Face Slapping Romance Short Stories & Novels

For our fifth anniversary, Zach Jennings made a reservation at an exclusive resort outside the city. But when Zach came to pick me up, Lily Lane was sitting in the back seat. She was the daughter of his former advisor and a junior in his program. He rolled down the window. "Lily's headed out that way too. I'll drop her off on the way." We'd barely been driving for ten minutes when we got caught in a chain-reaction crash on the overpass. In that split second, Zach yanked the wheel and flung his right arm across Lily to shield her. Five years earlier, he'd put his body between me and danger in the same way. It had convinced me I'd found someone who would always put me first, someone I could trust with my life. I sat in the passenger seat, and the impact threw me into the windshield. Blood immediately streamed down my forehead. Still shaken, Zach twisted around. The first person he checked on was Lily. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" It wasn't until Lily pointed at me, close to tears, that Zach spun toward me in a panic. His eyes darted away from my bleeding forehead as he hurried to explain, "Eva, don't read too much into it. There's an airbag up front. I only put my arm out for her on reflex." I wiped the blood from the corner of my eye. I'd never been more clearheaded. When lives are on the line, instinct doesn't lie. The person he cared about most wasn't me anymore. So I wasn't going to stay with him.

My wife's the captain of an ocean freighter, spending ten months of every year at sea. I've always trusted her completely, though I have one quiet habit nobody notices. Every time her ship docks for resupply, I invite the first mate's husband out for a couple of drinks. The first mate is the silent type, but her husband talks too much and can't hold his liquor. We chat about everyday life, what goes on aboard, and by the third round, he leans in close and says, "Your wife's so romantic. Last month when the ship docked in Beauhaven, she found a local craftsman to custom-make a full set of wave-patterned men's accessories. "A watch, cufflinks, tie clip, the works. She even had them sent back on the supply ship. I'm honestly jealous." I say quietly, "Really? I never got anything like that." I don't push it, and he's smart enough to change the subject. That night at home, I open the voyage ledger. On the Beauhaven supply manifest, the delivery address listed next to the accessories isn't mine. The storms at sea never end. It's time for me to get off this ship.

My mother-in-law, Claire Rogers, had taken a turn for the worse with her leukemia and slipped into a coma. The doctors said she needed a bone marrow transplant urgently. I called my husband, Martin Hughes, the hospital director who had access to the bone marrow registry. All he had to do was sign off on the match, and she would be saved. Martin answered right away and drove straight to the hospital without a second thought. However, halfway there, he got a mysterious call and vanished without a trace. I watched Claire Roger's heart monitor grow weaker and weaker, frantically dialing Martin's number 99 times. On the 100th call, he finally picked up. My voice was shaking, panic bleeding through every word. "Martin, Mom needs the bone marrow transplant. You're the only one who can authorize the match. Please, come back!" All I heard was his quiet breathing on the other end. Before he could say anything, Waverly Tucker's voice cut through the silence."Darling, thank you so much for doing my bone marrow transplant surgery! How about I repay you with my body?" My phone slipped from my hands and crashed to the floor. So, that was where he had been all this time, performing surgery on Waverly. While I desperately needed him, he had abandoned his family to be with another woman.

At the celebration, the pampered heiress in Crownridge, Aveline Sage, confessed her love for me in front of the entire school. I turned her down flat. I was one of the Sage family's candidates—handpicked top students from every state—to improve their next generation's genes. In a few days, when the exam results came out, whoever earned the highest national score would become her fiance. For three years straight, I had been ranked first in the country. In my previous life, I achieved that top score. I got engaged to Aveline and became the envy of everyone—the son-in-law of Crownridge's most powerful family. But on the day of our engagement, her first love, Caspian Lorne, jumped off the top of the Sage Group building. His body was shattered beyond recognition. Aveline hired the best mortician to restore his face and placed him in a crystal coffin, where she slept beside him every night. During our honeymoon, she brought Caspian's body along, then kissed and clung to him right in front of me. When I confronted her, she looked at me with disgust. "The Sage family sponsored your education for twelve years. You knew Caspian and I were in love. Couldn't you let him win just once? You've been in first place for twelve years. What would it have cost you to lose? You ruined his future, ruined our love. You deserve to die." She drugged me, turned me into a fool with the mind of a three-year-old. I couldn't recognize my parents. I lost control of my own body. And I died in agony. … Then, I opened my eyes again, back on the morning of the exam. Last time, I beat Caspian by a single point. This time, I left an answer blank. Let him be the top scorer. Let him marry her. I hoped they grew old together, with plenty of children to match their love.

