Nouvelles Melodramatic Romance & Romans Bias Awakening

On Valentine's Day, Callista Vance and I were supposed to meet up. However, she never showed up. I waited all day until nightfall and tried calling her, but she never answered. Then, her childhood friend uploaded a new post. In the photo, Callista leaned against his shoulder, looking coy, while the matching rings on their ring fingers gleamed conspicuously. His caption read, "I finally gave Callista the ring I'd promised her as a child. A childhood dream fulfilled." I didn't call to confront her. I simply liked the post and commented, "Hope you two last forever." But as I was leaving, Callista clung to me, her eyes red. "You're the only person I'd marry."

Marty Greene, a newly hired assistant, publicly humiliates me by calling me a worthless nobody who hangs around Audrey Melton. As my girlfriend and an award-winning actress who loves me more than life itself, Audrey promises to stand up for me. She devises a seven-day plan to build Marty up before bringing him crashing down. On the first day, she replaces me with Marty as her personal assistant, claiming she wants him to understand how hard I work. On the third day, she gives him a luxury car and a mansion, supposedly to make him lose himself in vanity. On the fifth day, she bakes him a birthday cake on a live reality show. She insists it's a crucial part of her plan and begs me to be patient. Then on the seventh day, my mother, Deborah Faulkner, suddenly falls gravely ill. As she lies dying, her final wish is to see Audrey one last time. Audrey readily agrees. But I wait at the hospital all night, and she never shows up. Instead, all I see is a post from Marty on X. "Audrey is simply too kind for her own good. She almost falls for a scam after just one phone call. Luckily, I'm smart enough to see through it and stop her from falling for it." Mom dies without ever getting to see Audrey again. It's not until the following day that Audrey finally calls. "Babe, just hang in there a little longer. I'm going to expose Marty's vanity and ruin his reputation at today's awards ceremony. Then, we'll go public with our relationship and have the wedding of the century to make Mrs. Landry happy." Audrey has no idea that Mom is already dead, and that I'm done waiting for her.

Inside a banquet hall packed with high-profile guests, everyone is congratulating Benjamin Foster on becoming the male lead in a famous director's film despite having only recently entered the industry. Benedict Foster, who should have been the leading man, stands dejectedly in a corner of the terrace. At that moment, he makes up his mind. "System, I want to return to my original world." The system is shocked. [What? Your target, Mikaela Jepsen, has reached 99% in her affection level toward you. Once it reaches 100, you'll complete the mission and have your wish granted. You're only one point away. Don't you want to try a little harder?] Benedict shakes his head bitterly. "There's no need. I just want to go home." To persuade the director to replace Benedict with Benjamin as the male lead, Mikaela is willing to invest ten times the original amount. Now, she stays by Benjamin's side at every moment and stares at him with eyes full of affection. Some things are just not meant to be, no matter how much effort one puts in. That final point is something he can never earn, no matter what he does. The system sighs and laments, [What a shame. You're just one point away from changing your fate... Your application has been submitted. You'll be able to leave this world in a month. Think it over in the meantime. You can change your mind at any time.] "Okay. Thank you."

After secretly dating Nicholas Jones for three years, I got tired of keeping our relationship hidden, so I decided to share a little something about us online. But before I could hit publish, my coworker leaned over my shoulder and squealed, "Oh my God! You're following those two, too?" I followed her finger to the hottest thread on our company's gossip forum. One glance was enough to make my heart ache. The couple everyone in the building was obsessed with? My boyfriend and my best friend. My coworker kept gushing, completely unaware. "They meet on the fourth-floor terrace every single day. He always brings her cigarettes and snacks. "And you know what's even cuter? They lean in close to light each other's cigarettes. When it snows, they even tuck their hands into each other's coat pockets! Everyone's betting on when they'll finally go public." She kept talking, but I barely heard a word. The ringing in my ears drowned out everything. I took a screenshot of the thread and sent it to our group chat, the one with just the three of us. Nicholas replied with a single sentence. "It's a misunderstanding." … That evening, I ran into Nicholas and my best friend by the elevators. I had spent three years pretending we were not together, but maybe it was finally time for everyone to know the truth. I reached for the scarf in Nicholas' hand, ready to make our relationship public. Yet, he casually moved out of my reach and wrapped it around my best friend's neck instead. A few people nearby started snickering, and suddenly everything clicked. I thought, 'Of course everyone thought they were dating. Neither of them had ever bothered to set the record straight.' The elevator doors opened. Nicholas held one open, frowning at me. "Come on. We'll talk on the way." I stepped back and smiled. "No. I'm not going with you." After three years of being his dirty little secret, I was done—and so were we.

