قصص وروايات قصيرة عن Feel-Good Story وتضم Independence وتدور في Face Slapping

My sister abruptly returns to the country on the day of my wedding. My parents, brother, and fiancé abandon me to pick her up at the airport. She shares a photo of them on her social media, bragging about how she's so loved. Meanwhile, all the calls I make are rejected. My fiancé is the only one who answers, but all he tells me is not to kick up a fuss. We can always have our wedding some other day. They turn me into a laughingstock on the day I've looked forward to all my life. Everyone points at me and laughs in my face. I calmly deal with everything before writing a new number in my journal—99. This is their 99th time disappointing me; I won't wish for them to love me anymore. I fill in a request to study abroad and pack my luggage. They think I've learned to be obedient, but I'm actually about to leave forever.

I'm working the overnight shift at a convenience store, restocking shelves, when a female live streamer bursts through the front door at 2:00 am. She holds her phone out in front of her, broadcasting live to over 600 thousand viewers online. The camera sweeps across the store before zeroing right in on me. "You're still working the overnight shift at a convenience store at your age? Are you just not planning on getting married?" I don't even bother looking up. "Not really interested." She gives me a knowing smile. "Oh. I guess your income doesn't really allow for it, huh?" The comments in the live chat explode instantly. [A night shift clerk talking about marriage? How absurd!] [He's only making 1,500 dollars a month, and he thinks he can afford a wife?] [LMAO! As if any woman would actually marry him.] [Just a sexually frustrated guy trying to save his pride.] [ROFL! What a brutal reality check!] I place the last bag of chips onto the shelf and stand up. "Come. Let's talk." The next day, the streamer is canceled and banned across the internet.

To keep my grandmother's failing organs stable, I simmered a medicinal broth for her every day and strictly controlled her diet. Then the Whitmore family's long-lost real son was brought home. "You're feeding my grandmother something that looks like slop? Julian Whitmore, what kind of heart does a fake son like you have?" The butler wiped sweat from his forehead. "Sir, this is Mr. Whitmore's specially prepared medicinal broth. The old madam's been drinking it for years, and her health has only--" "Shut up!" Tyler Whitmore threw an all-foreign-language menu in my face. "I've consulted top nutritionists overseas. What Grandma needs now is protein!" "I've had the finest bluefin tuna flown in. From now on, I'll handle Grandma's diet myself." My grandma, Irene Whitmore, stayed silent. She merely glanced at me, which counted as approval. I forced out a smile and turned to leave. "Fine. Then take good care of her." They had no idea Grandma had been poisoned with a rare tropical toxin. That bowl of medicine was a suppressant I had prepared specifically for her. Once she stopped taking it and touched seafood or other triggering foods, the poison would backlash instantly.

Felix and I had been inseparable for ten years, and everyone thought we would end up married. When he got into fights at school, I took the blame and got expelled in his place. When he slept with countless women, I delivered birth control pills and breakup money in his place. I had always played the part of the shameless doormat, and everyone believed I loved him more than life itself. But the moment he took over as the heir to his family's fortune, he dumped me. He looked at me with scorn and disdain. "Kathy, maybe once upon a time we were in love, but it's been too long. You're dull, and you've drained away every ounce of my affection. I don't want to spend the rest of my life with you, so get out of my sight. I'm going to marry someone I truly love." Everyone was waiting to watch me fall apart. But when I saw the hospital's proof that my mother had been cured, and the extra hundred million dollars in my bank account, I genuinely smiled. "Fine. I'll leave," I said. The truth was, I had stayed with a player like him only because of a business deal. Now that I had the money, it was time for me to walk away.

