as well head out now." Liam Porter leaned against the doorframe and laughed. "You eat your own cooking every day anyway. Missing one meal won't kill you." Chloe waved her hands, flustered. "No, forget it. I'll just tell Mia to go hunt in the woods by herself." All three men rushed over to comfort her. "Who sends a guest back out into the cold?" My fated mate, Caleb Mercer, who was also our pack's Alpha, cut off a piece of lightly charred venison and put it in a food container for me. "Be good. I saved you your favorite part. Heat it up later if you get hungry. And lose the attitude. A future Luna should be more gracious." I stood there in silence. They sat around the table I'd bought with my own savings and ate from the dishes I'd picked out so carefully, as if everything belonged to them. So they knew perfectly well you didn't turn away a guest who'd come a long way. They had just forgotten whose apartment this was. I didn't scream or cry. I just reached over and took the spare key to my apartment from Caleb's belt. "None of you are staying here tonight." Caleb's face froze. Even I could hear how cold my voice was. This was my apartment. I was never the one who should have been shown the door.

Right before graduation, my three childhood friends, Xavier Reid, Silas Moore, and Caspian Ward, asked me to play Truth or Dare with them. I drew a dare in the very first round. My adopted sister, Vivian Sloane, asked if I'd be willing to give up the job offer I already had and go work in another city with them. Xavier, the childhood friend I'd been secretly in love with for years, even promised that if I came with them, we'd become mates once we were settled in our jobs. I said yes. That night, with everyone watching, I turned down my dream job. Xavier kissed my forehead and promised he would never let me down. On graduation day, once the ceremony was over, I'd meant to go tell them that I'd already found a new job. But before I could, I heard them around a corner, talking in low voices. "Is Vivian's job a done deal?" "It's official. HR called me right after Flora turned down the offer." "Good. This way she won't keep clinging to us and upsetting Vivian." "Poor Xavier, though. He's a werewolf, and yet he's had to spend all that time dating a girl he doesn't even like." The four voices drew closer. I stood frozen as my three childhood friends and Vivian met my eyes.

The day before the SAT, Lewis Sutton, the most popular boy in class, volunteered to help everyone verify their test centers and organize two charter buses for everyone. Just before departure, he suddenly stopped me. "Finley, I just realized your test center is Easthaven. Both buses are headed to Westbrook." Everyone thought it was no big deal. "Just take a cab. We can't risk missing the exam for you." When I asked Lewis for the transportation list, Cerys Moore stepped in front of me. She lowered her voice to insist, "Lewis is already exhausted from coordinating logistics for the whole class. Why are you kicking up such a big fuss over nothing? "If you're this petty now, you're going to give him a harder time in college. "I'm warning you, either don't apply to Northbridge University or Blackwell University, or intentionally skip one of your exam subjects, so you won't end up attending the same school as us. Otherwise, our engagement is over." Too fed up to argue, I simply hailed a cab and headed to my test center alone. When I arrived at the Easthaven test center in the nick of time, our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Leah Williamson, was standing outside, sweating profusely from anxiety. "Why did both buses go to Westbrook? The entire class is supposed to take the exam in Easthaven!"

I don't kick up a fuss when Jasper Sutton's childhood sweetheart once again takes my spot in the front passenger seat. Instead, I obediently head to the backseat to sit with his good friend, Jonathan Clayton. When we drive along a bumpy road, my knee brushes against Jonathan's toned thigh. I deliberately leave it there, and he doesn't move. We stop for a break at a rest area. Jasper's childhood sweetheart clings to him as they head to the restroom. As soon as the door is shut, Jonathan grabs the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. As I descend into the throes of passion, I can't help thinking it's no wonder people like to cheat.

