Plot Twists Short Stories & Hypocrisy Marriage Escape Novels

Everyone says that Eric Winslowe, the Alpha of Kalmoor Pack, loves me to the bone. He learns sign language for me because I can't hear, and he prepares to throw me a grand wedding after I thoroughly fall for him. However, after I regain my hearing, I catch him flirting and being intimate with Camilla Johnson, his maid. They're just in the room next to mine. During a banquet, he even takes advantage of my lack of hearing to brag. "She's just a pet that I have to alleviate the boredom. Alison is the only one I love. Still, I know she'll leave me if she finds out about this. "Thank God Alison can't hear. I won't let her find out about this even after we're married. Watch your mouths, everyone. Don't blame me for getting nasty if any of you bring this up to Alison." I sneer to myself. I want to tell him that he doesn't need to fear others exposing his cheating—I already know. He also doesn't need to look forward to our wedding because all that awaits him on that day is a corpse that looks just like me.

My husband and I have been legally married for five years. This is the tenth time he's canceled our wedding ceremony. This time? His student, Laura, is competing in her first international violin competition—and he 'needs' to be there. I still remember the last cancellation: an awards ceremony he had to attend with her. The time before that? She fell ill, and he stayed at her hospital bedside. The other times? I've lost count of the excuses, but it doesn't matter. The reason is always Laura. Her needs always outweighed my wedding. My marriage. My life. Fine. If he wanted to stand by Laura so badly, he could stay there forever. This hollow, five-year farce of a marriage? It's over.

On the day of his funeral, I discovered that my fiance, Zachary Gray, had come back to life. His friend says teasingly, "You sure know how to stage an act, Zachary. Your fiancee cried so much over your fake death that she almost went blind!" Zachary smiles indifferently and says, "Stepping into marriage is like taking one foot into the grave. Of course, I have to have some fun first." I stand in the shadows and watch him bend down to kiss another woman. He then points at the tombstone I had carefully and painstakingly carved for him, laughing until he can't catch his breath. Watching him, I feel like an utter fool. I take out my phone and call my father. "Dad, since Zachary is dead, our engagement is null. Let's pull out of the collaboration with the Gray family's company."

Before my wedding, I went to find my fiancé with a pregnancy test in hand, intending to surprise him. Instead, I overheard a heated argument between two men on the terrace. "My dear brother, didn't you personally send her to my bed just to get revenge for Elena?" The man, identical to my fiancé, twirled a USB drive in his hand, a wicked smirk playing on his lips. I had been with my fiancé for seven years, yet I had no idea he had a twin brother. What was worse, I never realized that during those passionate nights when I thought my fiancé was finally showing me affection, the man lying beside me was actually his twin. And all of this happened simply because their "savior" despised me. To repay his debt to her, my fiancé tacitly allowed this humiliation. It turned out that the love I had cherished for seven years was nothing more than a twisted game of revenge the brothers had orchestrated together, all to please another woman.

I'm the type who has the urge to overshare my life with him. It can be anything, be it the flowers blooming by the side of the road, the unpleasant coffee I end up having, or the sunset I've seen when I'm on my way home from work. Heck, when I think of Edwin Howell all of a sudden, I can't resist texting him at all. His replies are always short and perfunctory, though I suppose they count as a form of response from him. Hence, over the past six months, I've relied on these cold-sounding yet present replies to give me enough strength to deal with the engagement party, go wedding gown shopping, and choose the wedding venue all by myself. Somehow, I've managed to hang in there till the week before the wedding. But five days before the wedding, I discover an AI program that's installed within Edwin's computer. It can categorize every single sentence that I've sent to Edwin and extract the keywords. Then, it'll draft the most perfunctory responses that will never go wrong. If I miss Edwin, the AI will reply, "Mm-hmm." If I feel aggrieved, the AI will reply, "Got it." When I try to vent my frustrations to Edwin, the AI will reply, "Don't make such a big deal out of it." It turns out that Edwin isn't the one who has been responding to my need to overshare. The thing is, he has been texting another woman nonstop in another private chat. They talk about anything and everything under the sun, from exchanging simple good mornings and good nights to asking, "What are you having for lunch today?" and "Do you wanna go to the beach someday?" Finally, I realize that Edwin isn't the silent type who keeps his love in. If anything, he's the flashy type who will proclaim his love anywhere, anytime. It's just that… his love has never been mine to have. As for me, I've finally made up my mind to stop spending my life waiting for a response that will never come.

My parents came all the way from a small town in Texas to New York just to talk about our wedding plans. But my fiancé—the Rossi family's Don—was late. My mom smiled, trying to comfort me. "Traffic's probably just bad. It's okay, your dad and I can wait a bit longer." That "wait" lasted three hours. I called him a fifth time before he finally picked up. Marcello didn't even sound apologetic. "Someone broke into Valerie's apartment. She's terrified and won't stop crying. I have to stay and calm her down." I went quiet. This wasn't the first time. Valerie always found some excuse to drag Marcello away from me, and Marcello always gave me the same line: "She's like a little sister to me. Stop making a big deal out of nothing." Because I was just a civilian with a normal background, our marriage had been mocked and questioned by his world from day one. I used to tell myself I could tough it out, all because I loved him. But now, my mom looked at me with pure worry. "Cora, do you really have to marry him?" "I just feel like... with his attitude, and who he is... if he ever hurts you, we won't be able to protect you at all." My dad let out a heavy sigh. My nails dug hard into my palms. Mom was right. I stood up abruptly. "The wedding is off. Let's go."

For the fourth time, Sienna stood me up at the marriage registry to take care of her adopted younger brother. “Kane, Ryan’s mental stability index is nearing critical levels again. I’m the only one who can stabilize him. Can you wait a little longer for me?” I glanced at the clock on the wall. The registry office would close in fifteen minutes. This time, I said nothing. I simply tossed our registration form into the void behind me. In an age when mutated beasts ravaged the world and two-pilot mechas ruled the battlefield, I was the only person in the entire Alliance capable of piloting one alone. Yet for ten years, I had willingly served as Sienna’s personal co-pilot, risking my life through countless battles and lifting her to the pinnacle of power. But no matter how much I sacrificed for her, I could never compare to Ryan—the sickly orphan her father had adopted, whom she had always treated as her helpless little brother. I earned a high-grade armored suit with my military merits, only for Sienna to hand it to Ryan without a second thought. “Kane, you’re strong enough without it. Ryan is frail. For my sake, can’t you let him have it?” I spent countless nights developing a tactical program, only for her to give that to Ryan as well. “He scares easily, so he needs something foolproof. You’re a genius. You can operate the mecha manually, can’t you?” Sienna was certain I would never leave her. What she didn’t know was that the Alliance’s iron-willed female governor had been waiting a long time for my answer to her marriage proposal.