I had an arranged marriage, and my wife was the only daughter of her family. Because of PTSD, she couldn't be intimate with anyone. When she handed me the signed agreement, she also sent a gentle, obedient woman to my room. "Even though it's our wedding night, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with this." I stared at her in disbelief, wondering if this was some kind of test of my character. Just as I was about to launch into a speech about loyalty and marriage, I suddenly heard the thoughts of the psychologist standing beside her. [What does he have to complain about? That position should've been mine! If Kayla didn't need the Grant family's support, she never would've agreed to marry a loser like him! Luckily, Kayla loves me. She even used PTSD as an excuse to save herself for me. I just need to try harder and get her pregnant, then Benjamin Grant will become a complete laughingstock!] The words that had been on the tip of my tongue disappeared instantly. Without hesitation, I accepted Kayla's arrangement. There was nothing wrong with people in a business marriage living separate lives. I wasn't an idiot. Why would I pick a fight with Kayla over something like this? Living peacefully and minding my own business was the smartest choice. To show that I had no inappropriate intentions toward her, I even ordered maternity and baby supplies for her. "I heard you're pregnant. Coincidentally, the woman you sent to me is pregnant too." I was planning to ask her for some advice. Instead, her face darkened. She gritted her teeth and snapped, "I'm not pregnant! She's not your mistress either. She's the IVF coordinator I hired to get you up to speed!"

My car broke down on the road, so I took off my jacket, popped the hood, and started checking the problem right there at the curb. A brand new convertible swung in and stopped in front of me, close enough to make a point. My ex-wife Sarah got out on the arm of a man in a tailored suit, one hand clamped over her nose in disgust. "Leo, all these years since the divorce and you're still a bottom-rung mechanic who reeks of motor oil." I wiped the grease off my hands. I could not be bothered to explain that this limited-edition supercar was one I had picked up brand new. When I stayed quiet, Sarah shoved a screenshot of her trading profits in my face. "See that? David got me into a tech stock. One day of gains beats everything you'll make fixing cars in a lifetime!" David Ashford looked down at me, his voice thick with contempt. "Sarah, what's the point of talking investing with a mechanic? He can't even read a price chart. "A mystery fund is buying this stock in batches. I'm already in at four-to-one leverage. I'm about to be set for life." Sarah laughed and threw a few bills onto my open hood. "Here's a tip. Buy yourself a decent coffee and stop cluttering up the view." I looked at the scattered bills, then at the ticker symbol on the screenshot. I knew that one well, and I smiled. That tech company's rally was nothing but a bull trap staged by a fund looking for cover while it unloaded its shares. Anyone still in it would be wiped out. I took out my phone and calmly sent a message to my trader. "We're up thirty percent. Sell it all."

On the day the weapons deposit was due, my fiancé suddenly gave the money to a rival family’s daughter. A subordinate reminded him, “Don Sanchez, what about Miss Anna?” “For the sake of this weapons deal, Miss Anna hasn’t bought a single new dress for three years. If she finds out you gave the hard-earned deposit to Miss Lily, won’t she be angry?” Jackson only curled his lips indifferently. “Anna? It’s fine. She has the password to my safe. “Even if she knows I gave the money to someone else, she’ll just sell her jewelry and make up the amount. “She loves me and can’t be without me. It won’t affect our wedding.” I stood at the door, listening in silence. Then I smiled, turned, and left as if I had heard nothing. I didn’t urge him to pay the deposit, nor did I ask about the weapons deal. What Jackson didn’t know was that while he was trying to please Lily, I was pursuing my own goals. Even my years of frugality were never for him.

Just because his first love's younger brother accidentally fell into Shadow River, my Alpha mate, Ethan Horn, forced me, the only Spirit Soother of our pack, to go and rescue him. When I sank to the bottom of the river, I chose not to save him. When the man was pulled out of the river, the healer lamented, "If it were a few minutes earlier, Leo might have been saved. What a pity." Ethan's first love, Serafina Pike, had her wolf soul shut off and soon passed away because she missed her younger brother, Leo Pike. From that moment on, Ethan, who had once loved me, hated me to the core. Without giving me a chance to explain, he slit my throat with a silver blade and ruthlessly sealed my wolf soul. Later, he believed the heresy of the witch about soul sacrifice and nailed me and our young daughter in coffins before burying us alive by Shadow River as sacrifices to resurrect his beloved Serafina. In the end, the woman he deeply loved did not come back to life, and my daughter and I died with endless resentment. When I reopened my eyes, I had returned to the night when Ethan forced me to jump into the river to save Leo. I tied up the specially made rope and asked him for the last time, "Are you really sure that you can bear the consequences after I rescue him?"

