Booktok March 2025

Entah Kinan harus bahagia atau merasa terkurung ketika ia dijodohkan dengan pria yang sempat ia taksir sebelumnya. “Mas?” Kinan memanggil pria yang sudah menjadi suaminya itu perlahan. Sembari menjawilnya dengan jari telunjuk.   “Apa, sih, Nan?!! Astagaaa!” Alan rupanya juga belum tidur pulas.   “Kenapa? Kamu grogi!?”sindir Alan lagi.    “Eh?”   Alan kemudian berbalik menghadap pada istrinya.    “Kamu mau aku ngapain kamu???”   “Ng-nggak kok, Mas. Aku nggak minta apa-apa,” ucap Kinan gemataran. Ia menarik selimutnya hingga sebatas leher.   Alan malah semakin mendekatkan kepalanya pada Kinan. “Kamu mau malam pertama seperti pasangan pada umumnya?” tanyanya. Apakah mereka akan menyesali ini semua nantinya? ==================== Published in March 2022 Cover by Canva Pro Follow Instagram dan Facebook Page @novelbyreb

I knew the exact moment when everything changed. It was the day in March, the same one I got assaulted by my boss, lost my job, saved my pregnant sister from committing suicide, and as if it wasn’t enough… it was the day Kieran King walked into my life. I hated Kieran from the moment I laid my eyes on him for the first time. He was an arrogant bastard that turned my life upside down, and no matter how much I despised him, I also could not live without him. He blackmailed me, used me, he was cruel and rough, and I wanted nothing more than to get away… but he also saved my life and protected me when I needed it the most. Now I don’t know if I can leave anymore. My name is Sophia Howard and this is my story.

Une menteuse incontrôlable face à un PDG glacial Léna a un don : elle ment comme elle respire. Pas par méchanceté, juste parce que la vérité est souvent… ennuyeuse. Embellir son CV, inventer des expériences incroyables, se faire passer pour quelqu’un d’autre ? Un jeu d’enfant. Mais quand son dernier mensonge la propulse dans une multinationale dirigée par Adrian Blackwood, l’homme le plus redouté du monde des affaires, elle réalise qu’elle a peut-être joué un peu trop gros. Un PDG qui ne tolère pas l’erreur Adrian Blackwood est un homme de principes. La rigueur, l’efficacité, la vérité. Il ne laisse aucune place au hasard ni aux erreurs humaines. Alors, quand il découvre que sa nouvelle assistante a un CV plus bidon qu’un billet de monopoly, il devrait la virer sur-le-champ. Mais quelque chose chez elle l’intrigue. Sa confiance insolente, sa façon de se sortir de chaque situation par une pirouette verbale… et surtout, le défi qu’elle représente. Un marché impossible Plutôt que de la mettre à la porte, Adrian lui propose un marché : un mois d’essai, à une seule condition. Pas un seul mensonge. Un écart et elle est dehors. Léna accepte… puis réalise qu’elle vient de se condamner elle-même. Dire la vérité ? Elle n’a jamais su faire. Surtout pas face à un patron qui semble capable de lire dans ses pensées et qui, malgré son air glacial, commence dangereusement à lui plaire. Entre tensions et mensonges Quand la vérité éclatera, qui sortira vainqueur ?

Leila, princesse de la mafia marseillaise au sourire solaire, rentre d'exil pour découvrir son destin scellé : épouser Yanis Belmecher, le parrain rival qu'on surnomme "le Serpent". Leur union n'est qu'un marché de paix entre clans ennemis. Lui, froid et calculateur, ne voit en elle qu'un pion à briser. Elle, révoltée, jure de le haïr. Pourtant, prise au piège de ce mariage forcé, Leila comprend qu'elle n'a qu'une arme : toucher le cœur de ce prédateur aux yeux noirs. Mais comment attendrir un serpent ? Alors qu'elle s'enfonce dans son univers de violence, elle découvre avec effroi sa fascination pour les ténèbres... et pour les mains tatouées de celui qui jure de la détruire.

My mother kept a red notebook recording all of my sister's favourite things. She had a blue notebook for me too. When my mother was hospitalized, I took leaves from work to take care of her. My sister had never shown up. However, my mother recorded in the blue notebook, '15th March, I am not well and am hospitalized. Celine owed me 450 dollars for food allowance. I knew that was not a notebook about my favourite things, but a notebook of all of my expenses. Behind the closed doors, Mother said to Father, "Celine is an evil person. She always likes to compete with her sister. We must take a chance to steal all her money and leave with Belle. Later when we are old, we will ask her to take care of us. I think we should just ask her to pay us back all the money we spent on her that I have recorded in this notebook. I was devastated at that moment.

