Beauty Is Painful Novels & Stories

All Norah wanted was to finish nursing school and keep her head down. She didn’t expect Ivan Thomas—the boy with the broken past and the fire in his eyes. He was her first protector, her first heartbreak… and the man she never forgot. Years later, their paths cross again. He’s powerful now, and still impossibly drawn to her. But love between them comes with scars, second chances, and a fight for forever.

After helping illegitimate son Clifford Johansen rise to fame, Seraphine Lodge gets ruthlessly discarded. Clifford turns around and proposes to his "true love" with a fireworks show worth hundreds of millions. He also indulges her as she makes Seraphine's mother, Andrea Lodge, die from a heart attack. He robs Seraphine of her identity as a true heiress without remorse. Seraphine gives her heart to the wrong man, but she doesn't scream or cry. Instead, she dumps the scumbag, pockets 200 million dollars in breakup fees, and watches her career soar. But Clifford refuses to let her go. He ruins her reputation, turning public opinion against her. Seraphine doesn't bow to power or cruelty. Anyone who dares cross her gets a taste of her revenge, which comes swiftly and brutally. Sweet revenge is satisfying, but an even sweeter thrill arrives one night while cloaked in moonlight. A tall, commanding figure approaches, radiating elegance and dominance. It's Elliott Johansen, the heir to Dirkane's most prominent family. He's powerful, untouchable, and feared by all. Seraphine freezes. Then comes his low, magnetic voice in her ear, "Sera, leave the violence to me. If you get hurt, my heart will ache." Her heart skips a beat. He continues, "Be good. We'll go home together once I'm through with them."

The day the Porter family went bankrupt, my elder sister, who had been engaged to Calvin Porter, claimed she was in love with someone else and cut ties with him without a second thought. I was the one who stepped forward to take her place, becoming the laughingstock of our social circle. I smoothed away all the hardness in him, tried to shape myself into the woman he liked, and swallowed countless moments of bitterness, hoping only to warm his distant heart. Until our wedding day. A car accident happened, and Calvin's first instinct was to shield my sister with his whole body. "Rebecca, don't be scared. Where are you hurt? We'll get you to the hospital right away!" He carried her into the ambulance without so much as glancing back at me. I looked down at the iron rod piercing my chest and felt warm blood gush out. It was only then I understood. He was not indifferent by nature, he was simply indifferent to me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Calvin came to our house carrying the engagement gift.

Jamie is a single mother consumed by the guilt of her past. She abandoned her kind, stable boyfriend, Larry, for her baby's reckless father, only to be left alone and struggling with the consequences. Jobless and desperate, she is forced to swallow her pride and beg Larry—the man whose heart she betrayed—for employment assistance.

Forced to marry the cold billionaire heir, Adams Carter, to save her crumbling family business, Gina Thompson decides to have one last night of fun before taking her marriage vows. Unexpectedly, the man who caught her attention that fateful night turned out to be the billionaire himself, Christopher Carter, her father in-law. Will they both ignore their growing feelings for each other? What will happen when Adams finds out that his wife had a one-night stand with his father?

When Ethan Reed shoves divorce papers across the anniversary dinner Mia Thompson spent hours preparing, he believes he's trading up — swapping his quiet schoolteacher wife for her glamorous best friend and the "power couple" image his investors demand. What he doesn't know: the woman he's throwing away funded his entire empire with her dead parents' life insurance money — and still owns 45% of the company he just sold for $25 million. For six years, Mia paid his loans, wrote his pitch decks, and worked two jobs while he coded his dreams into reality. She loved him enough to carry his child alone for eight weeks, waiting for the perfect moment to tell him. That moment came in a doorway — divorce papers in one hand, her best friend smirking behind him in a red dress. She signed. She walked out. She collapsed in a hospital parking lot and lost the baby no one knew existed. Some men burn down the wrong house. Some women have to lose everything before they realize they were holding the match the whole time. And some betrayals come with a price tag — exactly $25 million, plus interest.

I cradled Chloe’s newborn, filled with joy and affection. The baby was not blood of mine, yet as Chloe’s best friend, I would love and protect the little one with everything I had. "Sweet boy," I whispered, gently tapping the tip of his nose. "I'm your godmother. No one would ever hurt you." The hospital room was washed in golden afternoon light. Adrian stood by the window in a dark overcoat, his profile sharp against the glass. He looked exactly like the man the whole industry knew: controlled, elegant, untouchable. Hollywood's golden producer. My newlywed husband. Then he said, in a voice as flat as if he were discussing a contract, "He's not your godson. He's my son." For a second, I thought I had misheard him. Maybe I was just exhausted from the wedding, from the endless calls and fittings and congratulations. I almost laughed. But Adrian turned around. A cruel little smile curved his lips. "The child is mine," he said again. My arms tightened around the baby. "The night you got hurt," he went on, "I was with Chloe the whole night. We went through an entire box... apparently this little guy still found a way to arrive." I couldn't move. It felt as if ice water had been poured down my throat. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. After a long silence, I finally managed to whisper, "But... we only registered our marriage yesterday." Adrian walked over and put an arm around my shoulders, almost gently. His tone was soft, but it carried the kind of condescension people used with a child throwing a tantrum. "Don't worry. Chloe and I were never going to get married. If I had wanted to marry her, I would have done it years ago." He paused, and something almost pleased flashed in his eyes. "Didn't Chloe ever tell you? We had a history. I was her first."

First love is supposed to fade. Yours became an obsession. Liam Thorne was everything to you—his warmth, his kindness, his adorable quirks. You risked it all and confessed, only for him to break your heart with three devastating words: "This is my girlfriend." Ten years later, you've painstakingly rebuilt your life, securing a prestigious job at the Aethelgard Corporation in the gleaming city of Aethelburg. But on your first day, your past walks through the door. There he is, your first love, now your cold, demanding boss who treats you like a total stranger. Blinded by a decade of pain, you unleash your fury on him… until a shocking revelation changes everything. The man in front of you isn't Liam. He's his older brother, and your fresh start just became a beautiful, complicated nightmare.

Mom accidentally adds me into a group chat called "Happy Family". In the group chat, I saw Mom, Dad, and a stranger who's nicknamed "sweetheart". They are in the middle of organizing a birthday party for him. However, the thing is, tomorrow will be my birthday, which they have forgotten for the tenth time in a row. Mom says, "The venue must be dreamy. I want him to feel like an actual prince." Dad transfers a huge sum of money to "sweetheart". "Money is no problem! Just don't let Christopher find out about this. It'll screw things up for us!" I quietly take screenshots of everything, planning to find a chance to expose my parents' true colors and end everything with them once and for all. At that moment, my younger sister, who's always been great at her studies, sends me a screenshot via our private chat. It's a screenshot of the chat history between her and Mom. "Mom, have you made preparations for Christopher's surprise party yet? You promised me that this is the last time you'd lie to him!"

As they stood atop a cliff, the kidnapper held a knife to her throat, and the throat of his dream girl. “You can choose only one.”“I choose her,” the man said, pointing to his dream girl.Stella’s voice trembled as she said, “Weston… I’m pregnant.”Weston looked at her indifferently. “Gwen has a fear of heights.”Many years passed after that.Rumor had it that Ahn City’s prestigious Mr. Weston Ford was always lingering outside the house of his ex-wife, even breaking boundaries to pamper her, even if she would never bat an eyelid at him.Rumor had it that the night Stella brought a man home with her, Weston almost died at her door. Everyone was envious of Stella, but she smiled politely and said, “Don’t die at my door. I fear germs.”