A once-in-a-century blizzard slammed into Grace Harbor without warning, and we lost contact with the plane my fiancé, Cedric Vaughn, was flying. I radioed the crew from the control tower 99 times. Not a word came back. The airline put together a rescue team. I was about to sign up when a coworker stopped me. "An avalanche just hit the area where the plane went down, Cassandra. You can't go out there. It's too dangerous. Cedric would never want you risking your life for him!" I pushed his hand away. My voice came out hoarse. "But he's my fiancé. We're getting married in one week!" I went into the danger zone with the search-and-rescue team. During the rescue, a piece of wreckage went clean through my shoulder. Even then, giving up never once crossed my mind. I dug for 18 hours before I finally dragged the badly injured pilot out of the wreckage. It wasn't until I wiped the blood and grime off his face that I realized it wasn't Cedric. The rescue team leader kept his eyes on the ground, unable to look at me. "The truth is, Cedric secretly got another pilot to cover his flight three days ago. He went on an island getaway with Elena instead!" I didn't want to believe it. With shaking hands, I called him. It rang and rang. No one picked up. A second later, a notification popped up on my phone. Elena Marsh had posted on Instagram. In the photo, she was wearing a skimpy red bikini on a beach at sunset, kissing Cedric with his arms wrapped around her. Then I saw the caption. "Cedric says what we have is true love. "He's only marrying that 200-pound pig for her money. His heart belongs to me." I looked down at my torn, bloody hands and deleted his number. A plane that drifts off course can still turn back. But if Cedric's heart had picked a new destination, I knew what I had to do. I was done keeping the tower lights on for him.

My name is Estella Savelli. I'm Severin Savelli's wife, and the Donna of the most feared Mafia family in this city. For ten years, I've devoted myself to managing his family's affairs and raising the two children he had with his ex. Then Valerie came back. His first love. The mother of his children. In just one week, she made my 16-year-old stepchildren, Lucien and Seraphina Savelli, forget who stayed up all night beside them when their fevers wouldn't break. Or how I'd pulled them into my arms when the shooting started and bled to keep them safe. The kids took her side fast. They helped Valerie frame me for stealing the Savelli family signet ring and selling secrets to our enemies. To punish me, Severin locked me in the dungeon. That night, I heard laughter upstairs. They were toasting Valerie. When the dungeon door slammed shut, I thought something inside me would die. But in that pitch darkness, I finally saw my own heart for what it was. I'd spent ten years loving them, and I'd never once loved myself. So I decided to file for divorce and walk away with nothing. Severin thought I'd end up on the street, begging for his pity like an abandoned dog. But when I came back after disappearing for three years, they were the ones on their knees, begging for my love. And this time, I wouldn't spare them so much as a glance.

My husband's eighth lover was pregnant. The Corvino family had waited years for an heir, and at last one was on the way. My mother-in-law, Olivia Corvino, the family's Donna, was overjoyed. My husband, Dante Corvino, put up a hundred million dollars for the baby on the spot. But the woman merely lifted her chin, looking down on us all. "I placed first on this year's written exam for an assistant U.S. attorney position. I'm going to Washington to make a name for myself. I won't let a child hold me back. "And I won't be the mob's broodmare. This baby has to go." Olivia nearly fainted with rage. Dante turned livid and crushed the whiskey glass in his hand. I sat at the far end of the table, barely daring to breathe. Then, out of nowhere, a tiny voice started grumbling in my head. [God set me up! He promised I'd come down and bring this family another 100 years of glory. So why'd he pick this idiot to be my mom?] [I carry all of heaven's luck, and my so-called daddy is destined never to have kids. If he misses out on me, the Corvino family's glory is gone for good!] [She doesn't want me? I'll just find a mom who knows a good thing when she sees it, and I'll still get born!] I jumped at the chance and blurted, "I know a good thing! Come into Mommy's tummy, quick!" Every eye in the room locked onto me. Dante strode over, his face dark. "Cecilia, what are you talking about?" Thinking fast, I grabbed his hand, pressed it to my flat stomach, and gave him a dazzling smile. "Honey, what I mean is... I'm pregnant too."

