Feel-Good Story Romance Short Stories & Mistress Novels

With a knife in hand, Olivia Gerber catches Caleb Jebb in bed with another woman for the ninth time, only to discover that the woman is none other than her younger sister, Shannon Gerber. The usually aloof Caleb suddenly grabs the knife and drives it deep into his own abdomen. "Don't hurt Shannon." Caleb stares at Olivia with bloodshot eyes, his voice unexpectedly shaking. "You can get back at me however you want. I'll accept it. Are you happy now?" Olivia freezes on the spot, her fingertips numb from the warmth of his blood. The next moment, Gerald Gerber, her father, hurries over and slaps her across the face. He launches into a furious tirade. "Olivia, have you lost your mind? All Shannon did was come between you and your husband. What's the big deal? Did you really have to come here and embarrass her?" Vivian Ingham, her mother, points at her and tells her off. "You've been married to Caleb for five years, yet you still haven't given him a child. So many women have tried to take your place as his wife. "Your sister's willing to help you out. Don't you know how lucky you are? And instead of thanking her, you choose to get back at her?" At that moment, Olivia finds the whole situation completely absurd. Caleb has spent years fighting with her, yet he is willing to compromise for Shannon. Gerald and Vivian have known all along that Shannon is a homewrecker, yet they keep enabling her behavior. Ever since Olivia and Shannon were kids, their parents have always favored Shannon. No matter what she does, they always forgive her. And Olivia? All she ever gets is endless criticism. If that's how it is, Olivia is done with her rotten marriage and family.

At a major press conference, my husband, Julian Winslow, is about to publicly introduce me as the love of his life when his young assistant suddenly walks onto the stage carrying a girl. "Go on, sweetheart. Daddy's calling for you." The room erupts. Reporters start firing questions about Julian's relationship with his assistant, but instead of correcting them, Julian simply takes the little girl into his arms and fastens the company's multimillion-dollar new necklace around her neck. "Yes," he says. "We have a daughter." As I stand silently in the crowd, the reporters turn their attention to me. "Ms. Aldridge, you've been with Mr. Winslow and the company for years. Surely you have something to say on such a special occasion?" I smile. Then I take the designs I spent an entire year perfecting and toss them straight into the assistant's hands. "You can have the designs too. Consider them my gift to your happy little family."

On our third wedding anniversary, Kent gave me a gift. A black metal wristband. Cold. Sleek. He called it a new product from his company—a pain-sharing system. The other user was Violet. His "girl bro." The person he was closer to than his own sister. Kent brushed a hand over my cheek, his gaze soft. "Clara, you're too coddled. You should learn from Violet. She's tough." Then he snapped the wristband onto my wrist. So while Violet got a full-back tattoo and an entire sleeve, I felt every single needle. When Violet went wingsuit flying, I collapsed at home. Every bone in my body felt shattered. I threw up blood. While she soaked up attention online as the "extreme sports queen," I was drowning in nonstop pain. Kent sat beside me, holding my hand as he cared. "Just hang in there. Violet's just being herself. As my wife, you should be more understanding." To finally push me over the edge, Violet decided to livestream herself jumping into the ocean to make me die in her place. Their friends couldn't wait to watch. Later, I watched calmly from a hospital room as the system slowly drained the life out of her. Kent looked deranged as he demanded to know why I wasn't dead. Because I had already reversed the system. All her vitality had become the nourishment that sustained me.

Every year on my birthday, my wife Nicole Weston breaks her promise. The first time, she stays up playing video games with her mentee, Finnegan Holt, and never shows up to the movie. The second time, she bails on our candlelight dinner to teach him how to cook, and every dish goes cold and straight into the trash. The third time, she shuts off her phone and takes him to a spa resort while I'm stranded alone at a beach house during a tsunami warning. I spend three days drifting at sea. When I'm finally rescued, the first thing I see on social media is a photo Finnegan posted. Nicole is in a bikini, giving him a back rub. The caption reads, "With a mentor like this, the world is mine!" I screenshot it and drop it into the company group chat. "Quite the mentorship. Might as well make it official." Nicole calls me immediately, screaming. "You're being ridiculous. Finn's in tears because of you! So I took him to a spa. What's the big deal? You see something dirty in everything! Delete that message right now and apologize to Finn in person!" I scoff. "I'll pass on the apology. I've already drafted the divorce papers. Don't forget to sign." After seven years of bending over backward for her, I'm truly done.