The day our SAT scores are released, my girlfriend, Alexis Jink, and I are on a train heading back home after a graduation trip. Samuel Yonder, my "younger brother" in name only, is also with us. Samuel loves sitting by the window, and Alexis immediately sits beside him, leaving me the odd one out—just like I have been for this entire trip. "Ethan, Samuel and I need to discuss what we'll be picking for our majors. Since you didn't score very high on the mock exam, just busy yourself with your phone while we talk," Alexis says. As the two chat and laugh happily, I find myself unable to join in at all. This is certainly not what I expected when Alexis promised me a graduation trip three years ago. The test scores are announced at ten on the dot. Samuel throws his arms around Alexis in an excited and joyful hug. "This is great! With our scores, we can pick any major we want at Jocaster University!" Alexis answers with a smile, "Quick, look at the group chat. Our parents are all congratulating us." From my seat behind them, I hear Dad and Mom say in a voice message, "Sam and Alexis, you two did wonderfully! We really are so proud of you!" Another voice message rings out, this time from Alexis' parents. Bowing my head, I check my phone, only to realize that I'm not in the same group as them, nor did anyone bother to ask how I fared. Forget it. Since they have already chosen their paths, then I should also focus on heading toward my own future.

On Independence Day, I was on my way to my boyfriend's house when a car slammed into me. The stretch of road was deserted. The collision jammed my door shut, and the acrid smell of gasoline filled the air. My car was about to explode. I scrambled for the emergency hammer, only to find it had been swapped out for a pink toy mallet. Panic rising in my chest, I dialed my boyfriend's number. To my horror, his ringtone sounded from the very car that had crashed into me. He stepped out, arm wrapped around his childhood sweetheart. She put on a pitiful face, tears in her eyes. "Oh no, I'm so clumsy. It's my first time driving, and I hit someone." When my boyfriend realized the victim was me, he didn't hesitate to console her. "Don't worry. She must have collided with you on purpose." I pounded on the window, desperate. "Nick! The emergency hammer's been switched out. Help me get out of here!" His childhood sweetheart lit up with a mischievous smile. "Katie, I swapped it! Isn't the pink hammer super cute?" Disgust flickered across Nick's face. "It's just a little crash. Get out on your own." By now, thick smoke was pouring into the car, and the heat was searing my lungs. I begged him to save me. But the girl only giggled, covering her nose in mock annoyance. "Katie, why are you cooking in there? The smoke is awful." Then she patted her stomach. "Oops, my tummy is rumbling. Nick, let's go home and eat." He tightened his hold around her and turned to leave. "Enough already. Stop pretending. My parents are waiting for us at home." Just as suffocation closed in on me, I slammed my hand against the car's emergency distress button.

I am Aurora, Princess of the Crimson Moon, the North's most powerful pack. But I gave my heart to a worthless rogue named Blake. In my past life, I defied tradition to make him my personal guard. We were inseparable. I fought my own pack to make him my mate. But on the night of our mating ceremony, under the Blood Moon... He plunged a silver dagger straight into my heart. I was three months pregnant with his child. As I bled out, he whispered in my ear, his voice dripping with venom, "If it weren't for you, I'd already be with Clara. You deserve this!" That's when I understood. He never loved me. He only craved power. He had always wanted my sister, Clara—the pack's chosen heir. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back. Back at the guard selection ceremony. He rejected me in front of everyone. He declared his love for Clara and refused to be my guard. The entire pack stared at me with pity. This time, I just smiled. And I chose my silent childhood friend, Ronan. Blake thinks siding with Clara will lead to ultimate power. He's a fool. The pack's true Alpha isn't chosen by birthright. He is chosen by me.

I was made the subject of an explicit AI deepfake video that skyrocketed past twenty million views across the internet. On the day I set out to file a lawsuit, everyone came together to block my path. My childhood friend trapped me in the foyer, arguing, "Penelope, don't act impulsively. The video quality is blurry anyway, so nobody online can confirm it's really you. Filing a lawsuit is basically hand-delivering a public confirmation." My best friend snatched the legal documents out of my hands and tossed them straight into the trash. "I looked into it, and the account is hosted overseas. Even if you go to the police, they won't trace it, and the case will just sit in bureaucratic limbo forever." Even my older sister called, her voice dripping with self-serving indignation. "Mom and Dad aren't in good health. Don't go making our family a laughingstock for the whole town!" I wiped away my tears, and the moment they let their guard down and left, I rushed straight over to my boyfriend's apartment. Sam was a practicing lawyer; I knew he would support me in fighting for my rights. Yet when I opened the door, I froze. Sam's childhood friend, Ruby, was leaning into his chest with tear-rimmed eyes. "I really didn't mean to do it. I just typed the wrong AI prompt, and it somehow got generated like that." Sam was wrapping his arm around her, softly reassuring her, "It's really no big deal." Meanwhile, my best friend and my childhood friend were drinking on the couch, looking completely relaxed. "If Penelope hadn't barged into the picture back then, the person standing by your side would've been Ruby all along." "Exactly. She took someone else's place for years. It's about time she learned a lesson." I stood frozen in place. It turned out the culprits who destroyed me were right beside me all along while I had been kept blind to the truth.