After my parents died in a car crash, my cousin stole the compensation money and moved overseas to start a business. My aunt begged me on her knees not to call the police. Then, she locked me in a dark basement for three months. I was close to breaking down and ending my life when Julien Lawson, the neighbor’s son, broke down the basement door and saved me. “Joyce, what they did is unforgivable! They stole the compensation money for your parents’ deaths. You were going to use it to open your own studio! “Marry me. I’ll protect you.” He was the only person who cared about me after my parents died. I was so grateful that I married him and had his child. I worked three jobs during the day to help support the orphanage that Julien ran. At night, I took care of our child and created design sketches. But no matter how hard I tried, none of my work was ever accepted. Even though Julien told me to keep at it, I felt discouraged and thought of giving up on my design career to focus on our family. One day, our child was sick. I went to take over the shift from Julien when I overheard him talking to my aunt on the stairs. “Julien, it’s been ten years. Joyce’s designs are getting better and better. She even passed the first round of the national competition. Are you really not going to tell her about the next round?” my aunt asked. Her voice trembled. Julien said coldly, “For years, I’ve been sending Joyce’s design sketches to Mindy to copy and enter in the competitions or publish as her own. “To help Mindy’s career, I can’t let Joyce move on to the next round. “Joyce has talent. If people notice her, she’ll be a threat to Mindy’s career!”

As I lean into the arms of my sexy gym trainer, I randomly come across a forum post that displays my home's coordinates in its IP address. "Everyone, what should I do if I've accidentally ruined my boss' husband's luxurious custom-fitted suit when I was washing it earlier? I'm just an assistant, so there's no way I can afford to pay for it!" At first glance, I can tell that the post is made by Archie Carter, the personal assistant of Valerie Henderson, whom I've married via a marriage alliance. Someone leaves a scathing comment in the post. "What else can you do? Cough up the payment, of course! What's the point in making this post?" "You call yourself an assistant when in reality, you're nothing but a pretentious phony! You think you can get away with making mistakes just by crying about how poor you are?" Archie quickly replies, "I wanted to compensate for the damages, but when Ms. Henderson found out about it, she already made me 'compensate' using other methods. I used the whole night to pay the price, you know!" One can only imagine how wild the night could have been for Valerie and Archie. I just laugh before sharing the post to my admirers' group chat. "Whoever can knock off Henderson Group's stock price by five points gets to replace that useless wife of mine."

After my boyfriend, Matteo Hogan, has fallen asleep, I notice that his phone has been receiving numerous notifications. When I tap on them, I find out that Matteo has answered a question on a thread named, "How far can one go for the sake of the one they can't be with?" "I've been in love with my childhood friend for 12 years, and yet I'm now dating a woman I don't love. My childhood friend has a first love. In order to ensure her happiness, I purposefully woo the one that her first love has a crush on, who happens to be my current girlfriend. That way, I can help my childhood friend get rid of her love rival. "Now, she's about to marry her first love. As for me? Well, since I can't be with her, I might as well be with anyone else in this world." Only then do I realize that I'm the girlfriend whom Matteo never loves this whole time.