After eight years of loving him in vain, my boyfriend, Gilbert Hughes, finally proposed. The wedding is set for a week from now. However, just as I'm happily preparing for it, I accidentally overhear a conversation between him and his friends. "I have to give it to Gilbert. The moment he proposes, his first love, Cheryl, gets restless." "But now that Cheryl's back, what are you going to do with your girlfriend?" Gilbert pauses for a moment, then replies casually, "It's fine. I'm not actually going to register my marriage with Jennifer. At worst, I'll just hold a wedding and play along." At the party the next day, he wraps his arm around me dotingly and socializes with our guests. Yet, the moment Cheryl Manning runs out in tears, he instantly lets go of me and chases after her in a panic. I follow quietly and watch them embrace tightly in the dark, kissing each other deeply. With my heart completely shattered, I turn away and dial a number. "Want to get married? I need a groom."

On Christmas, I prepare a feast and wait for my wife to introduce me to her family after nine years of being married in secret. Just as I wait with anticipation, my wife walks through the door, holding her first love's hand. Their fingers are interlocked, and their eyes are brimming with affection. "Mom. Dad. This is Henry Cooper, my husband. We've been secretly married for the past ten years." "What a handsome young man. You two look perfect together!" My mother-in-law is grinning from ear to ear. They stand there chatting, looking like a happy family. Then my wife turns to me, her gaze icy. "This is my live-in housekeeper. Come try the food and see if you like it." My wife invites her family to take their seats, but Henry Cooper looks at me with a hint of disdain. "The host hasn't even sat down yet. How can the housekeeper sit first? Where are your manners?"

My fiancée is beautiful and has a steady job. She's into drones, and she joined a group chat. I hinted to her, carefully, that the people in that group weren't right, and that if anything went wrong she'd be on the hook too. Then I joined the group myself on a burner account, and saw the way Alyssa carried herself in there. Several men who were obviously close with her kept posting flirty stickers. Alyssa's voice messages came back all bashful. “Stop it! You're all married men, and you're picking on me like this!” “Next flight, let's all go camping together.” Their plan was five men and one woman, two days and one night. And a drone taking photographs at twenty-six thousand feet. You'd have to have something wrong with your head to do that.

For our ninety-ninth engagement ceremony, Julian booked us a skydive. He said he wanted to tell me he loved me at thirty thousand feet. My chute didn't open. I got tangled in a big tree. I survived, yet suffered multiple fractures all over my body. In the ward, I accidentally saw a message on the screen of our jump instructor's phone. It was addressed to Julian, and it carried a video. The video showed someone tampering with my chute before we boarded. So the "accident" was Julian's idea? I dragged myself out of bed on crutches, every bone in my body screaming, ready to confront him. I made it as far as the hallway. He was already there, talking to someone, and the moment I saw the other man, the floor tilted under me. The man across from him was the same driver who'd hit me with his car the night before our last engagement. The hit-and-run that should have killed me. "Mr. Veil, if you ever need me again, please reach out." Julian's voice was flat, almost tired. "There won't be a next time. I've tried everything I can think of. The engagement can't be postponed anymore." "And the woman you actually love, sir?" "I'll keep loving her," Julian said. "But Ada is the one I marry. Her mother gave my father a kidney. That's the debt. I have to pay it." I stood there shaking, and the truth rearranged itself behind my eyes. The camping trip he had planned, where I got lost and nearly died of hypothermia in the woods. That had been him. The vitamin C he had handed me, the one that put me in the ICU. Him too. And this time — the skydive, thirty thousand feet, “I want the sky to witness our love”. All of it. Every single one of those accidents was him trying to delay the wedding. But Julian, I thought, I could save you the trouble. The next morning I accepted an offer that had been sitting in my inbox for weeks: an invitation from a world-class orchestra on the other side of the planet.

I was dying soon. However, both of my childhood friends, who swore to protect me forever, did not realize that. It was because they were busy throwing a celebration party for their junior from the research lab. I went through hardships and got infected by this incurable virus to retrieve this special seaweed from the deep sea. However, that junior claimed that she was the one who got the seaweed! My childhood friends, whom I had known for decades, believed her. Due to their accusations, I became the evil senior who was taking credit for a junior’s work. I wanted to explain, but they said, “Mandy Smith is a good kid. Why would she lie?” “You’re busy playing tricks and acting like a pick-me girl instead of focusing on your research. Trust me, I’m going to get you removed by our supervisor.” After I was discharged from the hospital, I left the research lab and disappeared just like they wanted. However, they started to desperately look for me.

