Melodramatic Romance Short Stories & Scumbag Cheating Novels

Ten years into my marriage to Joshua Ford, heir to the largest fortune in Kingsbury, I receive a video. The footage is shot inside a car. The video is shaky, and the sounds coming from it are vile. When I hold up my phone to confront him, the moaning is still echoing through the living room. Joshua's expression remains calm. He just shrugs like it's nothing. "Younger women are just fresher. Your health isn't great, so I wouldn't dare push you to try anything wild. But everyone craves a little excitement, right?" I freeze in place, my arm going numb from holding up the phone. "That's your explanation?" Joshua doesn't answer me. His gaze drifts over me with casual indifference. "The truth is, all these years, you've never exactly been someone I could take out in public." I look at him, and my heart goes cold. So, the forever we promised each other turns out to be just ten short years.

In the five years of our long-distance relationship, I've wanted to return home countless times to marry my boyfriend, Blake Grayson. Blake always said, "Just wait a little longer. Once I've saved enough money, I'll marry you." The first year, his company went bankrupt, and he lost everything he invested. The second year, his father was in a car accident. The medical bills wiped out his savings. The third year, his investment failed. He needed more time to recover financially. I told him, "It's okay. As long as we're together, I don't need anything else." But he'd always insist, "I may come from a poor family, but as my wife, you deserve everything other people have." By the fifth year, I've had enough of the distance. I decide to drop everything and finally be with the man I love. I call Blake more than a dozen times, but every call goes unanswered. I just assume that he's working late. When I go to pick up my mother's preion, I spot a familiar figure outside the obstetrics department. He wears a bespoke suit, and more than a dozen bodyguards clear the way for him. "Mr. Grayson, Mrs. Grayson, congratulations. The baby is perfectly healthy." I freeze at the sight of that familiar silhouette. My boyfriend's last name is Grayson too, but he was supposed to be a poor guy.

During a gathering with friends, my husband, Kevin Graham, was asked a question by his buddy in Froise. "What are you going to do with your lover, who's two months pregnant with your baby?" Kevin smiled while helping me cut up my steak, and he replied in Froise, "Evie doesn't like children. I'll get Kandi Chutnam to give birth to the baby and send them overseas after that. At least I'll have a child of my own." Tears streamed down my cheek as I ate my steak, and Kevin asked nervously, "What's wrong, Evie?" I wiped away my tears and replied with a smile, "I must've used too much hot sauce." However, there was no hot sauce on the table. I was crying because I understood Froise.

At the sip and see a month after Suzanne Lynch's baby is born, I find out my husband, Mike Harris, is the father. However, he insists he hasn't cheated on me. Mike explains that Suzanne, his childhood sweetheart, has always wanted to be a mother but doesn't want to find some random man to have a child with. So, he donated his sperm once. No kissing, no feelings, and certainly no betrayal. Suzanne chimes in through tear-filled eyes, "Nadia, I only borrowed his genes. I didn't borrow your husband. I never even let him stay overnight during my entire pregnancy. I've already shown you plenty of respect." My mother-in-law, Rita Harris, holds the baby and beckons me over for a family photo. "Nadia is Mike's wife, and the other is his child's mother. There's no conflict between the two." When I don't move, Mike's expression darkens. "Our relatives are all here today. Don't turn this into a spectacle and embarrass everyone." I take off my wedding ring and place it inside the baby's gift box. I'm done with this man.

After our engagement, my fiance, Justin Ford, has someone bring a child back from Verdanne and hand him over to me. An email arrives along with the boy. "Nora, I got bored out of my mind in Verdanne and accidentally knocked Cindy up. Since you've always been sweet and obedient, I'm leaving my son with you. Consider it practice. When we come home, you'll be all set to work as our nanny." Without a word, I hand the child over to the butler. Seven years later, all the CEOs stationed overseas return to headquarters to report in. Justin pulls up in a Maybach with a whole entourage, blocking the entrance to the Ford estate where I live. With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he tilts his head and takes off his sunglasses. "Did you miss me that badly? Is that why you're waiting out here?" He takes a drag from his cigarette before continuing, "By the way, Cindy and I got married in Verdanne so we could get our son registered. From now on, you two can treat each other like sisters. Whatever she gets, you'll get too. "The Shaws and the Fords are practically family anyway. You don't care about a piece of paper, do you?" With that, he blows smoke ring after smoke ring into my face, leaving me choking with tears streaming from my eyes. I quickly step back and wipe away the tears. My son's dad is an extremely jealous man who warned me long ago to keep my distance from the younger men in the Ford family. If my husband catches his nephew harassing his wife, all hell will break loose in the Ford family.