At my engagement party, my fiancee's male best friend pulled my pants down in front of over 500 guests. I desperately grabbed my belt and demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing. He thought I was making a fuss over nothing. "I just wanted to see what color underwear you're wearing." As he spoke, he held up the Besties Chat Group, which included my fiancee, Justine Severin. A poll was underway. "What color underwear will Henry Banks be wearing today?" There were eight people in the group, and seven had voted. Justine only replied, "Cut it out." I froze, then turned in disbelief toward my impeccably dressed fiancee standing behind me. Justine frowned. "Everyone was just messing around to liven things up. Don't take it seriously." She turned back and continued chatting and laughing with the other guests as if nothing had happened. At that moment, I suddenly realized just how rotten the woman standing before me was. I took off my engagement ring and dropped it into a champagne glass. "Let's call off the engagement."

We couldn't agree on our holiday travel plans, so my boyfriend, Julian Wade, created a three-way group chat. "Let's roll the dice," he said. "Highest number wins. Fair and square." Chloe Dawson, my best friend, rolled a six. She wanted to go to Miami. I wanted to go to Aspen. But I only rolled one. I didn’t pick Aspen on a whim. It was the place my mom had always dreamed of visiting before she passed away. This year marked five years since she died, and I promised I would see the snowy peaks for her. Julian knew that. Just three months ago, he held my hands and promised he would take me there for the holidays. "Fair is fair," Julian texted, dropping a head-patting emoji. It was the twenty-seventh time this year I had rolled the lowest number. I lost when we picked a restaurant last week. I lost when we chose a movie the week before. Then yesterday happened. I used Julian’s tablet to look up some travel guides and noticed his messaging app was still logged in. A chat with his friend sat right at the top. [Sent you the loaded dice plugin. You can roll whatever you want now.] [Thanks. Chloe takes things too seriously, and this is the only way to handle her.] I stared at those two sentences for a long time, then quietly put the tablet back. So he knew what Aspen meant to me. And I wasn’t losing to bad luck. I was losing to his favoritism. I left the group chat, booked a one-way ticket to Aspen, and packed my bags. First day of the holiday. Seven in the morning. Flying solo.

At my nephew's college celebration, I ran into my ex-fiancée, whom I hadn't seen in five years. She was dressed to the nines, surrounded by our former classmates. The moment Willow Radcliff saw me, her eyes went red. "You were alive this whole time, Orson. Why didn't you come back to me?" I looked away, wanting to leave. She stopped me and pulled out the engagement ring from years ago. "I sabotaged your college applications three times and forced you to repeat your senior year for three years. And when the fire happened, I chose Gareth over you. I was wrong. "For five years, I've regretted what I did. Now, I want to keep my promise. I want to marry you. Please, give me a chance to make it up to you." She looked at me, silently pleading. Her old classmates immediately started cheering and teasing her. Everyone assumed I would say yes. After all, I'd spent 15 years trying to win Willow over. Even after she sabotaged my college applications three times, I never broke things off with her. But I simply held up my hand, showing her the ring on my finger. "I'm already married."

