Maiikling Kwento tungkol sa Melodramatic at Romance, at mga Nobela ng Scumbag na may Regret

Seven years with Luke Bates, and he still can't remember that I have a seafood allergy. Yet he treats that faded lucky charm locket in his car like a sacred treasure. Inside lies a note that says, "May God bless that specific someone with top marks. If it works, I'll go vegan for three months." Luke calls it a prank by his high school buddy and tells me not to get jealous over nothing right before we register our marriage. I believe him, happily pouring my heart into planning our wedding. Then comes today. I accompany him back to his hometown for a banquet, only for a woman in a floral dress to burst through the door with tears pooling in her eyes. The elders pulled her over, their faces full of concern. "Phoebe, you must be exhausted from that pilgrimage. Come, sit next to Luke." A few drinks in, someone speaks, slurring their words. "Remember when Phoebe casually mentioned praying for a favor? Luke went vegan with her and ended up with a stomach ulcer." I take a quiet sip of juice, listening in silence. It turns out the charm locket that has hung in his car for seven years wasn't for a buddy at all. It's for his first love.

The divorce battle between Adrian Mercer and Claire Bennett dragged on for an entire year, becoming the talk of their social circle. Over the course of that year, they went through three rounds of mediation and court proceedings. Everyone assumed Claire was deliberately dragging things out because she couldn't let go of their marriage. At the first mediation session, she demanded all the original design sketches, patents, and copyrights belonging to their jewelry brand, along with every custom jewelry boutique they'd established together. Adrian knew those designs were the lifeblood of the company. Still, he reluctantly agreed to give her half the stores and half the design copyrights. At the second hearing, Claire suddenly changed her demands. She refused to accept the luxurious riverfront home they'd shared and instead demanded an entire commercial office building worth a fortune that Adrian owned. Even her lawyer advised her that the demand was unreasonable. But he remained patient, promising to compensate her with other assets of equivalent value. During the third round of pretrial negotiations, Claire raised the stakes again. This time, she demanded that Adrian permanently withdraw from managing their jewelry brand and stay out of the jewelry design industry for the next ten years. Everyone thought she was making outrageous demands just to force him into giving in. Yet he refused to turn hostile. He merely explained that he needed time to sort out the company's ownership structure, remaining accommodating throughout the negotiations. At every stage, Adrian had given ground. No matter how unreasonable her demands became, he patiently negotiated each one, acting as though he still cherished their past together and was willing to accommodate her every wish. Some of their industry peers even joked that if the divorce proceedings dragged on much longer, they might eventually turn into reconciliation talks instead.

My boyfriend and I had planned to fly to LA to watch our favorite MLB team play at home. But on the day we were supposed to leave, I waited at the airport for three hours. He never showed. It wasn't until after dark that he finally called. “Sorry, Audrey. I forgot to tell you. Natalie found out we were taking engagement photos and got so excited she couldn't sleep. She insisted I fly out with her early to scout locations.” “You can make it here on your own, right? The three of us will meet at the stadium entrance tomorrow.” I stood frozen. Natalie Brooks was my best friend. She had watched Derek Sinclair and me go from high school sweethearts to planning our wedding, and always called herself our biggest supporter. Yet with one casual “fly out early,” Derek had left me, his bride-to-be, behind at the airport. “You two have fun.” I smiled faintly. “I suddenly don't feel like going anymore.” The next day, I saw Natalie's latest post. She had uploaded a photo of herself with Ryan Kane, my favorite player. The caption read: “Thanks to Derek for pulling strings to get me this photo. Location scouting complete. The things I do for my best friend!” I calmly liked the post. Then I called the wedding planner and canceled the wedding we were supposed to have in two weeks. Natalie never stopped talking about how much she cared about my happiness, yet she had already taken the trip and surprise meant for me. I was done sharing this relationship with a third person.

