Feel-Good Story Romance Short Stories & Hypocrisy Face Slapping Novels

My mother-in-law, Kate Irwin, has a hood over her head and a time bomb strapped to her body. Ten seconds are left. My husband, Sean Quimby, could have saved his mother. As Efton's top bomb disposal expert, Sean could cut the right wire without breaking a sweat. Instead, he hands the wire cutters—the tool that will decide whether Kate lives or dies—to his sobbing intern, Yara Gibson. I watch as Yara cuts the wrong wire. The timer hits zero. A wall of flames engulfs Kate. The blast wave slams into me, but Sean's first instinct is to pull Yara into his arms. He even turns his back to shield her from the flying debris, gently soothing her. "Don't be afraid. I'm here." He doesn't even spare a glance at the charred remains behind him. Only after calming Yara does he finally turn to me. He sheds a few tears and says, "Wendy, I'm sorry. I couldn't save Dahlia." My mother, Dahlia Green, is overseas, enjoying the sun and beach. She sent me a photo just moments ago. So I put on a sympathetic face and comfort him, "It's okay." After all, my mother isn't the one who died.

In my sixth year as a body diver, I finally tracked down my son's body. My husband had just come back from the construction site. That was when he calmly told me the truth. "Asher never died. I was the detective who lied and told you I couldn't find him. "I was also the city's richest man—the one who refused to pay your ransom to save him. "I never went bankrupt, either. Every time I told you I was off hauling bricks at some construction site, I was really just back at the mansion, hiding from the smell of the dead on your skin." It hit me like a blow to the head. I stood there, numb. My brother, Rick Forrest, was the one who spoke next. "That best friend you've been pouring your heart out to online this whole time—that was me. I'm also the one who made you think you'd gotten the kidnappers angry and gotten your son killed. "That's not all. Our parents didn't die in that kidnapping, either. The truth is, they were the kidnappers." Cold flooded through me. Not until I saw my parents standing there, alive, did the pain finally tear a sound out of me. "Why—" My parents' brows furrowed, distant. "It's because you made such a scene! You knew Valerie's position as a false heiress was already humiliating enough, and you still let her get into that car accident that left her unable to have children. "You owe her this much. As long as you stop going after Valerie, we can still be a family." I stood frozen where I was. Right as the pain peaked, a long-unheard chime sounded in my mind—the System, back after all this time. [Host, do you wish to abandon this redemption mission and leave this world?]

“Boo, I’ll call you once I’ve booked my plane ticket.” Lily Lark was shocked. “Have you finally come around?” Aqua Chronos was not done speaking, but the noise outside ruined her mood. At that point, John Frank and Will Lane must be throwing a celebration for Samara Queen. Aqua walked out of the washroom and wanted to head to the president’s office to hand in her resignation letter. But Samara saw Aqua and beckoned her over. She spoke cutely and sweetly, “Aqua, are you leaving alone again? Come over and have some fun with us!” Everyone in the room heard her. “No need. Have fun.”

I grew up alongside Arthur Stevenson, who eventually became the Lord Chancellor. However, on the day of the royal physician selection, he disqualified me on the grounds that I had spilled a small amount of medicinal residue. Instead, he chose my younger stepsister. When I asked him why, he looked completely unconcerned. "Your sister wants the position, so what's the harm in a loving older sister stepping aside? A proper lady shouldn't be so jealous and willful. Consider today a small lesson for you." What he didn't realize was that if I couldn't enter the castle as a resident physician, I would be forced to enter as a royal mistress to the tyrannical King. Later on, word reached me that the cold, unfeeling Lord Chancellor stood outside the castle gates, drenched in the pouring rain for an entire day and night, asking for nothing more than a chance to see me.