Susie Chance always claimed to value fairness above all else. Because of that, she ordered a specially designed chip implanted into my body. Whenever her childhood sweetheart suffered bouts of stomach cancer, all his suffering would be transferred onto me. On the day he underwent tumor-removal surgery, I collapsed in agony in the hospital corridor. Meanwhile, Susie gently comforted him in the ward. “So? It didn’t hurt at all, right?” Later, she said she wanted to hold a wedding with her childhood sweetheart, so he could experience being a groom as well. “Even though the one marrying me is Mark, the one I’ll register with in the future will still be you. I told you… I’ve always treated you both equally.” I said nothing, simply returning the wedding ring she had once placed in my hands. However, when the wedding march finally began to play, I boarded a one-way flight far away.

Je pensais m’être échappée. Je pensais pouvoir passer à autre chose, construire une vie avec l’homme que j’aime, et vivre avec mon fils unique. Mais tout s’est effondré quand je l’ai revu. Dominic Lawson. Il était mon demi-frère, celui qui me tourmentait émotionnellement. J’ai juré de ne plus jamais le revoir, mais maintenant il est de retour, tenant un secret assez puissant pour ruiner mes fiançailles avec son meilleur ami. « Épouse-moi pendant deux ans. » C’est ce qu’il a dit. C’était son marché pour garder la bouche fermée, mais j’étais déjà fiancée à son meilleur ami, Daniel. Maintenant j’ai deux jours pour décider. Épouser mon demi-frère ou tout perdre.

On the last day of the year, my music player app pushed out my 2025 listening report. My keyword was 'Resonance.' I had not actually spent much time listening to music that year. My account had mostly been used by my boyfriend, Jeremy Steward. A small line of text appeared underneath. [At 4:00 A.M. on December 1st, you were still sharing the same song with someone. So this is what love looks like, staying awake through the night.] My breath caught. December 1st was my birthday. However, that night, I had gone to bed early. Jeremy had rushed off right after cutting the cake, saying he needed to go back to the office for overtime. Almost as if possessed, I tapped my trembling hands on the unfamiliar profile that showed up as my most frequent interaction. Their keyword for the year was 'Exclusively Yours.' My heart skipped. I opened the details. [This year, you and this user listened to songs together late at night 688 times. Every time is a private whisper between souls.] Right then, a message from Jeremy popped up on my phone. [Babe, I have to work late again tonight. Don't wait up for me. Sleep early, okay?] At the same moment, that unfamiliar account posted a new update. A photo of two hands intertwined inside a car, fingers tightly laced together. [I love working late with him the most. We'll listen to music together for a lifetime.]

My family sold one of their properties to put me through school abroad. Nathan Kingsley and I had been together three years. Two of those were long-distance. Through those two years of me alone overseas, he never broke contact — airport pickups, long phone calls, every anniversary remembered. I'd never once doubted him. I thought distance hadn't beaten us. The day I flew home, he was waiting at Arrivals with a bouquet of flowers. He smiled and said, "Finally." We set the engagement date. We picked out the dress. We booked the reception. The day the wedding march began and I stood at the top of the aisle looking at him, I thought — these three years were worth every minute. Then the doors behind me opened. My sister walked into the chapel, in a white dress, and slid her arm through his. She smiled at me. "Sorry, sis. Those airport pickups? I'm the one who sent him. For the last three years, he's been mine the whole time."

During the holiday season, a flood hits. The company's warehouse is submerged up to the third floor. Due to the emergency, I have my assistant tell everyone to come back a day early to help. I promise that the company will provide stipends and extra time off to make up for this. But on that day, a Gen Z employee goes live across the internet to report me. "Oh, my God. It's 2025, yet there are still companies forcing employees to adjust their time off and work overtime! Is this heartless boss so broke that she needs to exploit us like this? Will she die if she doesn't squeeze us out of every drop of usefulness? Company notices override the law. Impressive stuff, this is!" Soon, the company ends up on the trending list due to criticism from the online community. Even the regulators come knocking to hold us accountable. In the end, the company is forced to cancel the notice. A lot of equipment isn't salvaged in time, resulting in significant losses. The employee even posts a victory lap. "Give the boss a tiny lesson—see if she dares to force overtime again!" I'm so angry that I laugh out loud. I tell my assistant to cancel the annual benefit we give all employees—an entire month of paid time off for Christmas and the New Year holidays. If we have to stick strictly to the law, then fine. Have it your way!