[Wanna do it?] I accidentally sent the message meant for my bestie to her brother, Gerald Cooper. Ten minutes later, I received his reply. [In the Maybach downstairs. Come down.] To my surprise, her brother was very well endowed too. That night, things got heated and we almost lost control. When we sobered up, he promised me that he would bear responsibility for his actions. He treated me well and doted on me, giving me anything I asked for. However, there was only one rule: I must never admit in public that I was his girlfriend. Five years later, he brought another woman home. With his arm wrapped around the woman, he told me that she was his girlfriend. I confronted him, asking, "If she's your girlfriend, then what would that make me? I waited five long years for you!" He chuckled indifferently and said something that chilled me to my bone. "Wait for me? Did I tell you to wait? Nyssa Bennett, don't ever fall in love with someone so desperately. It's terrifying." So it turned out that my love for him was nothing but trouble. From then on, I tried to live without him, let go of my feelings, and finally left him. But one week later, when I was exchanging my vows with another man, Gerald was standing there in the aisle, looking up at me with reddened eyes.

She'd loved him for four years. But just before their wedding, she was forced to pretend she'd betrayed him, leaving him no choice but to let her go. When he found out she'd cheated on him, he flew into a rage and made her life a living hell. “Summer Blake, you should be grateful I haven't killed you.” It wasn't until much later that he realized just how empty his world had become without her.

After getting laid off, I come across a post when I'm looking for a new job. "What sort of job is the most lucrative these days?" There's a comment with the most likes in the comment section. "Find yourself a sugar daddy, duh! My sugar daddy is already the CEO of a company even though he's only in his 30s! He gives me 100 thousand dollars every month. Not only is he handsome and caring, but he's also amazing in bed! Hoo boy, we can keep going around seven times every night!" Someone asks the commentor, "How did you find such an amazing daddy?" "Last May, he was at a bar drinking his sorrows away after an argument with his girlfriend. I consoled him for a bit. That's how we ended up being together. "He kept complaining that his girlfriend was like dead fish in bed, so he was already sick of her a long time ago. You know what men are like, always going for excitement in life." My fingers curled around my phone slightly. Last May, I did get into a huge argument with my boyfriend, Brian Dicht. He never came home that night. The next morning, he returned while reeking of alcohol. I continue scrolling down the comment section, only to see the commentor posting a photo. "See? I was acting all cute and whiny to him just now by telling him that I cut my finger when I was preparing a meal for myself. He agreed to drop by my place to keep me company tonight." In the photo, there's a diamond ring adorning the ring finger that has a plaster wrapped around it. That ring looks exactly the same as the set of engagement rings Brian and I have. At the same time, my phone starts ringing. Soon, Brian's voice drifts from the other end of the line. "Bella, something came up in the company at the last minute. I'm not coming home tonight."

It's been seven years since our graduation. One day, I drop a message in our five-member group chat. "I got laid off." Not a single reply comes in. It's as if no one in the group has even noticed my message. Ten minutes later, my best friend, Emily Piper, texts the group. "I got promoted! Let's celebrate at our usual spot tonight!" My boyfriend, Julian Dickson, and my two childhood friends, Francis Loomis and Henry Parsons, immediately pop up in the chat. "Congrats, Emmie!" "I'll book the restaurant." "Don't forget to get her favorite strawberry shortcake." I stare at the screen and can't help sending another message. "I just got laid off. Can you guys comfort me a little?" Still, nobody replies. Then, somebody asks, "There are no private rooms available at our usual spot. How about that place by the river?" Julian replies almost immediately, "Sounds good. I'll go get a gift ready." Emily sends a shy emoji. "It's just a small promotion. You guys really don't need to go all out like this." But the three of them are quick to reassure her. "How could we not make a big deal out of something like this?" "You've been working so hard all this time, so of course the five of us have to have a proper celebration!" I stare at that message, my tears blurring the screen. I find myself wondering just when I stopped being part of the group of five. Over the years, whenever Emily works late, they take turns bringing her food. When Emily gets her heart broken, they rush over that same night to drink with her. When Emily's birthday comes around, the three of them remember it better than their own. But when I get promoted, all they say is, "We'll treat you to a meal some other time." Before I leave the group chat, my ex-roommate from college, Rose Wilson, sends me a message. "My new company is looking for a project lead. Would you be interested in joining us?" I glance at the celebratory messages still flooding the group chat before replying, "I'd love to." It's time for the people who've been part of my life for over ten years to make their exit.

