A Thousand Times Over

“Who the hell changed the screw tolerance by 0.007 mm?” “I did. Is there a problem?” Kimmy Zabel, our department’s “good-luck charm” and full-time slacktivist, did not even look up from her compact mirror, where she was carefully applying lip gloss. “It just didn’t look right, so I tweaked it. Do you really have to yell at me?” The production line had been running on the wrong spec for twenty-four hours. I hit the emergency stop. Keeping my voice steady took some effort. “These parts no longer meet export standards. If we miss tomorrow’s shipment, even a month of overtime wouldn’t cover the penalties.” “It’s one tiny number. You’re being so dramatic!” Kimmy snapped her makeup case shut. “Anyway, it’s New Year’s Eve. I’ve got a date. I’m not staying here to suffer with you people.” Before she even reached the door, I gestured to the staff to pull the shutters down. “For precision components like these, one number translates into a million-dollar loss. You can take these defective units and explain them to the regulators.”

My best friend Ada felt sorry for my eight-year crush on Theo. So when our wolves recognize each other as mate, Ada simply gave me a pheromone-enhancing herb and sent me to Theo’s bed. Intoxicated by my scent, Theo claimed me like crazy. When I woke up, he coldly agreed to hold the marking ceremony. But shortly after the marking, Theo frequently visited European packs, and stayed away for five years. I raised our son Alex alone, waiting for him at the pack. But he never came come and just told me he didn’t like puppies. Until Alex's birthday party, I saw a video where someone asked him: "Theo, what's your happiest moment?" He replied carelessly: "Last week in Europe, after putting Marcus to sleep, I took Claire to the dining table in the living room." Amidst the whistles and cheers, my hands and feet turned ice cold. Claire was his ex-girlfriend, Marcus was his ex-girlfriend's son. They say he'd been living with them these five years in Europe, so it was all true. I was completely heartbroken, submitted the mate bond dissolution to the Alpha Council, and left North America with my son, erasing our pack registration.

Five years into marriage, Silvia Serra becomes both Dante Valenti's most lethal weapon and his most invisible presence. She shields him from bullets. She crosses a freezing river for him. Her scars accumulate, and his response is an assumption that it is how things are meant to be. In time, Dante grows repulsed by the violence clinging to her. He derides her lack of charm and gives his warmth to another woman instead. He allows others to grind down her dignity, and with a new lover in his arms, he openly stains her name. Silvia tolerates it so she can continue guarding him. Everyone mocks her as if she's numb to it all, driven away again and again, but never truly gone. Then comes the night of pounding rain. Cast aside without ceremony, Silvia erases every sign she was ever there and leaves with finality. Dante treats it as nothing more than sulking, convinced she will return within three days. Later, the once-untouchable Don was seen on his knees at Silvia's feet, stripped of all pride, begging her to turn back and look at him just once.

Left at the altar by her fiancé, film industry beauty Christine Ledesma, also known as Cassandra Mendez rebuilt her shattered life. Just when she thought she had finally gotten over him and turned over a whole new leaf, Marty Jacobs the infamous playboy billionaire showed up again to reclaim her. "Mommy, you're back." The little girl sweetly said. Marty came in and walked towards the living room. He put down Christine on the couch. The little girl was delighted to see Christine carried by Marty. The little girl held Marty's hand, looked up to him and spoke, "Mommy, is he my daddy?" The little girl's eyes were twinkling like the stars in the sky. Memories of five years ago came flooding her mind. Christine couldn't utter a word, for she was overwhelmed by the memories of five years ago. The little girl concluded that her mom's silence meant yes, the little girl spoke to Marty "Daddy, did you come back to take us with you?" Baffled, Marty couldn't speak and looked at Christine. Christine had regained her composure and said, "Cassie, sweetie, he is mommy's business partner."

Sinopsis : Axel Dandion adalah seorang CEO yang berwajah rupawan, bersifat kejam, serta memiliki kecerdasan yang luar biasa. Karena kecerdasannya inilah dia terkenal di kalangan para pengusaha dan sangat ditakuti oleh musuhnya. Namun, siapa sangka dibalik kesempurnaannya itu, ternyata ia hanyalah seorang laki-laki yang gagal move on terhadap cinta pertamanya. Suatu hari Axel sedang menyetir mobil, tiba-tiba di tengah perjalanan, Eleanor melintas tanpa melihat rambu-rambu lalu lintas. Kejadian ini, membuat Axel dan Eleanor saling membenci di pertemuan pertama mereka. Eleanor Freedy adalah seorang gadis mungil yang tidak takut akan apapun dan memiliki prinsip yang kuat. Ia merupakan anak dari seorang mafia. Suatu hari takdir mempertemukan mereka kembali dengan Eleanor sebagai mahasiswa magang di kantor Axel. Sejak itu, mereka berdua dipaksa untuk terus bertemu dan saling menyapa. Tetapi ketika mereka mulai mengenal satu sama lain dengan lebih baik, benih-benih cinta mulai muncul. Malangnya, mereka selalu mengalami hal buruk setelah cinta pertama Axel muncul. Tak hanya itu, ternyata mereka berdua dihubungkan dengan takdir yang rumit. Bisakah mereka berdua bersatu?