When my husband learns of his first love's death, he jumps from the cruise ship where we are spending our honeymoon, ending his life. Only then do I realize he has never gotten over Clara Levine. Reborn back to his teenage years, he resolutely lets go of my hand and walks toward his first love. I watch them leave together, then turn and walk away. From that moment on, our lives become nothing more than two parallel lines that will never meet. Ten years later, we run into each other at a banquet in Oceanus City. He has become a rising star among the elite, with Clara appearing on his arm, intimately holding onto him. When he sees me accidentally wander into the banquet, he can't help but give me advice. "Stop obsessing over me. Even if you wait for me for ten years, I still won't fall in love with you." I ignore him and pull my son out from the corner where he's sneaking cake. His eyes suddenly turn bloodshot as he grabs my hand tightly. "How dare you try to make me jealous on purpose? Didn't you say you would only love me for your entire life?" he says.

After dating Asher Bennett for ten years, he finally proposes to me. He puts a blindfold on me, claiming that he wants to give me a surprise. But the moment I step into the room, I feel a bucket of cold water being splashed onto me. "When are you going to wake up from your fantasies, Claire Sutton? Why would I even marry you in the first place?" With trembling hands, I take off the blindfold, only to see Asher sitting on the couch while drinking some alcohol languidly. "See? I told you she'd come! Whoever's the loser of this bet, you'd better pay for the drinks!" Upon noticing my silence, Asher says mockingly, "Hey, Claire! You're not getting any younger, you know! So, you might as well just marry some random dude at this point to avoid growing old all by your lonesome!" The moment his words fall, his friends all laugh at me while looking at me in disdain. But when I follow Asher's instructions and marry another man, why is it that he regrets letting me go?

My boyfriend came from a wealthy family. We had been together for seven years, yet he had never given me a single gift. When he proposed, he even asked for the diamond ring back so he could return it for a refund. Later, when we were about to register our marriage, he complained that the paperwork fee was too expensive and said it wasn’t necessary. However, not long after that, he registered his marriage with his childhood sweetheart instead. He even booked the most luxurious hotel in the entire city, eager to throw a grand engagement party. The shock was too much for my grandmother, and she suffered a heart attack. I dropped to my knees and begged my boyfriend to return the salary I had entrusted to him over the years, as I needed the money to pay for my grandmother’s surgery. He simply wrapped his arm around his childhood sweetheart and pretended not to know me. He said he would never help a lazy beggar who only knew how to freeload. Then, he ordered the security guards to throw me out. Later, my grandmother died on New Year’s Eve, her final breaths drowned out by the sound of fireworks outside. While everyone else celebrated the holiday season, I handled my grandmother’s funeral alone. At the same time, I accepted a job offer from a major overseas company. When I returned home to get my passport, the man—who had just finished introducing his sweetheart to his parents and was clearly in a good mood—saw me and assumed I was still throwing a tantrum. For the first time, he spoke generously. “Alright. What could possibly have happened to your grandmother? At worst, I’ll make it up to you with a luxurious wedding.” What he didn’t know was that from the moment my grandmother took her last breath, I no longer wanted to marry him.

A rich scion of Jelthorne, Owen Waller, loves cycling. I am invited as a special guest competitor to take part in the cycling competition he organizes. But at the starting point, I see my wife, Reyna Cleveland, who brings along her junior, Timothy Spence, to compete. As soon as I walk over, she slaps me in front of everyone. She fumes, "Are you really this paranoid? Do you have to follow me wherever I go? Do you even know how to cycle? Why come here and make a fool of yourself?" I am just about to take out my invitation pass when Timothy lets out a derisive laugh. I smile in response and propose, "Then why don't we compete?" Timothy replies, "Sure. If I lose, I will jump into the lake and swim naked. But if you lose... You'll divorce Reyna!" I nod calmly. What they do not know is that I was once the most talented pro rider in the country.