I have intermittent aphasia. Whenever I get too emotional, I lose the ability to speak. Everyone mocks me for being mute, but my best friend and stepbrother, Julian Cadwell, and my childhood sweetheart, Vivian Wilder, are the only ones who stand up for me. When I confess my feelings to Vivian, Julian reads the love letter aloud on my behalf. On the day I propose, it is Julian who asks her for me. I thought they understood me best. When we start planning the wedding, I want a traditional ceremony, but Julian changes that plan because, in his words, "Modern ceremonies are more romantic." I want our new home to be in the heart of the city. But before I can say anything, Julian says, "Anton doesn't like the hustle and bustle. The suburbs are just right." Just like that, Vivian immediately decides on a new house in the suburbs. On the day of the wedding, I change into my suit and walk out, only to find the house completely empty. I ask about the situation in our family's group chat. Then, I get a video call almost instantly. Everyone is already at the wedding venue. Vivian tells me, "Anton, you don't need to come to the wedding. Julian will go through the motions in your place." My mother says, "Anton, a wedding is a big occasion. What if you can't speak when the time comes? Our family can't afford the embarrassment!" Julian says with a smile, "Anton, the wedding is just a formality. It doesn't matter who the groom is. I'm also Mom's son." For the first time in years, I speak in front of everyone. "You two can get married. I'm done."

My best friend and my girlfriend's graduation trip vlog blew up online, racking up millions of likes. The comments were full of people swooning over their picture-perfect love story. Someone finally asked who the guy sitting quietly in the corner was. Suzanna Jones replied to the comment: [Just some random guy. I don't know him.] When I sent her a screenshot, she explained impatiently. "You stutter when you talk. Putting you on camera would only make you look ridiculous. "Elliot and I are only pretending to be a couple so he can make enough money to pay for his mom's medical treatment, so stop getting jealous over nothing." For the past year, I had practiced speaking to my phone every single day, all for the relationship-announcement video she had promised we would make. Now, I could finally speak without stuttering. However, she did not know that, because she had not been patient enough to listen to me in a long time. Just like now. Before I could say a word, she turned and walked away, hand in hand with Elliot Walker, stepping straight back into her camera frame. During their seven-day trip, Elliot filmed thirty-two videos. She appeared in every single one. She patiently listened to him ramble about anything and everything, never letting a single thing he said go unanswered. The last part of my heart that had been fighting to hold on finally went quiet. I lowered my head and deleted the relationship-announcement I had practiced hundreds of times. If I was nothing more than a background extra in her world, then so be it. She would not have a part in the of my life anymore.

Elvira Skye is the idol of every pilot. At 16, she single-handedly rescues hostages. At 25, she takes command of the Northern Air Base. Across tens of thousands of missions, she never makes a single mistake. She is the greatest flight commander of the century. She is different from everyone else. In her world, duty always comes first, and there's no place for personal feelings. To follow in her footsteps, Lance Archer spends five years scaling hundred-meter cliffs with his bare hands and crossing tightropes stretched across two oceans. He graduates top of his class from the flight academy and earns a place at the Northern Air Base. Another five years of evaluations, and he will become an ace pilot—and also Elvira's sole flight partner. But all three missions he undertakes over those five years end in disaster. In the first, he bleeds from every orifice. In the second, his entire family is brutally slaughtered in retaliation. In the third, he suffers multiple comminuted fractures. Each incident is deliberate. Lance tracks down the mastermind behind them, only to overhear Elvira say, "Andre Mosley just couldn't accept that I'm going to marry Lance, so I buried the whole matter. There's no need to ruin Andre's life over such trivial matters." Lance laughs, then leaves behind three things that will haunt her with regret for the rest of her life.

My husband's childhood sweetheart was always trying to take what was mine. After being reborn, I realized that no matter how hard I fought, I'd never beat her. Hence, I decided to put a price tag on every single thing she intended to take from me. She claimed she got carsick and insisted on sitting in the front passenger seat beside my husband whenever we went out. I simply stuck a payment QR code on the dashboard. "20,000 dollars a year. Renew at a 20% discount," I said flatly. She took a liking to my project proposal. My husband had barely knocked on my office door when I spoke without even looking up. "100,000 dollars. Once the money hits my account, I'll put her name on it." On my son's birthday, I set aside my work and rushed to his preschool to pick him up. Unexpectedly, he looked up at his teacher and said, "She's not my mom. I'm not going with her." Just as we reached a stalemate, that woman arrived late with the gift I'd prepared for my son. My son immediately ran over and wrapped his arms around her leg. "Look. She's my real mom!" My husband was about to explain when I held out my hand to my son, my expression completely blank. "One million dollars. I'll sign over my parental rights to her today."

