7 Our Family

I was a child who was born in a vocational school's toilet. To my mom, I was a stain in her life that she was given birth to after having her cherry popped by a delinquent when she was still young. I knew that Mom had been trying to kill me. Unfortunately, she hadn't succeeded so far. The first time she tried to get rid of me was when she decided to give birth to me in the toilet. It was a cold, winter month, yet she didn't give me anything warm to wear. The second time she attempted murder was when she got into grad school, which was based in the north. No one was around to take care of me, so she turned on the gas while holding me in her arms and clutching her train ticket. The third and last time happened when Mom was about to marry the man she loved. On the night before her wedding, she had tears streaming down her cheeks as she told me, "You're nothing but a burden. You ruined my life! "Do you know that I can only forget about all the pain and suffering you caused me after you die? Only then can I start a brand new chapter in my life!" I wiped Mom's tears off her face with my tiny hand. So, her wish was for me to die. On my birthday, my fever hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit. That was when I finally received the first slice of birthday cake in my entire life. I didn't have the heart to eat it, so I made my wish solemnly. "I hope that I will die soon." I heard that birthday wishes often came true. That way, Mom would be very happy.

Eiji merupakan vokalis group band yang tengah naik daun di Jepang. Memiliki kekasih yang sangat dia cintai bernama Yuko, awalnya kisah asmara mereka baik-baik saja. Namun, semuanya berubah total ketika Eiji tanpa sengaja melakukan kesalahan sehingga menghamili Izumi yang notabene merupakan pembantu Yuko, kekasihnya. Kini, demi bayinya yang berada dalam kandungan Izumi, Eiji dengan terpaksa menjalani pernikahan kontrak dengan Izumi. Membuat kesepakatan bahwa Izumi akan menjadi istrinya sampai usia sang bayi menginjak enam bulan. Kelak Yuko yang akan menggantikan sosok Izumi menjadi ibu sang bayi jika mereka sudah bercerai. Namun, yang menjadi pertanyaannya ... benarkah kisah cinta segitiga mereka akan berakhir sesuai rencana di saat ada sosok bayi yang membuat hubungan ketiga orang itu akan selalu terikat?

In the fifth year after migrating to a new country, my wife, Nyra Sinclair, brings her first love, Jacob Griffin, and his daughter, Zoe Griffin, home with her. "Jacob and Zoe are new to this country, so they shall be staying with us for the time being." I get into a huge fight over this matter with Nyra. On my birthday, Nyra hands me a divorce agreement. She urges, "Hurry up and sign it. Jacob needs a green card. We'll have to go through a fake divorce first." With a frown on my face, I try to pry for more details from Nyra, only to get accused that I don't have any sympathy for Jacob at all. A short while later, I see Jacob's latest post on Instagram. "Nyra is getting a divorce for my and Zoe's sake! We finally have a place to call home!" I just leave a like there quietly. After leaving my signature on the divorce agreement, I lodge a request to my company so that I can fly back to my home country, Myrthia.

My mother-in-law lives alone. One day, her house suddenly catches on fire. It's a life-threatening situation. I call my firefighter husband several times before he answers impatiently. "I don't care why you're calling—can't it wait? I'm fixing Sophie's pipes!" I tell him about his mother being trapped in a fire, but he merely sneers. "How dare you curse my mother just to make me go home? You're insane!" He hangs up without another word. I'm left helpless. All I can do is wait for his colleagues to arrive, but they only come half an hour later. Their expressions shift to horror when they see the blazing fire. "Didn't Captain Scott say his wife was lying?" My mother-in-law dies due to the delay. My husband even misses the funeral because of his first love. I give up on him and ask for a divorce. However, he rips the divorce agreement to shreds and shatters the urn that contains his mother's ashes. "Drop the act—I would definitely go through with the divorce if not for my mother!" I laugh. He doesn't even know his mother is already dead.

Ariadne Herrera had it all— beauty, brains, money and a handsome boyfriend. Hell, even her family is perfect. But when her boyfriend of two years cheated on her with Dahlia Laurel, her best friend since childhood, she wanted to skin them alive. But she’s not going to stoop down to their level. Instead, she went to a bar and drown her sorrows with a few dirty martinis. She met a handsome man and lost her virginity to him that night. She woke up the next morning all embarrassed and left him as fast as she could. Aria was sent overseas and years later, she returned with her twins ready to start anew. Her first day at work became a disaster when her nanny brought the twins to the office and came face to face with the grumpy CEO, Randall Colton, who happens to be her twins’ daddy.