My boyfriend was supposed to come to my parents' house that day to ask for their blessing before proposing. My parents had prepared a whole table of food for him. I sat at the table and came across my boyfriend Sebastian Graham's story. In the photo, his childhood friend and "little sister", Claire Crawford, was wearing a beautiful white wedding dress. She looked sweet and gentle. His caption read. "Giving the girl I promised to marry as a child the wedding she never got. The wedding may be fake, but our bond is real." As I looked at the food in front of me that had been reheated countless times, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Just a few hours earlier, I had been secretly happy that after waiting seven years, we were finally going to take the next step in our relationship. My parents and I had already been waiting for him for three hours, but he hadn't even told me whether he was coming. He was throwing Claire a grand and romantic fake wedding, yet he couldn't even show up for one of the most important moments of our relationship. I looked at the wedding dress sketch I had carefully designed as a surprise for him and gave a bitter laugh. Just one week ago, we had agreed on all the plans and timing for today. For the past seven years, he had prepared all kinds of celebrations for Claire every year, but he had never put the same effort into planning anything for me. After waiting for a long time, my mother finally asked me sadly, "Margaret, are we still waiting for him?" I quietly replied, "No. We're not." From that day on, I decided I would never wait for him again.

When Ian Broker's childhood friend, Zoey Berg, hears that I have severe arrhythmia, she purposefully adds a strong dose of energy drink into my water. As soon as I drink the water, I feel my heart rate elevating rapidly. Heartwrenching pain instantly floods my chest. I quickly tear open the only pack of medication I have. Alas, that's when I realize that the water in my thermos flask has gotten swapped out with potent coffee. As soon as I took a sip out of my flask, my face goes eerily pale. Coldness floods my limbs as well, causing me to crumple to the floor as though I were paralyzed. Zoey keeps laughing at me to the point she has tears running down her face. "As expected of a theater student! You really are good at acting! I've been practicing medicine for so long, and I've never seen anyone suffering this much just by drinking some coffee!" I can only kneel before Ian in distress. My gums are on the verge of bleeding because of how tightly I'm gnashing my teeth together. "Ian, call the ambulance… I'm dying…" But Ian remains unperturbed by my condition. "That's enough, Daisy. Your performance will be far too dramatic if you keep this up. No one dies just by consuming a little coffee. "Besides, Zoey is a doctor. What can possibly happen to you with her around, anyway?" I no longer beg Ian for help. Instead, I draft an SOS text message and send it to someone else.

I started calling my brother "Mr. Quinn" and my childhood friend "Mr. Webb". They frown and ask why I'm being so formal with them. I smile faintly in response. "Because I think you would rather be associated with Vanessa Quinn." They scold me for being unreasonable. "Vanessa is about to marry a man in a coma for you, and her whole life will be ruined. The only reason we treat her so well is because you owe her." But what they don't know is that the one marrying a man in a coma this time isn't Vanessa. It's me—Willow Quinn.

The day before the SAT, strange comments suddenly appear before my eyes. "In a while, your childhood friend, Savannah Dunham, will come to you complaining about a stomachache. She will ask you to accompany her to the restroom. "She'll give birth there, then accuse you of being the baby's father. Since you'll be at the scene and she'll personally identify you as the father of the baby, the police will arrest you on the spot. By the time the truth comes out, you'll have already missed the SAT." The very next moment, Savannah clutches her stomach and grabs my arm. "Benny, my stomach hurts. Can you come to the restroom with me?" Every word she says and every move she makes matches the comments exactly. Then, another comment appears. "Her boyfriend is Michael Crowley, the one who always comes second. If you miss the SAT, Michael will become the top scorer this year." I shake off Savannah's hand immediately. "I'm sorry. Ms. Kirkland asked to see me. She said there's a problem with my exam admission pass. You'll have to go by yourself."