Sean Porter and I had planned a romantic getaway to Bali island. Sean had booked a private villa at a resort overlooking the Indian Ocean. We were lying in bed, just about to get intimate, when we heard a rustling in the room. The next second, Serena Vaughn tumbled out of the closet! Terrified, I screamed at her. "How did you get in here?! Don't you know spying on people is illegal?! Get out right now, or I'm calling the cops!" Sean rushed to Serena's side and gently rubbed the angry red mark where she'd banged her shin, his face full of concern. Frowning, he told me to keep it down. "I gave Serena the door code. I'm the one who told her to hide in the closet and watch us. "She's a graduate student specializing in social psychology and romantic relationships. She needs these observations for her thesis. "Can you not overreact like this?" I froze. I couldn't believe Sean would use such a ridiculous excuse just to defend Serena. Suddenly I felt like I needed to rethink our whole relationship.

I saw an advertisement on a secondhand marketplace app that someone was giving away an unused stroller for free, pickup only. The address was in a wealthy neighborhood across town. I secured my daughter against my chest in a baby carrier, spent two hours changing buses, then walked for another half an hour under the scorching sun before finally reaching the small mansion. I was drenched in sweat, and my daughter was so hot she started wailing. The seller was a woman about my age, with the refined air of someone who had been pampered her whole life. She studied my miserable state, her voice laced with both disdain and pity. "You came all the way from Eastside? And you're planning to push the stroller all the way back like this? My driver's going to take my husband to the office. He can drop you off on the way. Consider it one last good deed on my part." I thanked her profusely. I had just opened the car door when the man in the back seat stepped out to avoid any awkwardness. "I'll sit up front." I felt a little embarrassed, but the instant I saw his face, I froze. It was my husband, Calvin Gomez, the man who left early and came home late every day and had not come home for the holidays in three straight years because he claimed he was working for triple pay.

On the last day before the college application portal closed, Juliette Larkin watched Colton Hayes reach for the mouse, delete the university choice they had agreed on together, and enter a completely different school. The school he picked was the one her best friend, Kelsey Tyndall, had been dreaming about for three years. Juliette's fingers went stiff over her keyboard. She could not process what she had just seen. "Colton, did you put in the wrong school? Why'd you suddenly pick Lakewood?" Colton closed the browser tab without so much as a glance her way. "It's not wrong. I'm not going to Stanmore anymore, Juliette. I'm going to Lakewood with Kelsey." "Why?" Juliette stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. "We said we'd go to Stanmore together. You promised me." "It hit me that Kelsey's always loved the sycamore trees at Lakewood, so I'm going with her. You can just pick whatever school's nearby. It's not like your scores could get you into Lakewood anyway." His profile was calm and indifferent, while she was close to tears. The day their college entrance exam results came out, Colton had scored 650. When he asked about hers, Juliette had only smiled and said, "It's about the same as yours. We can go to Stanmore together, Colton." The truth was that she had scored 705, a full 55 points more. And the full score for this exam is 750. Even so, she had never once considered changing her plans. However, he was choosing Kelsey over her. In that case, she would choose her future over him. Juliette took a deep breath, turned to her computer, and changed her application. She was not going to Stanmore or Lakewood anymore. She was going to Kensington University, one of the country’s top-ranked schools, far away in the north.

Two months into my cold war with Sean, the lover he’d been keeping finally danced her way right up to me, the real deal. Everyone expected me to react the same way I always had before, kicking up a huge scene to stake my claim. Instead, I looked at the intimate photos of Sean and her in the group chat, smiled, and sent them my blessing. [Looking good. Wishing you two a long and happy life.] The chat went dead silent. Sean must’ve sobered up from his little paradise because in the middle of the night, he drove home and pounded on my door. He was furious. “Do you think this is funny?” However, I only met his gaze calmly. “Honestly, after all these years, none of it is.”

The day Ethan Pierce’s stepsister, who suffered from depression, threatened suicide for the ninety-ninth time, he abandoned me at the altar for the ninety-ninth time. "As a psychiatrist, I have a responsibility to my patient." And just like that, the system declared that I had failed my mission. My punishment was severe depression. Every last trace of my will to live was taken from me. From that day on, all I wanted was to die as quickly as possible so I could return to my original world. By the time Ethan finally realized that I truly wanted to die, he was desperate. He used everything he had learned in his entire career to try to cure me. To awaken even the slightest bit of love I had once felt for him. To force me to stay in this world. But I didn’t want him anymore. I hadn’t for a long time.