We had been together for eight years. For the eighth time, my boyfriend stood me up on the night I expected him to propose. He claimed he had to work late, so I returned to my studio to catch up on orders. I had just turned on my computer when a young woman pushed open the door and handed me a USB drive. "Miss Palmer, there are 217 voice messages on here. My boyfriend sent them to me over the past two years. I want to pick out a few and put together a proposal video." I plugged in the drive and casually asked, "What's your boyfriend's name?" The young woman's eyes crinkled with delight. "Christian." My hand paused. What a coincidence. My boyfriend's name was Christian too. Before I could respond, she clicked on one of the voice messages. "Could you listen to this one for me? Tell me if it's good enough to include." A second later, a familiar voice came through the speakers. "Baby, how did you even dig this one up?" The man chuckled softly. "Keep digging, and I won't have any secrets left to hide from you." My hand froze on the mouse. I had listened to that voice for eight years. The young woman seemed oblivious to my reaction. Instead, her cheeks flushed as she continued, "I found a ring box in his drawer yesterday. I asked if it was for me, but he wouldn't tell me." I stared at the 217 voice messages on the screen and put my headphones back on. Suddenly, I was more interested in something else than the ring. I wanted to know exactly how Christian, the man I had spent eight years with, had loved another woman for the past two.

Natalie Shaw, the dance company's new understudy, slipped razor blades into my practice outfit and left my back slashed and bloody. My boyfriend, Derek Mercer, the theater's associate director, sent her makeup case skidding across the room with one furious kick. "Touch her again, and I'll end you!" Natalie was thrown out of the rehearsal room, her eyes rimmed red. After that, she didn't just refuse to back down. She hired a few thugs to corner me in the alley behind the theater. Derek threw himself in front of me to block a steel pipe, fracturing his arm. Everyone said Derek would die for me. Then, at a sponsors' dinner the night before the tour, I drank a glass of wine Natalie handed me. Within minutes, my limbs went slack and my skin began to burn. I dragged myself into a storage closet at the end of the hall, only to hear Natalie's syrupy voice just outside the door. "The way you took that beating for her two days ago almost broke my heart. But..." Fabric rustled, and Natalie giggled. "Back in the private dining room, you watched me slip something into her drink. You knew those sponsors had cameras ready and were waiting for her. And you just stepped out for a smoke." "You let me destroy her reputation, so the principal role is mine now. Right?" Derek said nothing. He only pinned her against the door. The door vibrated slightly, striking a heavy blow against my heart. He had already given his heart to someone else.

After the cruise ship strikes a hidden reef, panicked passengers shove me and Kristen Langford into the sea. My boyfriend, Elijah Jensen, is the ship's captain, so he plunges into the water. But instead of saving me, he grabs Kristen and boards the last lifeboat. I thrash and cry for help, but he slaps my hand away. "You can swim. Stop pretending for attention!" Elijah snaps. "Kristen's body temperature is dropping. I have to get her to a hospital!" The waters around me are pitch-black, and his words feel like a death sentence. When the tracking bracelet I always wear is discovered inside a shark, Elijah dives alone into shark-infested waters, searching for three days and nights. In the end, the brilliant captain who once ruled the oceans can never sail again.

My boyfriend abandoned me at the altar on the day of our wedding to accompany his childhood sweetheart, who was about to give birth as a single mother. Faced with the sarcastic looks thrown at me by the guests, I took off my wedding veil and headed to the hospital to confront him. I saw him holding her baby in his arms with love in his eyes. She asked him on purpose, "It's your wedding today, Sean. What if Riley gets mad at you for accompanying me during labor?" "I can get married anytime, but having a baby is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I'd be worried sick if I left you alone in the hospital.” "From this day onward, I'll be the baby's father. I won't let you both be bullied by anyone." I ended up marrying another man, but he crashed our wedding like a madman, begging me for another chance.