Damon Westbrook was kidnapped and held in the mountains for three months, subjected to every kind of humiliation. Three hellish months ground away every bit of fight he had. After his rescue, he developed severe PTSD. He hurt himself. He tried to end his life. Nightmares came every night. Through it all, Eleanor Carrington never left his side, holding him and comforting him again and again. "Damon, I'll always be here. When you're better, we'll get married." To help him heal, Eleanor brought back Marcus Keane, a former upperclassman of hers in college, who was finishing his doctorate in psychology overseas. The first time Damon met Marcus, he seemed calm and gentle, considerate in every way. "Don't be afraid. Eleanor and I will make sure you recover completely." Damon was deeply grateful. He cooperated with every treatment. Even when the sessions left him wishing he were dead, he gritted his teeth and endured. He believed everyone was doing everything they could to save him. Until tonight. The sliding glass door to the balcony hadn't closed all the way, and two low voices carried clearly to him. Eleanor and Marcus. Marcus took out a cigarette, his tone light. "When my research hit a dead end, I had no choice but to come to you for help. I never expected—" Eleanor turned her back to the wind and lit it for him. "Once the experiment is done, your dissertation is guaranteed to win the top international award." Marcus exhaled a stream of smoke and chuckled. "I only said in passing that a real case would be nice. I never thought you'd arrange a kidnapping yourself—let alone the kidnapping of the man you're about to marry."

After my family went bankrupt, I begged my fiancé Ryan to pump cash into our business. He didn't just refuse. He turned around and got engaged to someone else. When I was at the end of my rope, Ethan Brooks stepped up, tossing all his savings into my family's mess. Sadly, we missed our shot, and our company crashed. My parents couldn't handle it. They jumped off a building. Even so, I was thankful to Ethan and married him to pay him back. Three years later, at Lily Carter's birthday party, I overheard her talking to him. "You tanked the Harper family so I could win that bid. Won't Kelly blame you?" "For you, I'd give up everything. I'll just make it up to her." My blood ran cold as I realized our marriage was all a lie. The one he loved was Lily all along. I turned and left. If he was that hooked, I'd set him free.

This was our last road trip before graduation. My girlfriend, my two childhood friends, and my best friend had all agreed that the five of us would do the whole trip together. But on the third day, one of our cars broke down, leaving only four free seats. My girlfriend, Eleanor Delaney, handed me a six-hour bus ticket without hesitation. “You don’t get carsick anyway. Just tough it out. We’ll wait for you at the next stop.” Just when my best friend, Edmund Turner, was about to volunteer to take the ticket, my two other childhood friends, Faye Howard and Lily Concord, cut him off. Faye frowned. “You were throwing up yesterday. Why are you trying to play the hero?” Lily chimed in, “Are you sure you can handle six hours on the bus?” Eleanor had already carried my luggage out for me. She said with a smile, “Everett will be fine. He can handle it.” As always, I agreed. But six hours later, when I reached the destination we had agreed on, I discovered that they had changed their route and gone to another city on a whim. In the group chat, the four of them ate barbecue and laughed happily. No one even remembered to inform me about the change of plans. At that moment, I recalled what had happened over the past few years. When Edmund felt cold, they offered him three jackets. When he felt tired, everyone would stop to let him rest. The less I complained, the more they took me for granted. This time, I was done chasing after them. I bought a return ticket and replied to the out-of-town company that I had turned down two weeks earlier. [Hello, I’d like to accept the position you offered me before.] I did not want to be around people I had known for over a decade anymore.

