Apa Itu Second Choice

By the fifth year of my marriage to River Grayson, I had stopped checking his call logs and chat records. Instead, I spent my nights drinking and partying with my girlfriends at the poolside bar. When his ninety-ninth missed call lit up my screen, I let out a cold laugh and tossed my phone straight into the water. It didn't take long before he came storming in. The moment he pulled the strawberry-scented condom out of my pocket, he turned grim and banned me from leaving the house after 7:00 PM. "Joanne, you weren't like this before." I thought back to last month, when I had run into him at the hospital. He had lied about being on a business trip out of town, but there he was, holding Yvonne Sinclair's hand. I still remembered his words. "You lost your uterus from saving me back then. My sperm is perfectly fine. I'll give you a child—with your mother's help." Now, staring into his furious eyes, I said coldly, "Don't worry. There's no going back for us anymore."

His hot breath fanned my ear and I nearly died the moment the straps of my dress fell away. Revealing a part of myself that left me vulnerable to his hungry gaze that moved over me. I pride myself on decency, to always be appropriate but the way he clenched his jaw and ran his large hands on my thighs made me go. . . to hell with decency. Reaching out, the need to touch him no longer bearable, I traced the outline of his torso through the fabric of his shirt. But even that wasn't enough as my hands moved underneath the fabric to trace the muscles there. He shifted slightly away triggering a fear in me that I had done something wrong. However, the fear diminished when he removed the fabric- granting my eyes the chance to feast on seeing more of his skin. He moved forward peppering light kisses all over my neck and torso only to latch onto my nipple tugging gently on the hard nub. I cried out at the movement of his teeth and tongue as his hands kept me close hindering any chance to reduce the contact to damn near impossible. Reducing the contact was the last thing I wanted, especially considering how far we had come. . .

Demi menarik mereka yang telah menghancurkan hidupku. Kini aku memilih menggenggam tangan pria berasal dari kegelapan, menjatuhkan diriku sendiri sembari menghancur leburkan mereka, sayangnya aku justru semakin jatuh dalam permainanku sendiri. Aku mencintai sosok kegelapan yang justru tampak bercahaya di mataku. Ia adalah polaris yang selalu berpendar di langit hatiku. Meski akal beserta indera di tubuhku menyadari ia hanyalah sosok fana terikat dalam untaian benang perjanjian dan menjalankan peran sebagai seorang 'kepala keluarga' khayalanku. Cinta dan perasaan kami adalah sebuah dosa, semakin lama kian menusuk lebih dalam serta menorehkan luka pada kami. Hanya saja, aku akan tetap memilih jalan yang sama dan menerima uluran tangannya. Bahkan aku akan tetap memilih jatuh dalam pelukannya dan ia pun begitu. Dan jika kelak jiwaku pergi, Selamanya ia akan selalu menjadi Suami Tercinta ku hingga nanti.

"Aku tidak selingkuh, aku meneliti." Begitu kata Rayendra, seorang dosen psikologi pernikahan yang sedang membuat jurnal ilmiah bertajuk “Efek Ketidakpuasan Emosional Terhadap Perilaku Infidelitas di Kalangan Pasangan Urban”. Tapi semua jadi rumit ketika subjek penelitiannya ternyata membuatnya benar-benar jatuh cinta. Di satu sisi, Rayen harus tetap menjaga statusnya sebagai suami ideal di mata rekan kampus dan istrinya yang seorang psikiater terkenal. Di sisi lain, ia mulai tenggelam dalam hubungan berbahaya dengan Amel, seorang istri yang menjadi relawan “eksperimen sosial”-nya. Apakah cinta bisa dijustifikasi dengan logika ilmiah? Ataukah justru ilmiah hanyalah kedok dari kebohongan paling manusiawi? Di balik candaan dan teori-teori psikologi yang ia lontarkan, ada sebuah pertanyaan besar yang tak mampu ia jawab: “Selingkuh itu dosa atau kebutuhan?”

Pelakor itu tak lain adalah tanteku sendiri, adik bungsu dari ibuku. Tante Lili umurnya tak jauh beda denganku, tiga tahun lebih tua dariku. Parasnya yang cantik membuat banyak laki-laki terpesona dengannya. Termasuk Mas Pram-suamiku. Suami yang sudah menemaniku selama lima tahun. Tante Lili tega melakukan segala cara untuk mendapatkan Mas Pram. Kebaikan kami mengizinkan dia tinggal di rumah kami malah dibalas dengan hal yang begitu menyakitkan.

Tiga tahun menikah, kudapati suami dan adikku berzina di tempat kerja mereka. Sakit dan hancur, aku pun mulai mempersiapkan serangkaian pembalasan untuk pengkhianatan keduanya. Kalau kumulai dengan berselingkuh juga, seharusnya tidak masalah, bukan?

My sister and I are twins, and we both have kidney failure. After a long wait, we finally find two matching kidneys. The doctor is prepared to transplant one for me and one for her. However, she breaks down in tears in my fiancé's arms—she wants both kidneys for herself. When I object, my fiancé locks me up at home. He has my sister undergo surgery to have both kidneys transplanted. "You haven't been sick for as long as your sister has. She just wants to live like a normal person—how can you be so selfish? Can't you wait for the next matching kidney?" He doesn't know that I can't wait any longer, though. I'm going to die soon.

Karena penghianatan mantan suami serta sahabatnya, membuat Senja trauma dan menutup hatinya pada semua pria. Namun siapa sangka pertemuannya dengan Langit yang menolongnya, perlahan membuatnya mulai goyah. Apalagi Langit sangat pandai mengambil hati dan perhatian sang anak, Bina. Tapi kebahagiaan yang mereka reguk harus terhalang oleh restu orang tua Langit yang menginginkan menantu yang sepadan dan terhormat. Belum lagi godaan mantan suami yang patah hati mengajaknya rujuk kembali karena dikhianati calon istri. Mampukan Senja melewati semua cobaan ini? Atau ia menyerah dan kembali ke mantan suaminya?

At my own wedding, the groom switched—Malcolm Lowell bailed, and the best man stepped in. Lumi, the Irving's real daughter, latched onto Malcolm's arm and smirked from the crowd. "I was just feeling a little low," she said. "Didn't think Malcolm would go this far for me." Malcolm raised a brow. "I just wanted to make her happy. You took her spot for years. Time to pay it back. This is for your own good." That's when it hit me—this whole wedding was a setup, a twisted show just to entertain Lumi. All because I was the adopted one. I'd lived in her place for over two decades. I didn't cry. Didn't freak out. I just took the new groom's hand, faced the priest, and said, "Keep going."

Karena permainan licik adik ipar, Ansel yang harusnya mewarisi perusahaan berlian ternama di negeri itu harus menderita dalam lingkaran kemiskinan bersama sang istri. Bahkan, keduanya terpaksa meninggalkan bayi mereka yang masih merah untuk bekerja! Lantas bagaimana kisah Ansel selanjutnya? Mampukah pewaris sesungguhnya itu mendapatkan kembali haknya?