Melodramatic Imagination Short Stories & Bias Face Slapping Novels

The day I got fired, I received a trial pass from an AI cosmetic clinic. It required neither surgery nor recovery time, yet it could deliver a flawless celebrity face overnight. But there was a catch. The face only lasted seven days after the complimentary trial. To keep it, I signed a contract to become the actress' body double, trading my time, identity, and freedom for another week of beauty. As the years passed, I kept paying the price to maintain a face that wasn't mine until one day, I realized I no longer wanted to live in someone else's shadow.

My fiancé had nearly tortured me to death, all because his first love kept turning him against me. Lying in the cold, dark basement, I made a bitter wish. If only I could switch bodies with Nolan Ralston. Then he'd finally know what he'd put me through. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in his luxurious bed, all sixteen feet of it. And there was Nolan, wearing my face, staring at me in shock. Before he could say a word, his precious first love let out a little cry and dramatically collapsed in front of him. "I was just trying to check your injuries. Why did you push me?" she whimpered, looking utterly pitiful. I watched Nolan's eyes widen, his indignation at being falsely accused written all over his face. I couldn't help it. A laugh escaped me. God, that felt good.

After waking up in the pages of a novel, I married the loyal second lead—the man who could never win the heroine's love. Blessed with exceptional fertility, I gave him two children in three years, and what began as a marriage of convenience slowly ripened into something like love. However, during the New Year's Eve ball at the palace, strange lines of floating text suddenly appeared before my eyes. [The queen heroine is faking her pregnancy. She's just waiting for the fertile side character to give birth so she can steal the child!] [The second lead is truly devoted. To secure the queen's position, he'd even offer up his own wife to the king's bed.] [Once the side character "dies in childbirth," the baby becomes the heroine's by right. What a perfect scheme.] The silver spoon slipped from my fingers and rang against the floor. So, the deeply devoted second lead was always meant to protect only his unattainable first love. In that case… Why shouldn't I take the crown for myself?

In my past life, I never spent a single cent of my wife Sadie Miller's money. Yet as I lay dying, she stood there arm-in-arm with her pretty-boy assistant, Finn Morgan, calling me a useless leech over and over again. I had taken a brutal beating to protect her, but when the paramedics arrived, she demanded they treat Finn first—for a bloody nose. Then my eyes snapped open, and I was back. Reborn to the exact day Sadie offered me financial compensation. I stared down at the black card resting on the table between us, a card with no spending limit. For the first time in my life, I didn't push it away. "So, if I buy whatever I want, you won't control me? Is that the deal? "And if I spend a ridiculous amount of money, you won't throw a fit?" Sadie's expression twisted into pure disgust. "As long as you stay out of my face, spend whatever you want. If I even hesitate, I'll take your last name."

On the same day, my older sister, Kelsey Shaw, and I marry into the Coyle Clan, a powerful clan of serpent shifters. Kelsey wants the prestigious title of Lady of the Clan, so she chooses to marry Zane Coyle, a powerful black serpent shifter. What she doesn't realize is that Zane cares about nothing but his own ambition. He neglects her, shuts her out, and even tries to hand her over to someone else in exchange for power and status. Meanwhile, Mike Coyle, the sickly white serpent shifter I marry, turns out to be fiercely devoted. His dormant power erupts in a second awakening, and during the Clan Trials, he slays Zane—who by then has risen to Clan Alpha. The day I become the new Lady of the Clan, Kelsey looks at me with resentment burning in her eyes and plunges a silver hairpin straight into my chest. When I open my eyes again, we're both back on the day we choose our husbands. This time, Kelsey beats me to it and chooses the white serpent shifter with limitless potential. I smile, completely unfazed. The truth is, neither the black serpent nor the white serpent is any good.

On the last day before my study-abroad application closed, I was about to give up my full scholarship offer. Then, out of nowhere, I got a call from my future self. "Don't give it up. Click confirm enrollment. Right now." "Harley locked in his own graduate placement three months ago. The only reason he wants you to stay is that Katy needs you to finish her senior thesis for her, and he needs your money every month to live on. "Two weeks after you turn down that offer, the two of them go public with their relationship. "That so-called best friend of yours, Katy? She already betrayed you. She's been sleeping with him." I froze, my finger hovering over the mouse. The voice kept going, speaking faster and faster. "Listen carefully. Once you confirm the offer, take the twenty thousand dollars left in your account and put every cent into the Eklund Growth Fund. It goes public next March. It'll grow eightfold within the year. "Once you're abroad, apply to your advisor's AI lab before your first semester ends. That project gets acquired by Coogle two years from now, and as a core team member, you'll get a share of the payout. "Twenty-two-year-old me, I'm begging you. Stop wasting yourself on people who don't deserve it." The voice cut off. I took a deep breath and moved the cursor to "Confirm Enrollment." The instant I clicked, my mind was made up. I wasn't going to bury my own future for anyone who wasn't worth it.

"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.