We were having dinner at my place to celebrate Independence Day. My three childhood best friends merely bought drinks and snacks. Willa Reid claimed that she did not know how to cook. I started preparing twelve different dishes from six in the morning until late in the afternoon. I had just served the dishes when Willa suddenly received a phone call from her roommate. “She doesn’t have a party to go to. Can I get her to join us?” I looked at my tiny dining table that could only fit five people. Before I could speak, Jason George had already pulled my chair out. “Didn’t you say you had some work to do at the office? You should head over now.” My other friend, Liam Anderson, joked, “You’re used to your own cooking anyway. It’s fine to skip this one meal.” Willa immediately shook her head. “Forget about it. I’ll get her to order food delivery.” The three of them immediately persuaded her. “She’s already downstairs. How could we turn a guest away?” My boyfriend, Sawyer John, packed me a little bit of food. “There, I’ve saved your portion. You can reheat it at night if you’re hungry. Why the long face? It’s as if we’re bullying you.” I looked at them as they sat around the dining table that I had bought and used my brand-new utensils. They knew that it was not right to turn a guest away. Yet, they had forgotten that I was the owner of that house. I took my house key off Sawyer’s key ring. “You don’t have to come over tonight.” It was my house. I should not be the one being asked to leave.

At my wedding, a video of my fiancé cheating was exposed. I didn't make a scene; just turned around and walked away, left him to clean up the mess himself. I went back to my room and kissed my younger boyfriend. We were halfway through when we got interrupted. My fiancé stormed in, face red with shame and rage. "Is this really the time? All you can think about is kissing?" I smacked my lips, still savoring the moment. "Weren't you the one who introduced us?"

The first time Rafael betrayed me, he threw the woman from his club at my feet. His eyes were bloodshot as he told me to take my pick. My love for him was a sickness, so I forgave the transgression. For the second betrayal, I had the dancer sent out of New York, warning her never to set foot on the East Coast again. On the night of our engagement party, sealing the union of our two families, Rafael pinned me against the walnut desk in the study. His eyes burned with rage as he demanded: "Where is Nina? She's carrying a Mancini heir." "It was a mistake. You can take your anger out on me. Nina is naive; she doesn't deserve this. I'm begging you, just let the child be born safely. I swear I'll never see her again." "You're afraid of childbirth. This gives you an heir without the risk." "Listen, Alessia. You are the future Donna of the Mancini family. When that child is born, it will know only you as its mother. I swear on my life." He forced me backward until shards from the vase I'd knocked over cut into my skin, staining my silk dress with blood. I looked at him and smiled, then gave him the address of a safe house in Brooklyn. He slammed the heavy oak door behind him. Shaking, I pulled out my encrypted phone. "You were right about him. Is your offer still on the table?"

A week before our wedding, Damian Hale threw me a pre-wedding party at his family's private racetrack. His racing partner, Sienna Belmont, tossed a set of car keys into my lap. "Every bride should take a spin, right?" I wanted to refuse, but Damian slung an arm around me and said with a laugh, "It's just for fun. Sienna will show you around the track. You'll be fine." I let my guard down. But when I reached the third turn, I hit the brakes. Nothing happened. The car crashed through the barrier. My spine snapped, leaving me in a wheelchair. Three months later, I saw Sienna walk out of Damian's bedroom wearing my engagement ring. All he had to say was, "Avery, I need a wife who can stand beside me." Sienna wheeled me out to the rooftop terrace. "Want to know why your brakes failed?" With a smile, she released my wheelchair's brake and gave me a hard shove. I plunged 40 stories. When I opened my eyes again, I was back a month before the party. I called my father, who was out driving his cab. "Dad, before you became a cab driver, you were a championship coach. You trained some of the best racers in the business. Would you teach your daughter to beat one?"