When Princess Adelina returned to the capital from her lands, my younger brother flung his arms wide, planted himself in front of her carriage, and shouted for everyone to hear, "My father says we've got all the troops and supplies we need. Next month, we rise. Once someone else is sitting on the throne, I'll be a prince—and you'll be worth less than our family dog!" The entire Grand Avenue went deathly silent. I scrambled out, forced him to his knees, and pressed his head to the ground until his forehead was raw and bloody, covering for him by claiming he'd lost his mind. The princess's expression softened. When the King heard, he only docked Father a year's pay and let the matter drop. But my brother couldn't bear the shame of being dragged away in front of everyone. That night, he hanged himself, leaving behind nothing but a note written in blood and covered with my name. When Father and my elder sister found out, they had his body thrown out without a proper burial. They praised me for my quick thinking and said I'd saved the family. Even my wife, who had always been cold to me, turned gentle from then on. I never imagined that a year later, when I suddenly fell gravely ill, they would drag me into the family chapel while I was in agony, force me to my knees before my brother's portrait, and break both my legs. Father and my sister watched coldly. "Percival was just a boy trying to show off for the princess, and you drove him to his death! "You didn't really think you saved this family, did you? The Arkwrights have a war record to stand on. Even if His Majesty had heard, he would have laughed it off. Why would he punish us over a joke or two?" My wife wound the same white silk my brother had hanged himself with around my neck, her face like ice. "In your next life, don't be so full of yourself." When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the princess returned to the capital. My brother ran out laughing. I lowered my head, sipped my tea, and pretended I hadn't seen a thing. I was a disgraceful bastard son who had never once been acknowledged by House Arkwright. So if every last Arkwright went to the block, what did that have to do with me?

A sudden burst of screams erupted in the living room at 3 AM. I pushed open the door to hear the commentator announcing that my fiancé Noah Lucas' favorite team had advanced to the quarter-finals. Our best friend, Jessie Newman, jumped up excitedly and kissed Noah on the cheek. I would be taking wedding photos with Noah in another five hours. The hangover soup on the table had long since gone cold, with a cigarette butt floating in it. I could not help coughing. The two of them froze mid-conversation. Jessie realized what it looked like and stepped over the wine bottles on the floor with her fair legs. She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, too. Her voice was gentle and innocent. "Lola, why are you awake? Don't overthink. I've been best friends with Noah since kindergarten. We were just messing around! Noah was too noisy, wasn't he? I'll teach him a lesson for you." Noah casually tossed a cushion at her, hitting her squarely on her bottom, and teased with a laugh, "You're blaming me? You were the one shouting!" Then, he nonchalantly reassured me, "Lola, we're about to take our wedding photos soon. Go and get some more sleep. We'll turn the volume down." There was no apology or explanation. They were just trying to brush me off, as always. They assumed I was being paranoid and petty, tainting their 20-year friendship by overthinking. I loosened my grip on my nightgown. "It's okay. You guys continue." I had had enough of this three-person farce. I was done.

My husband's childhood sweetheart is a fake heiress. She and I are abducted at the same time. But when my husband, a doctor, arrives at the scene of the abduction with a medical team, he chooses to save her first. My legs have been broken, and I struggle to stay afloat in the ocean. I'm on the brink of death, and I beg him to save me and the child in my belly. He merely looks at me. Before leaving, he almost generously helps me call 911. Then, he says, "It's disgusting that you're lying about being pregnant just to save yourself. I've repaid you for saving my life—come to the hospital later today to sign the divorce papers." After listening to his words, I remove the hearing aid from my right ear with a trembling hand.