My twin sister and I were born with the same face and nothing else in common. Elara was gentle enough to step around an ant. I was vicious. Cross me and I'd take your skin off and never lose a night's sleep over it. The year we came of age, the Crown Prince chose Elara. But the old court held that royal twins brought ruin. If Elara was to be Crown Princess, I had to die. So our parents wept and begged me to drink a death-simulating draught and disappear forever. Before I left, I made three demands. First, my Shadow Guard would pass to Elara. Second, she'd have a dowry worthy of a princess and a wedding no one could sneer at. Third, if the Crown Prince ever wronged her, they'd bring her home. They swore to all three. They told me that once I was gone, Elara could take the throne beside him without a whisper against her, and never want for anything again. I drank the draught and rode north to the frontier. I thought one life of mine was a fair price for a lifetime of hers. Three years later, pain tore me out of sleep. Twins share what the other feels. Something had happened to Elara. I rode for the capital through the night, and my sister was gone. A woman I'd never seen was being crowned Empress in her place. And our parents sat below the dais, smiling. Three years, and they'd forgotten one thing. Elara was the only one who ever kept me on a leash. And she wasn't there anymore.

Ronan Blackwell was wrapping his arm around some girl as they stepped out of the hotel elevator. I was sitting right there on the lobby couch, snacking on nuts. The second Ronan locked eyes with me, his face went paler than a three-day-old corpse. The girl in his arms reacted first, shoving him away with a sharp gasp. "Miss West, wait, it's not what it looks like!" she squeaked. I rubbed my forehead. "Alright, drop the act. You're practically bursting at the seams trying not to laugh." Honestly, it wasn't just her. I was barely holding back a massive grin myself. Ronan getting caught red-handed cheating meant I was walking away with ten percent of the family company stock. Jackpot.

The night before our wedding, my fiancée let her so-called "best friend" butcher the gown my late mother had sewn, chopping it into a revealing mini dress. I rushed over with the ruined dress in my arms, ready to demand answers: only to catch their voices through the door: "Imagine him expecting me to wear something a dead woman stitched. What a curse!" Through the narrow gap, I saw my distant, frigid fiancée flushed with color, straddling his lap. "What we did at the bridal shop wasn't enough," she murmured. "Tomorrow, walking down the aisle in this tiny dress you made me, it'll be even more exhilarating." Their lips met. My hand froze against the door, and inside, something broke with a soundless crack. If she longed for thrills, I would grant her some.

I've been hiding my excellent grades from my childhood friend, Oliver Barton, for years because of his jealousy. A day before the college entrance exam, he comes clean to me and admits that he's been taking private tutoring lessons without my knowledge for the past three years. His grades are good, and he plans to go to an elite college after graduating high school. I stand there, stunned, listening to his every word. "Viv and I both have excellent grades. There'll soon be even more in common between us both after we go to the same college in Haven City. "Once we're in college, we'll tutor you seriously so you can also get into a better college after you repeat your year." He and my best friend, Vivian Andrade, both have no idea that I've already secured my spot at Dale University through their direct admissions program. I never told them about it because I didn't want their jealousy to jeopardize our pathetic friendship. That's why I still stay with them and study with them in class the whole time. I cling to the last shred of hope for our friendship and ask, "But what if I also manage to secure a spot at a college in Haven City?"

"Mom, Dad, I've made up my mind. I'll go back and take over the family business." When Jaycie Stanton's parents heard that she had finally agreed, they were overjoyed on the other end of the phone. However, thoughts of her hidden identity and the boyfriend she had kept in the dark led them to ask, "Is your boyfriend coming back with you? Have you told him the truth about who you are?" "I haven't. I'm going to break up with him."

On Valentine's night, my father-in-law, Robert Stone, was deliberately run over again and again until he died. My wife, Vivian Stone, one of the city's top internists, was using every connection she had to produce a psychiatric evaluation for the killer. When I took the killer to court, she finally answered my call. "Julian's brother didn't mean to hit and run. He's young. Of course he panicked when something happened." "Julian and I will take him to Dad's grave to apologize. Tell your father to transfer hospitals quickly. Don't let him die in my hospital and bring bad luck here." I looked at Robert lying lifeless on the hospital bed and suddenly laughed. No wonder she had refused to come to the hospital for surgery. She thought the man in the accident was my father.

Midway through the banquet, the clasp on Carrie Ellison's bra suddenly snapped open. I was just about to take her to the dressing room when she turned around, letting her childhood sweetheart, Gabe Allen, slip his hand inside her dress and fasten it for her. I frowned. Carrie rolled her eyes, completely unconcerned. "Why are you getting jealous over nothing? Back then, Gabe even used his teeth to undo my bra clasp. What's the big deal about him fastening it now?" That very day, news of the "perfect childhood sweethearts" shot to the top of the trending charts. After the banquet, Carrie didn't receive my apology. Instead, she received my resignation letter. In front of everyone, she splashed champagne in my face. "It's just fastening a clasp! Do you really have to nitpick and make me look bad?" I said nothing. I simply placed the divorce agreement I had just drafted in front of her.