Nathan Carter was famous in high society for being completely devoted to his wife. All because I had an almost obsessive need to control him. Not only did he have to video call me every five minutes to check in, but every morning when I woke up, I expected a five-thousand-word love letter waiting for me. The first time he was a minute late checking in, my paranoia spiraled out of control, and I bombarded him with ninety-nine voice messages, threatening to kill myself. He transferred me one million dollars, dropped to his knees, and swore it would never happen again before I reluctantly forgave him. His voice softened as he leaned closer, trying to kiss me. Suddenly, a flood of comments exploded across my vision. [Exactly! Once Quinn catches HIV, he should dump her. A villainess like her deserves to get sick, lose the baby, and die a miserable death!] [Who could put up with a crazy woman like her? If she hadn't pushed the male lead so hard, he never would've slept around and contracted HIV!] [When is the female lead finally going to show up? I can't wait for her and the male lead to heal each other and get their happily ever after!] I looked at Nathan, who had already taken off his shirt, his breathing heavy. I hurriedly grabbed a towel from the side and wrapped it around myself. "Honey, I'm suddenly not feeling very well. Don't you have a meeting to get to? You should go. I don't want to keep you from work."

Mia Merrow, the mermaid I spent a fortune to buy, looks down on me for my ugly appearance. Instead, she turns around and falls for my handsome and gorgeous stepbrother, Charlie Pickler. I bankroll her medical treatments. She says I don't put enough thought into it. I build her the most luxurious environment to live in. She calls me tasteless and undignified. Yet, a simple sticker that Charlie casually tosses to her becomes the most priceless treasure in her eyes. "It's just an ordinary sticker, but to me, it's the most precious treasure in the world!" she gushes. "A money-obsessed man like you could never understand!" They embrace right in front of me, hoping I'll give them my blessing. "Give up, Rick. No matter what you do, you'll never hold a candle to Charlie." "Exactly, Ricky. Mia doesn't love you, so why force her?" Watching the two of them play off each other right in front of me, I can't help but laugh inwardly. Who said anything about wanting Mia's love? As I gently run my fingers over the burn scars across my face, I quietly remind myself that there are only three days left before Mia reaches maturity. They say the heart of an adult mermaid, when ground into medicine, could heal any scar. "My sweet, darling Mia," I mused to myself. "I've given you so much. In three days, it'll be your turn to give something back to me."

The day my ex cheated on me, I cried for about ten minutes before digging out the jewelry box he gave me. I sold everything valuable inside for four hundred dollars and used the money to buy a huge box of black candles. Today, I crouched outside his apartment complex, arranging the candles in a circle and lighting them one by one. “You crazy woman! Why are you lighting black candles? Are you trying to curse my son?” His mother stormed out and jabbed a finger in my face. The other woman hid behind my cheating ex and spoke in a choked voice: “Don, I’m scared… What if she still hasn’t gotten over you? What if she does something terrible?” The onlookers shook their heads and concluded that the breakup had driven me insane. Then a ding rang inside my head. [You lit two dollars’ worth of black candles. Ten-thousandfold cashback triggered. Twenty thousand dollars has been credited to your account!] I reached for the remaining candles and lit them one by one.

The Merman I spent a fortune on called me ugly, while quickly falling in love with my pretty stepsister instead. I spent a ton of money to treat his injuries, but he said I wasn't sincere. I gave him the best house, but he called me vulgar, while treasuring the sticker my stepsister gave him as an afterthought. They cuddled right in front of me, eager to make me step aside. "It's just a simple sticker, but it's the greatest treasure ever to me! Women like you who only care about money would never understand that. So just give up already, Lyra. You will never measure up to Thea no matter what you do." "That's right… Lyra. Xir doesn't love you, so why force your love on him?" I was simply amused watching them harp on with their duet. Whoever said I wanted Xir's love? In fact, I was touching the burn scars on my face, thinking to myself that Xir would be an adult in three days. Legend said that the potion ground out of merfolk hearts could heal all scars. 'Dear Xir… I've done so much for you. It's time for you to repay me soon.'

I'm the primary surgeon of the nation's biggest medical malpractice case. Apparently, I've screwed up intentionally in a joint surgery that leads to the instant deaths of five patients. My wife, Wanda Johnson's mother is one of them. The medical world purges my name immediately. The Internet demands that I pay the price with my own life. The patients' families kneel before the court with a petition. With tears running down my cheeks, they plead to the court to sentence me to death. In order to ease the public outrage, the court decides to euthanize me. The head of the investigative team of the health department wants to activate Project Nightingale. With the power of AI, the truth of what happened in the surgery will be re-enacted. But Wanda, who also works as a police officer, shoots that idea down. "There's no need for that. Do you actually want the patients' families to witness how their loved ones die again? The youngest patient is just an eight-year-old, you know! Let's just euthanize him!"

After catching Dustin Sherwood cheating on me, I decisively break up with him and join a tour group to the Northern Pole to clear my head. However, I encounter a rare blizzard and get trapped on a glacier at -22 degrees. As my life hangs by a thread, Dustin trudges up to me, searching for me on foot. He peels off all his clothes, layer by layer, and wraps them tightly around my freezing body. "Don't go to sleep, Claudia. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I only want you to live well for the rest of your life… If there ever is a next life, I promise that I will never betray you or let you down again." When the rescue team finally finds us, Dustin is still clinging to me, but his body is completely frozen stiff. They have to cut his arms off just to separate me from him. After Dustin's death, I live with guilt toward him until I die at 80 years old. When I open my eyes again, I realize that I am reborn a year before he cheats on me. In this life, he decisively severs all ties with Miranda Barlow and even makes a show of kicking her out of the company with me watching. He also swaps out all of his personal assistants and secretaries for married men and never brings any female companions to events or drinking parties anymore. Everyone marvels at how deeply Dustin is in love with me. However, on the eve of our wedding, I suddenly hear his heartfelt inner thoughts. [I'm about to have her, even in my second life. This time, I must make sure to hide Mimi well so she never finds out about her.]