I just closed a deal worth 50 million. The room did its job, so I went to the reception to check out, and I got myself a bottle of water worth 2 dollars. That very same day, I got an email from the company accusing me of misusing company funds. They canceled three months' worth of KPI from my records and fined me 5,000 dollars. I ignored that, thinking that it was a mistake some new guy in finance made. When I went to work the next day, my access card was denied. It was canceled. I couldn't even get into the building. Furious, I called my CEO fiance, but his secretary took the call instead. "How many times do I have to tell you to follow the rules when it comes to money? Did you tell finance about that bottle of water? No? Then that's against the rules! Everyone else follows the rules, so why can't you? You're a veteran!" The CEO chimed in, "Christina, you're a veteran of the company. You must be an example. You're not allowed back to work until you finish your 8000-word reflection and read it out loud at the all-employee meeting!" They tossed the phone aside, and a moment later, moans of delight and passion traveled through the air. Stone-faced, I hung up and called our competitor's CEO. "I've got a 50-million-dollar deal and a sales manager who just got fired for you. Are you taking that deal?"

I never called my stepbrother, Victor Rossi, "brother." I loved him. In my previous life, I forced him to marry me, and we became the most infamously miserable couple in New Hampston's mafia circles. On Monday, he threw me into a lion's cage after starving the beast for three days. On Tuesday, I tied him to a spinning wheel and forced him to play Russian roulette. He hated me for tearing him away from the woman he loved. I hated him because we had grown up side by side, yet even after ten years of marriage, he could not forget the woman from the fishing village. Even in bed, wrapped around each other, we hurled the cruelest curses at one another. When the cruise ship went up in flames, Victor gave me his chance to live. He shoved me onto the last lifeboat, his voice gentler than it had ever been. "This life was exhausting. I don't want to fight with you anymore. Live well. In the next life, let me go." I watched the fire swallow him along with the ship. The deep sea buried everything. The light in my eyes went out with it. I threw myself into the freezing water and ended that absurd, painful life with my own hands. When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the moment I forced him to marry me. In this life, I would not destroy us both. As I watched him kneel before me, defiant even in the face of death, I did not drive away the woman he loved as I had before. "I will let you have her." Under Victor's stunned gaze, my eyes reddened as I spoke softly. "This time, I am the one who does not want you."

The story is a mixture of fantasy, a bit of comedy, unconventional romance, and addressing issues that people encounter everyday rolled into one. This ought to leave meaningful lessons about love, one's existence, new beginnings , and dealing with the different nuances of life.

Struggling with the same mad man, Arist Bañara, who she never wanted, Mercian Ara Bueno spent the rest of her two years within her boyfriend's iron hands. She became the woman that wasn't really her and even developed fears that could easily bully her in times of attacks. When the couple had the chance to move at Arist's biological parents' house, Mercian hoped to finally seek help from others to escape from her boyfriend's mistreatments. But what shocked her was actually seeing Lucre Marcus Zorron being Arist's brother. Who would've thought that the man she lived with all this time was related to her ex lover?

"Vaxel Jericho, do you take Clarissa Vicente to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in matrimony?" The priest asked. He bends to her ear, his face showing nothing but hate. "I vow to live together in hate, making you spend the rest of your life in agony and pain, and making you pay for the sins of your mother" he whispered to her ear. "To love her, to comfort her, to honor her and to cherish her?" "To hate you, punish you, to break you and get you fucked up" "In good health and in sickness, forsaking all others, until death do you part”? The priest asked. "In depression and in sickness, through tears and even at death we part not" his vows whisper to the ears of his bride. Fear written all over her face, she let the tear drop. This was just the beginning. ~~~ The war between both families, Vicente's and Jericho's, had started years before the heir's were born. Both families would never be seen in the same place at the same time, the mere mention of the name was a problem and caused a rise of anger. But something crazy happens and the heir and heiress of both families fall in love, as they say love happens. Falling in love was a crime and when both families find out about the little love affair between Vaxel and Clarissa the two are separated. Five years later, an accident occurs in Vaxel's welcome party, an accident that forces him to do the forbidden thing. He forcefully marries Clarissa in order to make her pay for the sin she never committed. The sins of her mother.