Caitlin Wiggins' assistant, Bryan Shepard, complains about a client's bad breath, causing the company's project to be ruined. I do everything I can to help Bryan salvage the situation. But all I do is remind Bryan to watch his words, and yet he has the audacity to pin the blame on me. "Zane, your incapability is the reason why the client got mad at us. I used my family's resources to help you salvage the situation out of the kindness of my heart, you know! How could you accuse me like that?" Despite knowing the truth, Caitlin still chooses to side with Bryan. The punishment she issues me is a one-month suspension from my position. On top of that, I need to transfer the project to Bryan. Everyone in the meeting room turns to look at me. They think I'll definitely argue with Caitlin and fight for my rights. But I just hand over the rights of the project to Bryan obediently. Seeing as I've finally learned my lesson, Caitlin happily promises me that she'll marry me once the project turns out to be a huge success and that she gets promoted to the CEO's position. But what she doesn't know is that the client isn't Bryan's relative at all, but rather, my own uncle, Donovan Eaton. It all depends on me whether or not he wishes to continue working with Caitlin's company. In fact, I don't plan on helping Caitlin clean up her mess anymore. When the time comes, not only will she lose her promotion, but she'll also get kicked out of the company.

After returning from a three-month business trip, I rushed to meet my fiancé and resolve our dispute over my best friend, Elena. Elena’s ex-husband left her penniless and broken. I offered her my apartment, helped her "find herself" and accompanied her through nights of tequila-soaked sobbing. My fiance, Julian, hated it. Or so he said. "She’s a leech, Clara," he’d snap, watching her try on my designer coats. "She doesn't even know how to make toast without calling for help. Are you her best friend or her maid? People like her don't want to heal; they just want a free ride." She's lost everything, Julian," I argued."Without her, I wouldn't have survived my mother’s death. Please, just be patient for me." I let myself in quietly. The house was still, the air smelling of expensive candles and something else—something sweet and floral that wasn't mine. I walked toward the master suite, expecting to find Julian asleep. Instead, the door was ajar. The wine bottle I had brought to surprise Julian slipped from my hand, leaving me paralyzed for a moment. Elena was draped across my silk sheets. Julian was hovering over her, expertly shucking oysters—my favorite—and feeding them to her with a look of doting, soft-eyed tenderness he hadn't shown me in months. "You're so much better at this than she is," Julian purred. "Because she’s cold, Julian," Elena whispered, brushing a stray hair from his forehead. "She’s all business. She doesn't know how to satisfy men in bed." I stood in the doorway, my whole self trembling, not in cold but in pure rage and disgust. "I hope the oysters are fresh," I said, my voice cutting through the room like a blade.

On my birthday, my fiancé used his supermarket points to get me a pair of dishwashing gloves. But at an auction, he bought a five-million-dollar gem for his first love. I was mad, confronting him, but he called me a gold digger. "I've been giving you money to spend. Isn't it only right that you take care of me? This was supposed to be my final test for you. If you passed, we'd get married. You've let me down big time." I broke up with him. He turned around and proposed to his first love. Five years later, we ran into each other on a private vacation island. Alex Thompson saw me in the workers' uniform picking up trash on the beach. He mocked me on the spot. "You turned your nose up at the gloves I got you, and here you are, scavenging garbage. Now, even if you begged me, I wouldn't give you a second glance." I ignored him. My son's social studies project was to clean up the backyard with a parent. His dad had expanded the yard all the way to the beach. Cleaning it up was exhausting.

A year ago, when Bailey Knight's side girl, Lucy Day, showed up in front of me, causing a scene, he had his people beat her until she lost the baby and tossed her out. Then he groveled before me for three straight hours, begging me to forgive him. Looking at the man I'd loved for ten years, looking so pitiful and broken, I eventually caved. Later, I caught Lucy sneaking around Bailey's villa in the suburbs, so I had her thrown out again. Three days before our wedding, Bailey grabbed me by the neck and shoved me up against the railing on the second-floor balcony, yelling so hard that his voice broke. "We already took Lucy's baby once! She can't handle it happening again. She's fragile. You're a woman—how can you not understand that? "I've given you the title of Mrs. Knight. I'd give you my life. Isn't that enough? Why can't you just accept her?" The next second, his secretary ran up to say they'd found Lucy. He shoved me down the stairs. The pain when my arm snapped made me feel like my whole body was being torn apart. But he didn't even look back. Staring at the cold, heartless man in front of me, I felt something inside me go completely dead. I picked up my phone and called Arnold Greenwood. "I don't wanna marry him anymore. Come get me."