One night, I calculate the expenses of giving birth to a child as I lounge on the bed. The expenses include delivery costs, nutritional costs, diapers and milk powder for the baby, and a nanny's salary. My husband, Louis Hoffman, suddenly says, "I know why your ex-boyfriend broke up with you now." When he notices my confusion, he continues, "There's no need to spend so much money just to give birth to a child. You're the only one who cares about these things." He frowns and crosses out "nanny's salary" from the list I've written in my notebook. "Why do you want to hire a nanny? Your mother can just come over and take care of you after childbirth. You also don't need to pay for nutrition. Just eat whatever's available. You'll be wasting your money if you buy those supplements. "You also don't need to buy expensive diapers and milk powder. The cheaper generic brands will do. You're just feeding your own ego by buying the branded ones. There's also no need to pay for a private delivery room. You can give birth in a shared one too. No need to waste thousands of dollars." Louis turns on his side so that his back is facing me. "It's no wonder your ex-boyfriend broke up with you. No man can put up with a frivolous spender like you," he says nonchalantly. My heart slowly sinks into my gut as I stare at the list that's covered in his scribbles. I think about how he bought a yacht for my sister, Madison Golding, to celebrate her birthday yesterday. He even declares that nothing is more valuable than Madison's smile. "You might as well forget about giving birth if you want to spend so extravagantly," Louis says. I hum in response, deciding that I won't give birth anymore.

During the party celebrating my promotion, I am in the middle of cutting the cake when a positive pregnancy test report is thrown right in my face. Subsequently, my normally compliant boyfriend, Zachary Zolt, pulls my best friend, Caroline Lotter, into his arms. With reddened eyes, he says, "Winnie, for the past three years, I've stayed by your side, giving you all the emotional support you needed and the respect you deserved. "However, Carol is now pregnant with my baby, and I have to take responsibility. You've always been magnanimous, so don't be petty over a minor matter, alright? Let's part amicably." Our colleagues gasp in surprise before shooting me a look, as though I were a malicious woman standing in the way of true love. Setting down the knife, I stare at the passionate father-to-be, completely dumbfounded. Since when has medical technology advanced this far? Years ago, worried about being lonely, I specifically bought him to look after me at home. Yet now he's gone off to ease someone else's loneliness? Except he is just an android I bought—how on earth can he possibly get someone pregnant?

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?"

When I arrived at my wedding in my bridal gown, I found an octagonal fighting ring set up in the center of the stage. My fiance, Derek Hale, was holding the hand of his "girl bro," Chloe Shaw. With a smile, he handed me a pair of boxing gloves and explained, "Vivian, this is a tradition from my hometown. The bride has to get into the ring and wrestle one of the groomsmen for good luck. I asked Chloe to go up. Just play along for a minute." Looking at Chloe, who was always acting frail and sickly, I did not think much of it and stepped straight into the ring. But the next second, she threw an extremely professional spinning kick and knocked me unconscious with a severe concussion on the spot. When I woke up, I was paralyzed in a hospital bed. Derek stood there holding Chloe's hand and said to me, "Our relatives and friends gave us so much wedding money. The wedding can't go on without a bride. Chloe is willing to take care of me in your place. You're so kind, Vivian. You won't mind, right?" Under the torture of humiliation and severe depression, I pushed my wheelchair off the rooftop of our wedding home. When I opened my eyes again, I was back one month before the wedding. I turned around and knocked on the door of a national-level kickboxing champion training base. "Coach, if I trained for a month, can I punch someone's head open?"

My husband woke me at 2 AM, demanding I come to the hospital to operate on Ava Foster— his first love. When I arrived, Ava was lying ghostly pale in the hospital bed. The chart showed end-stage uremia; she desperately needed a kidney transplant. I explained that her condition was critical, and without a matching donor, there was nothing I could do. My husband mistook my professional assessment for jealousy. He slapped me hard across the face. "What kind of doctor are you?" he snarled. "Are you just going to let her die? Test more people until you find a match!" I rubbed my cheek and nodded calmly. "Actually, we already found one." "Your kidney is compatible with hers. You'll be the donor."

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.