At the family meeting, my mafia Don husband spared his secretary one glance. I turned and walked away, canceled our wedding anniversary celebration, and decided I was done with him. I signed my name on the divorce papers I had prepared long ago. When Matteo Santoro saw the agreement, he called me at once, his voice tight with restrained anger. "What are you trying to pull this time? Is this really because I looked at Elena?" "Yes," I said. "Because you looked at her."

When the driver stopped in front of the orphanage, I was inside the car. I was still practicing how to comfort my younger sister, Mary, whom I had lost touch with many years ago. “Don’t worry. The Winsley family won’t mistreat you. “Take your time to get used to things once you’re home. “Mom and Dad have actually felt guilty about this all along.” Before I could finish practicing my speech, I pushed open the door and got out of the car. I saw three special-issue vehicles surround the run-down courtyard so completely that there was not even room to squeeze through. The bodies of the vehicles were so armored that they seemed bulletproof. Then, a man dressed in a suit with his face covered in scars bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle to a girl wearing an old school uniform. He respectfully gave her a brown paper bag. The girl took the paper bag expressionlessly. She said plainly, “Handle it the usual way.” In those few seconds, I had two thoughts running through my mind. She was either a mafia’s daughter who lived among ordinary people, or she was a mafia boss dealing with a traitor. I realized that the person my family had brought home might not be my long-lost sister at all. She was a menace.

The SAT results have just been released. I'm the top scorer in the city, and three girls my father raised alongside me also earned the three best scores after me. When it's time to apply to college, Dad says that the three of them will be joining me in whichever college I choose. I choose Heathshire University, my dream school. But on the day before applications close, the three of them drug me and haul me to Stallion Club. "It's all his fault! We followed him to Heathshire University in our previous life, which led to Michael falling into depression and taking his own life!" "I heard that the boss of Stallion Club has a thing for young, innocent men like Samuel. Maybe he'll be so satisfied that he helps us escape from the Carter family, too!" "Once the dust settles, the Carter family's reputation will be ruined for good, and Samuel won't be able to fulfill his dream of getting into a top university. We'll also regain our freedom, and we can be with Michael then!" None of them notice the sneer on my face. No one else knows that the boss of Stallion Club is my long-lost older brother—and he's fiercely protective of me. They'll regain their freedom, huh? Only the dead can truly consider themselves free. The three of them can go to hell and keep their beloved Michael company there.

At a family dinner, Don Vincenzo’s new pet, a dancer named Ava, came for me. She puffed out her chest and slammed a ledger on the long table. “Vincenzo, I accuse her! Skimming from the family business, our club ‘The Siren’s Song.’ Betraying the family!” Every eye in the room turned on me, sharp as knives. But Vincenzo, my boss… his face went hard. I almost pitied the little dancer who’d crawled her way out of Brooklyn. The “family business” she was talking about? It was my private club. A gift from my father. I just lent it to Vincenzo when he was starting out, to give him a respectable front. I lent it to him for two years, and now it’s family property?

My younger sister Ruth and I got a do-over, reborn to the day we were about to be adopted. Ruth clung to Jeremy, the butcher who'd taken me in during my last life, and begged, "Please, Mr. Butcher, let me be your daughter!" She thought she had it all figured out—Jeremy Butcher was set to rise to power, while the rich couple adopting her would crash and burn. It was clear—she was gunning for the life I built in my last run. I just smiled. She had no clue. Jeremy's success? Yeah, that was all me. Without my help, he'd stay a small-town butcher forever. From day one, Ruth was chasing a dream that was already doomed.