My girlfriend, Quinn Simmons, my best friend, Seth Johnson, and I were one the outs. When I apologized to Quinn, she just fingered her nails. Then I tried to talk to Seth. He scrolled through his phone and turned a deaf ear to me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I begged for their forgiveness, but my efforts were fruitless. In high school, Quinn and Seth asked me which electives I intended to take. Seth gave me the cold shoulder for a whole month after I chose the same electives as Quinn. Seth threw the 20 apology letters that I wrote for him into the trash, saying, "I don't really care. You two are a couple. I'm not forcing you to choose the same electives with me." During our university days, both Quinn and Seth rented places off campus and asked me to move in with them. When I chose Seth, Quinn chased me out of her place with a frosty expression, saying, “Go find your new roommate. Just leave me alone.” Quinn's disregard lasted two months. I kept chasing after her, trying to coax her the whole time. One day, I accidentally tumbled down the stairs. My whole body shook as I clutched my injured leg, but Quinn didn’t even spare me a single glance. She just stepped over me. Ten minutes ago, we were choosing a movie to watch. Quinn wanted to watch a sci-fi film, while Seth wanted to watch a romance movie. They asked me to choose again. In the end, after I chose a comedy, they spent the entire time ignoring me and chatting among themselves. "I want to watch a romance movie," Seth said while looking at Quinn. "It's fine if you don't." Quinn scoffed. "Can you watch something logical for once? What's so interesting about a romance movie anyway?" As Seth rolled his eyes, a flash of panic flickered across Quinn's eyes. She sighed and said, "Fine. We'll watch whatever you want to watch." I stood rooted to the spot, clutching the three tickets for the comedy movie. Suddenly, I didn't feel like watching the movie anymore.

The doctor adjusted his glasses before handing her a stack of forms. "Ms. Simon, are you sure you want to schedule the love-eradication procedure? Please verify your personal information and sign at the bottom." Selma Simon lowered her eyes to the form, where her details were listed in black and white. Applicant: Selma Simon. Age: 25. Procedure: Eradication of all romantic feelings for Valerio Gould. She stared at the words, her fingertips trembling slightly, before finally answering, "I'm sure." Picking up the pen, she slowly signed her name on the designated line, each stroke bringing her one step closer to ending a love that had consumed most of her life. "Your procedure is scheduled for seven days from now." The doctor put away the paperwork, then added a word of caution. "I must remind you that this technology was only recently introduced in this country and is still in its early stages. "Once your romantic feelings are erased, they can never be recovered. For the rest of your life, you'll automatically block out any romantic attachment to him. Are you certain you won't regret this?" Selma looked up and nodded. "I won't."

The clock was ticking with twelve minutes left before the ceremony was supposed to begin. The wedding car that my bride, Teagan, and I sat in stopped at the curb. The church doors stood open a hundred yards away, ready for our arrival. My parents and relatives were gathered outside with the officiant, photographer, wedding coordinator, and the rest of the bridal party. The wedding coordinator’s voice came through my earpiece. “Parker, you’re clear to head in. We’re starting at 9 sharp.” I was about to tell the driver to go when the door of the groomsmen’s SUV behind us swung open. “Hold up. I forgot my tie.” That was enough to halt the entire procession. Teagan unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out. “Oh, no! It won’t look good in the picture if a groomsman is missing a tie.” Standing by the SUV, Luke looked at me with a smile. “Parker, have the driver wait a minute. I can’t show up at your wedding in a white and collar sticking out. I will make you look bad.” He then turned to Teagan. “Don’t I have a spare tie kept with you? Can you help me find it?” Teagan nodded and dumped her bouquet on me, just to dig through the bags at the back of the car. Silence gripped the air. My mother’s face went white. I held the bouquet, my eyes fixating on Teagan. “We’re going to be late for our wedding, Teagan. We can still make it if we go now.” Teagan frowned. “I’m already here anyway. What’s a few minutes?” As Teagan went on a mission to get Luke a tie, I broke into a smile. Turning around, I held my phone and texted a number I had almost forgotten. “Don’t you want to marry me? Be at the church at 9. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Teresa Gardner, my girlfriend, is thrilled when I hand over the design drafts I spent so long working on to Quentin Solomon, her first love. She is so happy that she agrees to travel to Jarevon with me. Yet the moment we reach the airport, Quentin calls her. "I got into an accident. I really want to see you right now. Please don't leave with him, Teresa!" Teresa, who is usually so level-headed, panics and desperately pleads with me to let her go see Quentin. In the end, even as our friends keep sending us well wishes for our trip to Jarevon in the group chat, I can only smile as I release Teresa's hand and let her go to Quentin. Teresa's eyes well up with tears the moment she sees how thoughtful and understanding I am, as always. "I swear this will be the last time. I'll come back and marry you once I've checked on Quentin's condition, Aaron." I remind myself it's the 96th time I've done this for Teresa. I muse that perhaps I just have to hold on a little longer. If fulfilling these last three requests doesn't fix things between us, I'll walk away completely—Teresa and I will go our separate ways and never cross paths again.