In Reychelle City, a contest was held to crown the most beautiful woman. After my cousin scarred my face, she seized first place with ease. What she never expected was that this year's contest wasn't for fame; it was to select the future wife of the Third Prince, a ruthless, bloodthirsty eunuch. That very afternoon, gifts poured in by the cartload. My betrothed panicked. That night, he tore up our engagement contract and carried my cousin into the bridal chamber. The next day, she trailed her lacquered fingertips across my cheek and sneered, "Alicia, with your ruined face, who would ever want you? Perhaps the beggar at the street corner might take you in." I caught her wrist, let out a cold laugh, and said, "Who told you I would marry a beggar?" Before her stunned eyes, I pushed open my parents' chamber doors. "Mom, since Maggie doesn't wish to be the prince's consort… let me take her place." Three years later, before the eyes of a shocked court, the Third Prince entered the grand hall with me at his side, with two children in tow. No one had foreseen it. This body of mine, blessed with the rarest gift of fertility, was the perfect match for a man believed incapable of siring heirs.

On the day the gauze was removed from my eyes, I joked that I was blind. "Don't be afraid if you can't see. I'll take care of you my entire life." My husband and best friend took care of me while I was in the hospital. They sincerely made that promise to me. However, when we got home, all three of us were on the same bed. My best friend rode on top of my husband breathlessly. They were caught up in their intimacy as they thought I could not see. My best friend was worried I would suspect something and spoke up to eliminate any suspicion. "Uhh… Summer, I'm just giving your husband a massage." I was so disgusted that I wanted to throw up, but I held myself back. Once they were done, I was about to find an excuse to leave the room when my five-year-old suddenly ran in. "I miss you so much, Mom!" Hearing that warmed my heart, and I opened my arms to hug him, but he ran past me and lay down next to my best friend instead. The 'happy family of three' were all smiles and threw me looks of disgust. I could no longer tolerate this. When I called my lawyer, I told him to bring me the divorce papers. If they wanted to become a family so badly, I would make their wish come true. I just did not know if my best friend could afford to earn a decent enough income to take care of my useless husband and son.

I'd lost count of how many times Ethan had turned me down when I asked to stay the night at his place. "Ethan, you're no fun at all." I grumbled. The day before, I'd noticed someone had left a mark by my front door, the kind that flags a woman living alone. It scared me, so I went to Ethan and asked if I could crash at his place for a few days. He said no. "I'll book you a hotel room for tonight." When he saw I was upset, he softened. "I just don't want to give up my own space this soon." "Give me a little time to get used to the idea, okay?" Three years together, and no matter how late our dates ran, he always drove me home. He never once asked me to stay. I wasn't happy about it, but I nodded and let it go. It wasn't that late yet, so I suggested we catch the new movie that had just come out. Ethan checked the time instead and hurried me off to the hotel, a little on edge. Alone in the room, I happened to scroll past the social media of a new coworker. "AC's broken at my place. Thank God I've got someone to run to, or I'd melt." The photo behind the caption showed the TV wall in Ethan's living room. My stomach dropped. I stared at the picture for a long time. By the time I came back to myself, my face was wet with tears. Then I slid off the engagement ring Ethan had given me. A love with something rotten stirred into it wasn't a love I wanted anymore.

I'm born with a congenital heart condition. But when my illness flares up, my longtime boyfriend, Zeke Fulton, doesn't try his best to save me. On the contrary, he forces me to sign over my shares while I'm in agony. Then, he stands by and watches as the pain rips through me. I end up dying on that hospital bed. Thankfully, I'm given a second chance at life. I'm reborn on the very last day of filling out college applications. This time, I don't fall for Zeke's sweet talk. I turn my back on him and run straight into the arms of my childhood friend, Hugo Lodge. Hugo wraps me up in his embrace, his lips brushing against the side of my neck. He says, "Elisa, come to Joslin University with me."