My fiancé had an incredible memory. He could remember anything after seeing it just once. However, when he proposed, he forgot to bring the engagement ring. When we went to register our marriage, he forgot to bring his identification. On our wedding day, he completely forgot that he was supposed to show up. He was too busy rushing to the wedding next door, where he was helping his childhood sweetheart save the day. When my mother saw what happened, she suffered a heart attack on the spot. I begged my fiancé to come to her hospital ward and explain himself. Instead, the man who had always kept me at arm's length turned warm and affectionate with his childhood sweetheart's mother. As for me, he introduced me as nothing more than a junior from school who refused to leave him alone. After that, I arranged my mother's funeral by myself and applied for an overseas work assignment. When I returned home to pack my things, my fiancé had just come back from his honeymoon with that woman. He looked completely satisfied, a smile playing at the corners of his eyes. "Rose, how is your mom doing? We can pick another proper date for the wedding. That’ll make her happy." He had no idea that from the moment my mother died, there was no longer any possibility of a future between us.

Zoe Lincoln was known as one of the ugliest women in her social circle. Her heavy bangs covered half her face, and her thick black-framed glasses looked like they had lenses made from the bottoms of soda bottles. She always wore dull, muddy foundation and dark lipstick that blurred the natural shape of her lips. If she walked down the street, no one would give her a second glance. But what nobody knew was that Zoe made herself look unattractive on purpose. And it was all because of her mother. Zoe’s mother had once been a renowned beauty. Her father had pursued her relentlessly until she finally agreed to marry him. Yet less than three years into their marriage, he'd begun cheating on her repeatedly. Her mother's heartbreak gradually turned to despair, and eventually, she fell into a deep depression and died.

Two days before my wedding, I was sorting through some old belongings when I suddenly remembered the time capsules Ethan Shaw and I buried ten years ago. His expression froze the moment he heard it. He tried to talk me out of going. “It’s been so long. Someone must’ve dug them up already.” I didn’t think much of it and went back to our old school on my own. But at the spot where we buried it, I unearthed five metal boxes of different sizes. Two of them were the ones Ethan and I buried a decade ago, now rusted all over. The other three didn’t belong there—one was just as rusty, while the remaining two looked brand-new. The old box had Rose Quinn’s name carved on it. On top were the words: “My secret crush was a war of myself. Ethan, I wish you happiness.” I remembered her then—an unremarkable girl who used to sit behind us. And the two new boxes were engraved with the names Ethan Shaw and Rose Quinn. The date marked on them was today. On Ethan’s box, it read: “My greatest regret in life is that I can’t give you a wedding.” On Rose’s box, it read: “My greatest regret in life is that I can’t openly wish you a happy wedding day.”

At the wedding, just as we were right in the middle of exchanging rings, my fiancé, Ethan Nash, stepped away from the altar. “I just need to take care of something. I’ll be right back.” Before I could say anything, he had already hurried away. Everyone watched as he walked straight to his childhood friend, Ruth Trew, opened her water bottle for her, and then rushed back. “No harm done, right? It only took ten seconds.” I stood there frozen. I had actually believed something was wrong. My heart had been in my throat. Perhaps, to him, Ruth came before everything. It was just like the ten minutes everyone had to wait so she could be in the photo, or the two hours I had to wait while he took a detour to pick her up from work. I did not know how many more moments like that were ahead of me, be it a dozen seconds or ten minutes, ten hours, ten days, or even ten years. The officiant, Marcus Oakley, looked grim. He tried to lighten the mood, but nothing he did could save it. “Well, the groom has left the altar for a moment. Umm...” I took the microphone from him. All it took was ten seconds. At that moment, I was done. I did not want to get married any longer.