I cooked an entire dinner spread to celebrate the day I was supposed to marry my girlfriend. Then, I called her to ask when she would be home. However, I heard her jeering about me with her friends the moment the call connected. "Lydia, Owen is way too easy to fool. That fake marriage certificate didn't even have an official seal, and he still bought it, believing he was your husband. We wouldn't have had to pretend to work at the City Hall if you and Trevor hadn't already gotten the real one." Lydia let out a careless, mocking chuckle. "Husband? Please. He's just a desperate fool who follows me around like a lovesick puppy. The only he's good for is being my free live-in maid. Trevor and I grew up together. He's the one who's always mattered most to me." My fingers tightened around the fake certificate as tears blurred my vision. I had loved her with everything I had for five whole years. Yet, my devotion meant nothing to her. I had never even been considered as a candidate as her future husband. I had only been free help. The woman I had wanted to spend my life with had never loved me at all. Fine. I called my childhood friend instead. "Are you free? Let's go get married."

The night before our engagement party, my fiancé's childhood sweetheart, Sabrina Payton, told me she had a special bridal surprise planned for me. She lured me into the glass conservatory on the hotel rooftop, locked the doors from the outside, and turned on every sprinkler. It was December, and a storm was raging outside. Freezing water poured down on me while I stood trapped inside a room made entirely of glass. The guests held up their phones downstairs, filming as I stood there soaked and shivering. She smiled at me, looking sweet and innocent despite the cruelty shining in her eyes. "Doesn't Melanie love acting like she's above everyone else? Let's see what she looks like when she's freezing and begging for mercy." On the other hand, my fiancé, Jay Harrison, stood downstairs and watched me through the pouring rain. He said in a cold voice, "Just make sure she doesn't die. Someone from a background like hers needs to learn the hard way that marrying into the Harrison family isn't that easy." Later, I smashed through the glass and made my way down from the rooftop. After that, I wiped the blood from my face and called my attorney. "Notify the board. Pull our investment from Harrison Group, freeze their accounts, and stop every payment scheduled to go out for Harrison Group's projects tomorrow morning. "Also, send tonight's footage to the police. Unlawful imprisonment, assault, invasion of privacy—I don't want a single charge overlooked. I want them hit with every charge that fits their crime."

On our fifth anniversary, I booked out the rooftop lounge to propose to James. Everything was set. Roses, champagne, candles. The only thing missing was him. Then my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number. “Don’t bother waiting. He’s across the street buying a ring for his childhood sweetheart.” I laughed. Thinking it was a sick prank, I just looked out the window. Directly across the street, in the glass window of a luxury jeweler, James was sliding a diamond ring onto another woman’s finger. My phone vibrated again. “I confessed to you three years ago. “Knowing this now... Will you marry me?” ---

I once believed mutual respect was the bare minimum in a political marriage. My fiancé, Cassian Blackwell, Duke of Northmere, proved how foolish that belief was. On the day of our engagement ceremony, his childhood sweetheart stole the necklace I had chosen and threatened me with the Blackwell protection crest he had personally given her. I called Cassian and asked him to handle it. He hung up before I could tell him who I was. When he finally arrived, he ordered his guards to force me to my knees and gave her permission to do whatever she wanted. She slapped me, kicked me, and cut off my hair while Cassian watched without lifting a finger. To him, I was nothing more than a bargaining piece my family had offered for an alliance. What he didn’t know was that the Blackwells had surrendered three of their richest estates for the privilege of marrying me—or that my brother was the Crown Prince of Aurelia. Ten minutes later, the royal guard sealed off the street. Only then did Cassian realize the woman kneeling at his feet was Aurelia’s only princess—the bride his family had sacrificed everything to obtain.

On my fifth birthday after getting together with Kimberly Rivers, I sit at a table filled with dishes that have gone cold, just like I have for the past few years. Much like she did last year, Kimberly promises to celebrate my birthday with me this year, but then she goes back on her word. This year, her excuse is that her childhood friend, Gregory Morales, has invited her and several of her best friends to appear in his glamor shoot. Hence, she stands me up once again and runs off to him without any hesitation. At 11:00 pm that night, Gregory uploads a photo onto his Instagram and sets it so that only I can see it. In the photo, four women in skimpy bikinis are partially kneeling around a man who stood with the unshakable confidence of truth itself. The attached caption read, "I want more than just your heart—I want your body too." I take a screenshot of the photo, then send it to the boyfriends of Kimberly's three best friends. Since they look down on me so much, they'd better hope that they won't need to come begging me on their knees in the future.