I’ve cheated on my boyfriend, Julian, three times. The first time, I dumped him because he was broke and hooked up with his boss. The second time, I thought he was getting too old, so I went after a younger personal trainer. By the third time, I was just bored and wanted someone new. But right then, floating text flashed across my vision. “She has no idea he’s the missing heir to a multi-billion-dollar empire.” “Seriously. He gave her three chances to live in luxury, and she blew every single one.” I froze and looked at Julian. His fists were clenched and tears welled up in his bloodshot eyes. "Are you sure you want to leave me?" he asked. I shook my head, heart pounding. "What if I said... I'm mostly done cheating now? Would you forgive me?”

I had been married for seven years. My husband's nemesis kidnapped me and threatened my husband that they would kill me, yet he ignored it because his sweetheart had asked him to use this opportunity to subdue me and teach me a lesson so that I would give away my assets. The moment I escaped that hellhole, I asked my husband for a divorce, but he claimed his sweetheart tricked him and knelt before me to beg me not to leave.

The day the company is exposed for accounting fraud, my wife, Megan Grant, immediately holds a press conference to protect Liam Johnson. She shifts all the blame onto me, publicly declaring that I will be punished by the law. Liam puts on an act of heartbreak, saying, "Flynn, I warned you a long time ago that you can't just take the company's money. Why didn't you listen?" My coworkers stare at me in disbelief, expecting me to defend myself. Instead, I smile, take responsibility for everything, and resign. Megan thinks I've finally come to my senses and quietly promises me, "Once this blows over, I'll find a way to get your position back. I'll also tell everyone about our marriage. Consider it my way of making it up to you." However, there's one thing she doesn't know. In order to protect the company's interests, the chairman ordered me to install monitoring software on all the company's computers on the day we opened our doors. Once he retrieves those system logs, their lies will fall apart! When the truth comes to light, they won't just be facing massive financial fines; they'll be facing prison time too!

When a kidnapper forces my husband, Liam Waltz, to choose between saving me and our son, he sacrifices me without a second thought. I'm pushed off the cliff, but somehow, I survive. Still, I have lost all my memories. Liam looks absolutely devastated in front of the media. He holds a public funeral for me, only to marry a woman who looks exactly like me a year later—Clara Brown. Four years pass before my memories return. I return to Ardenix, hoping to see my son, Lucas, only to find that he now sees Clara as his mother. And Liam? After four years of thinking I was dead, he only cares about protecting her. "You were gone for four years. I thought you were dead. You didn't think I'd be widowed forever, did you? I'm now the CEO of a publicly traded company. "I can allow you to stay home, but you can't ever show your face in public. After all, Clara is now my legal wife." Instead of heartbreak, all I feel is relief. During those four years of amnesia, I married the one and only heir of Hurrix Corporation.

Two years after breaking up with Evan Grey, my lung cancer finally reached its final stage. At the end of my life, I dragged my aching body to Lake Manco, where we promised we'd come together on the 999th day of our love. In the end, I was the only one who went. As the doctor's calls came in endlessly, no doubt urging me to return to chemotherapy, I silenced my phone and buried the pendant Evan gave me by the lake. "Evan, maybe this is the last time I'll think of you…" As soon as the words left my mouth, a drop of blood from my nose fell into the sand. Then, from behind me, I heard the voice I'd missed every day for the past three years, "Miss, could you please take a photo of me and my girlfriend?"

I saw my husband, Winston Lawson, jerking it off to his robot butler, and it made me sick to my stomach. I held back my disgust and sent that robot to the factory for disposal. To my shock, Winston slammed his foot on the gas and chased after it like his life depended on it. On the way, he got into a terrible car accident and was declared dead at the scene. From that day on, the elite circle branded me a jealous, vicious woman. Five years had gone by. For countless nights, I blamed myself. I kept wondering whether Winston would still be alive if I had not been so fixated on a mere object. One day, when I was going to a private club for business talks, I walked by a VIP lounge with its door ajar. Winston's buddies were joking around inside. "How long are you going to drag this fake death out for, Winston?" The voice that came out next was something I was very familiar with. It was deep, relaxed, and painfully familiar. "After Jessica has her baby. If that woman hadn't been so crazy as to send the butler to the factory for disposal, Jessica wouldn't have to pretend that the system short-circuited to get away. I wouldn't have to fake my death to help with her perfect escape." His buddy clicked his tongue. "Can't believe you had Jessica wear that custom-made bionic skin and pretend to be a robot so you could cheat with her right under your wife's nose. That's some kinky stuff." He faked his death? And the butler was Jessica Gold? So Winston was still alive. And the robot he had been so obsessed with was never a robot at all. It had been my best friend, hidden inside a suit. A waiter passed by and bumped into me. His tray crashed to the floor, and the conversation inside the lounge stopped. Winston turned around, and our eyes met.