At our ten-year reunion, Nathan Naylor, our former class president, starts a game of "Guess Who." Whoever guesses wrong has to drink three. When it's Jessica Slater's turn, she smiles. "There's this guy. He had his pick of the best universities in the country, but he gave up that chance for me. He spent years trying to win me over, doting on me the whole time." Everyone seems to know exactly who she's talking about, and all eyes turn to Dylan Tate. A little tipsy, Jessica gets bolder. "He has this tiny mole on his left hip. It shows when he plays basketball. On graduation night, I licked it." Everyone around the table starts whooping. "Why bother guessing? Just tell us you're together already! Come on, how long have you two been together?" Dylan holds his glass, his lips pressed tight, almost smiling. I tighten my grip on my phone as my heart sinks. Dylan and I have been together for seven years, and no one has a clue. But everyone knows he once tried to win Jessica over. Nathan taps the table. "Ashley, you're up," he says quietly. I look at Dylan and hesitate. "He..." Dylan looks up at me, a clear warning in his eyes. I switch gears. "He's been trying to win me over for ten years. This time, I don't want to miss my chance." My phone buzzes in my pocket. A single line appears on the screen. "Ashley, I've been waiting for you to say that!"

I married the same man nine times. And each time, he left me for his first love, divorcing me nine times as well. The first time we parted, I lost control and threw all his belongings out the door. By the fourth divorce, I begged him to leave his luggage behind out of fear he might never return. The eighth time, I had learned to obediently pack his things, careful not to upset him. My breakdowns, my pleas, and my obedience always brought him back to me. Each time, he honored his promises. And each time, we divorced again, just like before. Until this time. This time, I packed my own things and left without telling him. A month from now, I will be gone for good.

Two years after the death of my husband, John Foster, I get a video call from him—except it's him from five years in the future. "John! You're still alive! Tell me where you are. I'm coming now to bring you home!" Crying tears of joy, I scramble to pick up the car keys I dropped, only to hear him say, "Actually, I faked my death to be with your friend…" As my mind goes blank, he continues to tell me everything as if none of it is a big deal. "I attended my funeral. The whole time you were crying beside my casket, I was in the back room with Adaline, getting it on with her. You thought her eyes were red because she was crying in grief. "Oh, my mother and our son know that I faked my death, too. Every year, they've found all kinds of excuses to come spend time with us instead…" My blood turns cold. My hand shakes as I clutch the phone. Meanwhile, John exhales, looking like he has taken a load off his chest. "I've already told you the truth about everything now, Cecilia, so it's up to you whether you want to continue living like a widow."

Since I married Hank Frost seven years ago, I have never gotten pregnant. He never blamed me, however, and would always visit the temple to pray for me. When he returned, he would bring home a new orphan, saying that it was to build good karma. However, when the fifth orphan pushed me down the stairs and broke my leg, I overheard Hank arguing with Josh Graham, who sounded at once disapproving. "Don't you think you've gone too far? Making Yvie Stark raise the five children you had with Sue Lynd? You're not worried she'd throw a fit when she finds out?" As my breath left my lungs while my mind went blank, Hank was twirling his prayer beads nonchalantly. "So what if she does? She should be thanking me for giving her the chance of being a mother." "Maybe she had her reasons…" Josh suggested gingerly. "Shut up!" Hank suddenly snapped icily. "She deserved it! All of it! She was the one who duped me into marrying her even though she was barren!"

During those seven years, I helped Michael Spencer pay off his debts and worked alongside him until he became the company’s general manager. Almost all of my daily necessities were “secondhand.” I picked up a decade-old flip phone to use, and mended an old coat with the padding falling out to wear. Even our dishcloth was something I had salvaged from the old rags that the neighbors discarded when they moved. Back then, Michael would always hold me close. His eyes were filled with tenderness. “Nancy, just wait a little longer. “Once things get better, I’ll definitely throw you the wedding of a lifetime.” I believed him. That was until the seventh year, at the wedding rehearsal, when he walked into the backstage area and tossed me a “secondhand” wedding dress. “This is the one my cousin, Joanne, wore when she got married ten years ago. “You’re used to living frugally. A haute couture wedding dress doesn’t suit your style. You’re better off with this vintage one.” Before I had a chance to react, I saw the suit I had picked out replaced by a tattered jacket. It was on my father, Dan Norman’s back. “Your father comes from the countryside. He doesn’t understand suits and etiquette.” “This one from Joanne’s husband fits him perfectly.” Joanne was Michael’s first love. She had just returned home after her divorce last month and was standing beside Michael. I looked down at the frayed wedding dress in my hands. Then, I looked up at my father’s awkward smile. Suddenly, I realized something. This wedding, which I had waited seven years for, was no longer necessary. “Order me the most expensive wedding dress you can find,” I said over the phone. I was going to wear it to marry someone else.

