Actually I Was There Alone

Sabi nila magpa-kasal tayo sa taong minamahal natin. Ano pa ang dahilan ng pagpapa-kasal kung sa hindi mo naman minamahal ang iyong pakakasalan? Dare? Responsibility? Or for business purposes only? Isasakripisyo ba ang mga sarili para sa iba? O mas pipiliin ang sariling kasiyahan? Keziah Arwen, 21, is married to Noah Oliver, 22, his best enemy since childhood. The only connection they have aside from being married is that they definitely hate each other. There is no day that they won't argue. It would be a miracle if they didn't. Can love be taught? Will they be able to meet someone they truly love?

I was finally pregnant after three years of marriage. I was going to head to where my husband works with a lunchbox in my hand to tell him the good news. But I ended up being mistaken as a mistress by his secretary. She dumped the food I had prepared on my head, stripped my clothes off, and continued to hit me until I had a miscarriage. “You’re just a servant. How dare you seduce Mr. Gates and bear his child? “Today, I’ll make sure you suffer the consequences of being a mistress!” She then went to my husband asking for a reward. “Mr. Gates, I took care of a servant who wanted to seduce you. How are you going to reward me?”

Lara is an independent woman in her thirties. She’s currently working as a teacher in a prestigious high school for girls in Manila. Isang politiko ang ama niya at abala sa pangangampanya sa darating na eleksiyon bilang alkalde sa probinsya ng Tarlac. Dahil dito ay naging politikal/legal advisor ng kanyang ama si Dion Montefalco. Si Dion ay anak ng isang politiko sa San Juan at kaibigan iyon ng kanyang ama. Hindi niya inakala na ang muling pagpasok ni Dion sa buhay nila ang magiging dahilan ng pagbaliktad ng kanyang mundo. Kung tadhana nga itong maituturing hula niya, sila'y pinaglaruan.

Masarap mahalin ang taong iniidolo mo. Pero hindi akalain ni Jesabell na iyon din ang magdudulot ng pait at lungkot sa kaniyang puso. Umasa siya na higit pa sa alam niyang pagmamahal ang makuha mula kay Tyler, na siyang umaaruga sa kaniya mula nang mamatay ang mga magulang niya. Gusto lang naman niyang mahalin siya ng binata, tulad ng pagmamahal niya rito. Pero hindi nangyari ang inaasam dahil dumating ang tunay na hero sa buhay ni Tyler. Ano ang laban niya sa babaeng ginagaya ang pagkatao niya at mas magaling umakting? Ang sakit at gusto nang palayain ni Jesabell ang sarili mula sa pantasyang binuo sa puso't isipan. Ngunit paano niya takasan ang buhay na mayroon siya ngayon kung ayaw siyang pakawalan ng binata? Habambuhay na lang ba siyang masaktan, at hayaang maging talunan sa mata ng mga taong nagpapanggap upang agawin ang mayroon siya? O ibigay ang gusto ng mga ito at hayaang maging masama ang pagkatao upang makaganti?

Pangarap ni Farrah Paraiso na ikasal sa kaniyang nobyo pero natuklasan niya na walong taon na siyang kasal sa kinaiinisang lalaki noong college, si Damon Punongbakal. Hindi niya inaasahan na ang kasal-kasalan nila dahil sa kalasingan ay naging totohanan. Minabuti niyang hanapin ang lalaki upang solusyonan ang problema, ngunit paano kung sa kanilang pagtatagpo ay ayaw na siyang pakawalan nito? Mahulog kaya ang loob ni Farrah kay Damon?

I woke up to the morning sun shining dimly into my room, directly into my face. The feeling of a rough hand resting lightly on my stomach, I turn over and my eyes widen with shock. How the hell did my Chief end up in my bed? What did I do last night? I tried my hardest to remember what all went down at the mandatory command picnic… I remember going out to a bar outside of base. I remember dancing, after running into a friend from my previous command, that left a year after I got there, because she got transferred to a new command. I remember her buying me shots, to celebrate our reunion and working together again. But then everything went blank….

Two years ago, as a graduate of Werewolf Medical School, I volunteered to go to the most remote and poorest pack, as it had always been my dream to help werewolf patients in need. I heard from my teacher that the werewolves in the Rogue Pack were the poorest and that their living conditions were the worst. Most of the werewolves there were old and weak, so I volunteered to go to that pack as soon as I graduated. After I arrived, I helped them build an infirmary and even set up a blood station. Every year, I led them in voluntary blood donations. But one time—right after I had taken a short break following a blood donation—they turned on me. They slandered me, calling me a selfish and heartless healer. Worse still, they accused me of faking illness, claiming I was lying comfortably in bed while patients were dying—refusing to lift a finger to save them. Not only that, they stormed into the infirmary, seized all my herbs and equipment, and completely trashed the place I had built for them with my own hands. Recalling the days I had spent day and night healing them—only to see my infirmary destroyed and my dream shattered—I let out a bitter smile. I picked up the phone and called the dean of my home pack. "I'm ready to return," I said. "I want to serve the patients in our own pack." Then, without a trace of regret, I left that place behind. However, after I gave up, the whole pack regretted it and begged me to return.

(This story may contain violent plotline. Read at your own risk. R18) Leigh is just an ordinary high school girl who wants to finish her studies peacefully, but things don't seem to be going as planned when she witnesses the brutality of Kenji, a guy with a darker past. She began to become involved with this guy that night, no matter how hard she tried to avoid him. Meeting him is a nightmare she never wished for-and as she becomes entangled with Kenji, unexplainable feelings begin to grow inside of her. No matter how much she tries to avoid him, fate has a way of bringing them together. How is she going to get away from him? Will she be able to get away from him, or will the opportunity to change him and make him a better person pass her by?

“There's this thing when you meet a person but all you feel is hate even though he didn't do anything to you.” Maybe that’s what JR feels for Gerard. Once the other man saw Gerard’s face, all it takes is a second from a face devoid of any emotion to scowling one when JR lays his eyes on him. Imbes tuloy na matuwa si Gerard na nakita na niya sa wakas ang matagal na niyang hinahanap na matalik na kaibigan noong mga bata pa sila, nawala ang saya na iyon nang maramdaman niya ang pagkadisgusto ni JR sa kanya kahit wala naman siyang ginagawa rito. Hindi na siya umamin at ang pag-aasam na maging kaibigan ito muli ay nauwi sa wala. But why after years of not seeing each other, John Raven suddenly wants to be friends with him again? Why was the other hell bent on making up with him? Naaalala na ba siya nito o may mas malalim pang dahilan ang paglapit ni JR sa kanya?

I was the stand-in who looked most like my husband's first love. He put me through countless plastic surgeries, both major and minor ones, until I became her exact likeness. But then, she came back from the dead. All it took was her saying, "I don't like anyone looking like me," and he sent me right back to the operating table once more. I begged him, telling him that my body couldn't handle it anymore. Alas, he only looked at me with irritation. "Seeing that cheap imitation of her face just disgusts me," he sneered. "No matter how close you come, you'll never be her." In the end, I died on that operating table. Yet, he went mad, trying desperately to recall what I once looked like.