As a future son-in-law, I spent $30,000 to host a Thanksgiving dinner for my fiancee’s family. I was just raising my glass, about to propose a toast. But my fiancée Tiffany Spencer’s childhood friend, Howard Hall, beat me to it. He stood up and said to my father-in-law, Dan Spencer. “Mr. Spencer, thank you for letting Tiffany give me a son.” I froze. Feeling touched, Dan said to Howard. “You’re a grateful young man. Since you and Tiffany grew up together, it’s only right that she’d have a child with you.” Everyone present nodded in agreement. No one thought there was anything wrong. Tiffany eventually noticed me standing off to the side. She offered an explanation. “Don’t get the wrong idea. Howard has no intention of ever getting married. He’d be lonely in his old age without a child. I just did him a favor. “You already have me. Whether we have children or not, it makes no difference.” Dan shot me a stern look. “This is a Thanksgiving dinner. If anyone dares to cause trouble today, get out.” Howard smiled. “Don’t be so glum, all of you. Brendon has always been generous. He certainly wouldn’t hold a petty little thing like this against anyone.” He walked over to me and raised his glass. “If Tiffany and I were really together, you wouldn’t have stood a chance to marry her. “From now on, you’ll be this child’s godfather. The three of us will raise this child together.” I did not take the glass from Howard’s hand. Then, I glanced at Tiffany again. She motioned for me not to make a scene. A lump formed in my throat. For a moment, I felt utterly resigned. I sent a message to my professor, who wanted me to be his son-in-law. [Prof. Wilson, does your daughter know about my situation?] Alfred Wilson, who was also my academic advisor, replied instantly. [She does. As long as you’re willing, the marriage is a done deal.] I replied, [Prof. Wilson, I’m willing.]

My boyfriend gave me away to his arch-nemesis because he lost a bet. On the same night, I was driven to his arch-nemesis’ house. Before leaving, he expressed remorse, “Anya, just bear with it for a bit. I will come to pick you up in a month.” That night, the man pinned me to the bed and started unbuttoning my shirt. As he traced his cold fingertips against my collarbone, he said, deep and seductively, “So that’s the scumbag you fell for? Why don’t you be with me instead? I can give you everything you want.” I leaned forward and kissed him right away. “Sure.”

On the day my younger sister, Layla Rowe, and I were both supposed to get married, my fiancé, Timothy Rowe, personally sent me into the wedding car meant for Layla's fiancé, Noah Baker. Standing outside the car, Timothy said with a cold, almost emotionless expression, "Layla doesn't want to marry a man in a coma, so she's cried and threatened to kill herself several times. She's been spoiled since she was little. She can't handle this kind of hardship. You're different. You're used to being treated badly, so you can handle anything. After Noah dies in a couple of years, I'll divorce Layla and marry you." Everyone thought I would scream, cause a scene, and ruin the wedding like a crazy woman. Instead, I simply smiled and nodded. "Okay." Then I casually closed the wedding car door and disappeared from Timothy's world for good. Three years later, I returned to the country with Noah for his succession ceremony. I never expected to run into Timothy, whom I hadn't seen in three years. "Esther, I've already divorced Layla. We can get back together." I smiled when I heard him. Then I took my son, Liam Baker, from the nanny's arms. "Sorry, but I'm afraid my husband and my son won't agree."