For five years of marriage, my husband, Caleb Sullivan, had only one rule when it came to buying household appliances: if he could get it secondhand, he would never buy it new. He had found our refrigerator on an online marketplace, picked up our washing machine from a local seller, and even complained that the robot vacuum I had spent six months waiting for at a discounted price of 300 dollars was too expensive. "We're not putting our lives on display for other people. What matters is that the machine works." I had always assumed he had grown up poor and was simply afraid of going back to those days. That was until my best friend, Yasmine Owens, moved into her new home and Caleb asked me to help her unpack her deliveries. A 500 dollars robot vacuum, a 2,000 dollars washer-dryer set, and even the coffee machine I had wanted to buy last year but could not bring myself to splurge on were all sitting in her kitchen. I stood there, stunned for a long moment. "Did you strike it rich or something?" Yasmine laughed as she unwrapped another package. "Caleb bought them for me." Caleb did not even look up. "She lives alone, so it's safer to have new appliances. You and I both know how to find good secondhand deals. There's no need to waste money." When I got home, our old washing machine, which had been leaking for a while, broke down again. I took our shared tablet to list it on the online marketplace, but when I opened the app, I discovered Caleb had forgotten to log out of his account. I tapped on his purchase history and found a total of 47 orders—every single one had been delivered to Yasmine's address. The sideboard, the floor lamp, the juicer, the old television… The first dozen or so purchases were all things Caleb had told me he had found at a bargain over the years. Things we had been using in our own home all along. As I stared at our leaking, battered washing machine, it finally dawned on me—it was not that he knew how to find good secondhand deals. He had simply been waiting for Yasmine to wear things out first.

The day after my twin sister died in an accident, I married her fiancé, the man who was supposed to be my brother-in-law. That very day, Mark Zeller printed thousands of copies of my sister's death report and told everyone I was the real murderer. Because of this, everyone despised me, and my parents immediately disowned me. After we got married, he was constantly in the tabloids with his flings and brought countless women home. He'd make me stand by the bedroom door, listening to them making love. Then, after he was done, he'd make me take photos of him and his lovers in bed. I silently endured it all. My only request was to have a baby with him. Mark scoffed. "Gloria Hale, how can you be so shameless? If you're so desperate to sleep with a man, just go out and find one. Instead, you're begging for it at my feet like an animal. Aren't you disgusted with yourself? "You think having my baby will make me change my ways? Let me tell you, never!" To crush my hopes, he went even further and spent a fortune to build a castle in the suburbs. Every single room in that castle housed one of his lovers. The people in our social circle said, "Mark's mistresses are way lovelier than his wife at home who only knows how to wag her tail like a dog." Three years later, Mark's mother sent me a text to remind me: "Gloria, remember our agreement. Three years are almost up. You have one more week to sort everything out."

Max Siegel loved me deeply and promised me the grandest wedding anyone had ever seen. However, just three days before the big day, everything changed. The custom-made wedding dress he'd ordered for me was given to his stepsister, Fawn Lewis, and instead, he handed me a pill—one that could erase memories. “Kate,” he said, “I don’t want to hurt you, but Fawn has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She doesn’t have long. Her last wish is to marry me. I can’t have her leave this world with regrets. “This pill will make you forget everything about us for a few days. But don’t worry. After the wedding is over, I’ll give you the antidote, and you’ll remember everything again. Then, I’ll give you the wedding you deserve.” His tone left no room for negotiation. Without hesitation, I took the pill and swallowed it. However, what he didn’t know was that I developed that drug myself, and there was no antidote. Three days from now, I would forget the man I loved most—him. And once that happens, there’s no turning back and no chance to start over.

After Jacob Locke brings up breaking up with me once again, I don't wait for him to say anything else. I pack up my things and move out on my own, then quietly cut ties with our past. On the first day, I cancel the wedding planner I booked three years ago but kept delaying. On the second day, I turn off the automatic payments for his mother's treatment. I also politely refuse his sister when she reaches out for money. On the third day, I accept my superior's transfer proposal and get ready to settle down in a southern city. The moment I board the plane, I suddenly get curious. Without me, the free housekeeper who hasn't taken a break in the past decade and the always-on ATM, how will Jacob fare? How will he care for his paralyzed mother, deal with his vain sister, and face his precious junior who's the apple of his eye?

In the seventh year of standing by Ethan Cole as we built our company from nothing, we finally took it public. And on the very same day, he couldn’t wait to block me and make his relationship with his first love official. The social feed exploded. “Back then, Nina left a six-figure job to help you start this company. Now that you’ve gone public, you’re just going to kick her to the curb?” Ethan replied, clearly annoyed: “People settle when they’re broke. Back then, I didn’t have options. “And after seven years with her, I’m more sure than ever that if I ever get married, it’ll be to someone I actually love.” His friends kept trying to talk sense into him. “Nina’s handling most of the company on her own now. What if she quits because of this? What are you going to do then?” Ethan hesitated for a second, then doubled down. “She’s just a secretary. You could pull anyone off the street and train them to do her job. The company doesn’t need her.” What he didn’t know was that on the other side of the screen, I was watching his still-logged-in account as those words appeared one by one. I drained my iced Americano in one go. Then I booked a flight home for three days later.