I've just received a text from my CEO wife, Cara Lavigne. Apparently, she's gone on another last-minute business trip again, so she can't accompany me to the funeral home. But soon, I see Cara's silhouette being captured in a photo, where she celebrates her assistant, Warren Stone's birthday with him in a work-related post he has just uploaded. The caption reads, "Thank you for the amazing cake, boss! I feel so happy to be able to celebrate my birthday!" I just smile calmly before leaving a like and a comment. "Happy birthday." My colleagues, on the other hand, start betting pools like mad to see what kind of tricks I'm going to pull this time in order to kick up a ruckus. Cara calls me immediately just to scold me. "Warren is just celebrating his birthday, so what's with the comment? He's a very sensitive person, you know! How is he going to survive in this company now that you've passive-aggressively humiliated him in that public post? "It's been barely two years since Warren joined this company, not to mention he doesn't have any friends! What's wrong with me celebrating his birthday with him, huh? People like you, who are born with silver spoons in their mouths, will never understand Warren's plight! "I want you to delete your comment right now! We'll talk more about this once I'm home! Your dad is already dead anyway, so you can just wait for a few more days before claiming his body!" I can only clench my fists tightly as I listen to Cara's heartless and nonchalant words. "No need for that." Once she is back, the divorce procedures will be done.

I don't kick up a fuss when Jasper Sutton's childhood sweetheart once again takes my spot in the front passenger seat. Instead, I obediently head to the backseat to sit with his good friend, Jonathan Clayton. When we drive along a bumpy road, my knee brushes against Jonathan's toned thigh. I deliberately leave it there, and he doesn't move. We stop for a break at a rest area. Jasper's childhood sweetheart clings to him as they head to the restroom. As soon as the door is shut, Jonathan grabs the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. As I descend into the throes of passion, I can't help thinking it's no wonder people like to cheat.

Three days after my daughter was born, my husband was killed by a car while running to the store for some groceries. I was so devastated I passed out. When I came to, his funeral was already over, and a stranger was standing in my living room. "I'm your husband's twin brother. I'll be around to help take care of you and the baby." Later, I locked myself in the bathroom with his urn, sobbing uncontrollably, when I overheard his buddies talking through the open window. "Dude, you’re so cool blooded. Inventing a twin brother just to dodge diaper duty? What's next—triplets and quadruplets coming out of the woodwork too?"

My girlfriend had spent three years chasing the one who got away. The night before our wedding, the two of them trashed her bride's dress together. I wanted to call it off. She just laughed it off. "I only wanted to make sure I wouldn't regret my youth. From now on I'm all yours, so can't you be a little generous about it?" So I turned around and prepared a grand gift for them instead, wishing them a lifetime of happiness. Later, she came back crying, begging me to forgive her. I held up my hand and let my wedding ring catch the light. "Sorry. I'm married."

The day my fiancé returned from deployment, he invited me to the celebration gala held in his honor at the Prescott family estate. My younger half-sister begged to come because she hoped to meet an eligible man, and I brought her without hesitation. At dinner, my future mother-in-law laughed and said, "That stubborn son of mine is finally going to marry the woman he loves." I blushed and turned to find Major Adrian Prescott staring directly at me. The moment I caught him, he lowered his head too quickly, took a drink, and nearly choked. His fellow officers teased him while my half-sister leaned close and whispered that she envied me. I believed my future could not have been brighter. Then words made of golden light appeared before my eyes. [Within one hour, Delia Langford will be found half-dressed beside Adrian Prescott.] [The guests will believe they caught them together. Adrian will be pressured to marry Delia, accept a permanent overseas posting, and never return to Ravenmere.] Ice filled my veins. Delia was the innocent-looking half-sister sitting beside me with her arm linked through mine. ...

After being reborn, I decided to write my sister's name on the marriage application. This time, I would help Sebastian Holt achieve his wishes. In this lifetime, I took the lead—I let my sister wear the wedding dress first and put the engagement ring on her finger. I personally orchestrated every encounter between Sebastian and my sister. When he took her to the capital city, I headed to Southport University without a second thought. In my previous life, even when I was over 50 years old, he and our son still knelt before me, begging for a divorce. This time, I would fulfill his final romantic destiny with my sister. Living this second life, all I wanted was to spread my wings and soar high, free from love's entanglements.