Ruth Jensen is determined to cure Zeke Carlton of his jealous streak. Every time he gets jealous, she buys her assistant, Calvin Ward, a present—everything from jewelry to expensive cars to villas. Zeke goes from throwing hysterical fits to going completely numb. One day, Ruth buys Calvin gifts for the 99th time. She looks at Zeke, who's shaking all over, his face drained of color. She says disdainfully, "Zeke, I can't stand men who are jealous and possessive. If you never learn to be generous and graceful, then I'll just keep treating Calvin well." But this time, Zeke doesn't question her like he usually does, nor does he ask her for money. He's actually gone to the office to pick something up today. To his surprise, he walks right into Ruth throwing a birthday celebration for Calvin there. The place is crammed full of gifts she's gotten Calvin, piled so high there's barely room to walk. At the door, a few workers are hauling in boxes while gossiping. "Careful. These are all this season's new releases Ms. Jensen bought for Mr. Ward. If we break anything, we'll never be able to pay it back!" "How many times has it been this month? Every time Ms. Jensen does this, she buys him stuff worth millions of dollars…" Zeke feels like someone has sliced his heart open. Every time he asks Ruth for money to keep paying his grandmother's medical bills, she always complains. Yet she doesn't even bat an eye when she buys Calvin these insanely expensive luxury goods. Zeke turns to leave, but Ruth frowns and calls out to him. "Are you actually stalking me all the way to the office now? It's Cal's birthday today. Did you deliberately come here dressed like that just to be an eyesore?"

Throughout our four years of college, Charlotte Montgomery booked train tickets for me and my buddy, Forrest Croft, whenever we headed back to school or went home for break. She always claimed that getting tickets was a race against the clock, and somehow, the three of us never managed to sit together. Every time the tickets were issued, Forrest would tear into her in our group chat. "Charlotte, can you be any more useless? You managed to book three tickets in three different train cars. Next time, you'd better stand right next to him, even if you have to stand the whole way. Otherwise, you'll answer to me." Charlotte always fired back immediately. "Who the hell do you think you are? I could crouch at his feet, and it still wouldn't be any of your business." I believed them. Even when I spent six hours sitting alone in an uncomfortable seat, or came down with a fever in the middle of the night and called Charlotte more than a dozen times without getting an answer, I assumed she'd fallen asleep in another train car. It wasn't until our graduation trip, when someone asked to switch seats with me. I dragged my suitcase over, only to find Forrest with my jacket draped over his shoulders, his head resting on Charlotte's shoulder as they shared a pair of earbuds. When Charlotte saw me, she simply pulled out one earbud and sat up straight. "Let's get one thing straight. We've always been careful not to give people the wrong idea. I only kept it from you because I was afraid you'd feel uneasy if you knew we'd be sitting next to each other for six hours." Forrest patted the seat beside him. "I'm your buddy. Isn't it better to have me keep an eye on your girlfriend, rather than some random guy sitting next to her?" Just then, a smiling train attendant came over and handed them a matching set of luggage tags. "According to our system, you two have sat next to each other on all 16 round trips throughout your four years at college. We'd like to give you this souvenir to commemorate that." Only after she'd finished speaking did she notice me. She glanced down at the booking details again. "This is your friend who booked tickets with you, too, right? How come he's the one sitting alone every time, even though all three of you book your tickets together?" The entire train car fell silent. I looked at Charlotte's pale face, realizing something. They had never once been separated from each other. For four years, I'd been left out every single time.