When my family went bankrupt, I was drugged and sent to the bed of my childhood sweetheart, Craig Kennedy. From that night, he brought women home every evening, tossing a divorce agreement in my face. "Beg me, and I won't leave you." He stood above me, watching as I humbled myself to dust, pleading to preserve our marriage. He even ordered me to kneel in his office and massage the feet of his secretary, Lucia Langston. On the day the Moore Group needed ten million to survive, she blocked all my desperate calls for help. I waited 24 hours, watching my family's legacy collapse and my parents take their lives. Craig, with Lucia at his side, entered the house and threw the signed divorce agreement at me again. "You wanted money to save your family, didn't you? Beg me, and as long as I don't divorce you, no one will touch them." But I signed it with calm despair. "Don't bother. We no longer need your help."

"Mrs. Sterling, are you sure you're ready to end this marriage of twenty years and give up the custody?" "Yes. File it. I’m done." I said calmly through the phone as I scrubbed at a stubborn grease stain on the granite island. For twenty years, I poured my entire being into this family. I managed the households, handled the children's education , and stood by my husband's side, supporting his rise in the syndicate without complaint. But my husband Alexander brought his young adopted sister Chloe to the interview, saying, "My success today is all thanks to my adopted sister." Even my own children looked down on me, calling me common and crude housewife. They had formed an alliance with his ever-present "auntie," the woman who seemed to think she was the true lady of the house. I signed the divorce papers and walked away, leaving them to become the "perfect family" they clearly wanted. But that when the family panicked…

Before registering our marriage, Yale Grant and I stopped at the mall to try on the jewelry set for our wedding. Just as I reached for one of the pieces, he suddenly stopped me. "Willa has fairer skin than you, so the jewelry will stand out more on her. Let her try it on instead." Without waiting for my answer, he began putting the jewelry on my best friend, Willa Lawson. He carefully wiped down each piece, warmed it in his hands, and fastened it around her, looking so practiced and attentive that anyone would have thought he'd done it a thousand times before. A couple passing by smiled at them. "A boyfriend that thoughtful is hard to find, sweetheart. You'd better hold on to him!" Willa glanced shyly at Yale, her cheeks turning pink. He made no attempt to correct their misunderstanding. Instead, he quietly handed his card to the sales associate. "I'll take everything." Not once did he ask for my opinion. This was already the tenth time that day he'd had Willa take my place. When we got into the car, he'd insisted that Willa sit in the passenger seat because she was slimmer and wouldn't obstruct his view. He'd put her in charge of all the wedding preparations because she was more attentive to detail. He'd even let her choose my wedding dress, claiming she had better taste. Somehow, Yale always managed to find something wrong with me, another reason I should step aside for the supposedly perfect Willa. If he thought she was so much better than me, she could have this relationship that had gone nowhere, too. The clerks' office was our next stop. When Yale reached for my hand, I pulled away. "No, thanks. Willa is better than me in everything. Why don't you have her take my place and marry you?"

It was our seventh anniversary. Christopher Quinton proposed to me with nothing but a ring pull. He got his true love a house. When I said no, he rebuked me like I was some sort of gold digger. "I thought my love for you was worth more than anything money could buy. I only got Rachel that house to pay her back for all she did for me. I can't believe you thought I still loved her. You disappoint me." I broke up with him and tossed the ring pull into the bin. Then, I walked off. The next day, Christopher took away my position as VP and told everyone he was getting engaged to Rachel. … Five years later, we ran into each other at a charity horserace. He was a successful businessman, and the woman beside him was Rachel, all dressed in custom-made clothes. I was dressed in janitor attire and stuffing plastic bottles into my woven bag. He mocked, "Look at you, Queenie Dean. Scavenging for a living. Bet you didn't see this coming when you ditched me, did you?" I ignored him. My son had run off, and I had to look for him. The boy noticed the plastic bottles that were strewn across the ground, and he insisted that we stay back to finish his social practice activity here.

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.