After our company loses the eight-million-dollar deal, my girlfriend, Lindsey Corwell, gets mad at me for the first time ever. She goes as far as to heavily insult me in front of everyone in the company. Once we get home at night, she retains her professionalism. "There's no such thing as a romantic relationship between us when it comes to work. The fact that you screwed up still stands. This is your fault." Meanwhile, Lindsey's junior, Gerald Whitaker, sends me an apologetic text. "This is all my fault, Julian. I'm the one who screwed up the deal. Lindsey bought me a cupcake to comfort me. It's pretty delicious. Let me buy you a cupcake as well." The next morning, Lindsey chucks the breakfast I've made for her into the trash can without hesitation. "I told you many times that I don't eat breakfast!" At work, my colleague, Joshua Miller, suddenly approaches me and begins sharing gossip with me. "The newbie really is fearless, eh? He actually had the guts to start a conversation with Ms. Corwell and even bought her breakfast! Guess what happened after that? Not only did she eat it, but she also claimed that it was tasty!" Oh, so that's how it goes, huh? Whatever. Anyway, the woman who keeps texting me is still trying to get me to switch lovers. "If worse comes to worst, I don't mind being a side chick! C'mon, give me a try!" I purse my lips in return. "It's fine. You shall be my official girlfriend now."

After a fateful night, Melissa awakened to the realization that she has given her virginity to a stranger. With only a note and a bundle of money as clues, she embarked on a journey of self discovery and motherhood. Years later, Melissa finds herself navigating the cutthroat world of paparazzi reporting while raising her genius son, Jason. Her quest for a scandalous scoop lead her to the enigmatic billionaire CEO, Damien Ashford. But wait, why does he shares a striking resemblance with her son? As she dives deeper into Damien's world, she can't deny the magnetic attraction between them. Damien, suffering from a haunting secret, feels the same way. Determined to know her, he makes an unexpected preposition. As they explore complexities of their newfound connection, they discovered shocking revelations that bind them together in unimaginable ways. Melissa and Damien each hold a secret that could shatter their fragile bond. Will they find the courage to reveal the truth and embrace the love that fate has brought into their lives? Or will Damien's unexpected encounter with a woman long presumed dead threatened to tear them apart once and for all? Well, let's delve deeper to find out in this intriguing read of Melissa and Damien's love story.

The day I recovered from my mental illness and got discharged, my parents held me in their arms with tears of happiness. My sister gave me a teddy bear and said she had been waiting for me to come home. I comforted my parents who were crying and accepted the gift from my sister. I slowly got used to ordinary life and became the real daughter of the Schmidt family. To show their preference for me, my parents transferred the family business into my name on my sister’s 18th birthday. But I cruelly murdered the family of three who cherished me on this day.

My dad is a fan of tough love parenting. When I was a kid, there was a time when I obtained full marks on two subjects. But he told me, "Your grades don't mean anything in life. If you were a true man, you'd leap down five floors without batting an eyelash." Some time later, I was awarded for my act of bravery. But Dad scoffed in my face. "Not even a hair is harmed on your head. Why should you be awarded anyway?" I thought Dad wanted me to go through more training in life. On Christmas Eve, he ditched me on a snowy mountain under the guise of wanting me to go through more training. He didn't give me a tent or a lighter. Later on, Dad even brags about his parenting method to his relatives and friends. "A real man should survive and thrive in a desperate situation! I told Julian that he can forget about being my son if he can't even make his way back to the summit!" But the red dot on the GPS tracker installed in his phone hasn't moved for the past three hours. The truth is, I've already frozen to death in the mountains. Trapped in my fist is a crumpled, torn scrap of paper. Meanwhile, my soul is currently floating above the dining table while watching Dad brag about his tough love parenting.

I worked for a restaurant, and our boss loved making empty promises about giving us restaurant shares. The boss said we would start with zero shares, but we could earn 0.01% for every two hours of overtime, covering someone else’s work or saving the restaurant 1,000 bucks. I suggested she write this down in an official document and have someone track it properly. She just smiled and told everyone to work harder. She never actually put it in writing. The experienced staff did not believe her, but one prep cook took it seriously. At the end of the year, he went to the boss to claim his shares. The boss said, “Sorry, the head chef told me there’s no official document, so it doesn’t count. You can’t claim any shares.” The prep cook worked hard all year and got nothing for it, so he took his anger out on me. The day before I was going home for the New Year, he killed me with a knife. “If you hadn’t said it doesn’t count without an official document, this whole restaurant would’ve been mine!” I lay in a pool of blood. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day the boss first made those empty promises.