Bubbles Noise Meter

My father loved silence. He believed noise was the mark of lesser people, so he installed a decibel meter in our home. Speaking above 40 decibels meant that we would have to pay him 10 dollars, laughing above 60 decibels meant 50 dollars, and crying or throwing a tantrum was a serious offense at 100 dollars per second. The year I turned four, I fell and broke my arm. I did not make a single sound. I bit down so hard that I cracked two teeth, but I saved thousands in noise fees. He praised me for it and called me a "high-value child," one that was worth the investment. I treasured that compliment and observed the rules carefully, keeping the house wrapped in suffocating silence. Then came the stormy night a thief broke in. He had a knife and was creeping toward my mother as she slept, and I watched it all from the gap in the wardrobe where I was hiding. I wanted to scream. I wanted to shriek and wake my father, to do something, anything. However, my eyes drifted to the decibel meter on the wall, and my hand found nothing but an empty pocket. I did not have enough allowance. One scream would cost hundreds, and I simply could not afford it.

Pada ketinggian sepuluh ribu meter. Kedua kakiku terbuka lebar, bersandar pada dada yang bidang dan keras, membiarkan "area sensitif" yang butuh ditenangkan milikku terekspos tanpa penutup. "Pelatih, aku ... aku lupa melepas mainan itu, rasanya sakit sekali." Jemari yang terbungkus sarung tangan hitam legam mulai meraba masuk. "Aku akan membantumu mengeluarkannya sekarang dan meredakan rasa sakitmu. Kamu mau?"

After Emily died, she encountered an entity called Death. Death's mission is to take Emily to her soul's destination but things took an unexpected turn. Will they find love with each other? Will they surpass all the challenges they will encounter? Learn how to love what you fear the most, with a romantic story that subverts all expectations and boundaries.

Some secrets are kept in the dark. Others are screamed into the pillow. Aubrey "Yuna" Vance is a girl living a double life. To the students at Dam’s College, she’s the quiet, studious wallflower. But behind the closed doors of her mother’s new mansion, she is a voyeur, haunted by the rhythmic sounds of her stepfather’s bedroom and the shadow of a stepbrother who knows her every shameful habit. Jake Thomas is the billionaire athlete-turned-coach who built an empire on discipline. He’s the man who saved Aubrey’s mother from poverty, but to Aubrey, he is a walking temptation, a "hunk of a man" whose every glance feels like an intrusion. Then there is Drake, Thomas’s son. A popular biker with a cruel streak and a mountain of blackmail. He’s caught Aubrey at her weakest, and his price for silence is her total submission. When the school’s golden boy, Brendan, enters the fray with a public declaration of love, the fragile peace in the Thomas household shatters. Aubrey is no longer just watching; she’s being hunted. Between a stepfather who hides a mistress and a dark desire for his stepdaughter, and a stepbrother who wants to claim her out of pure spite or the sweet golden boy Brendan in which the world will be very much willing to accept but Aubrey is drowning in a sea of forbidden heat. In a house where the walls are thin and the secrets are thick, Aubrey must decide: Will she play the "good girl" for the world, or will she surrender to the noiseless dreams that keep her wet and awake at night?

Britania Raya menyimpan banyak sekali rahasia yang belum terungkap dalam sejarah pembentukannya. Salah satunya adalah Northern Union Loot, harta jarahan pasca konflik sebelum negara Skotlandia terbentuk berabad-abad yang lalu. Hingga detik ini, belum terungkap lokasi pasti tersembunyinya harta jarahan itu. Hingga akhirnya The Council for British Archeology (CBA) memutuskan untuk menutup pencarian, juga dengan alasan yang belum terungkap. Eleanor Aetherelt, atau kerap disapa Elly merupakan seorang wartawan lepas yang bertugas untuk mengirim tulisan-tulisan jurnalistik pada kantor berita kenamaan. Meski memiliki keterbatasaan sebagai seorang Tunanetra, Elly tetap profesional menjalankan tugasnya, melakukan yang terbaik agar semua mata memandangnya setara. Pada satu waktu, salah satu tulisan Elly mengundang kontroversi, setelah menyebut nama perusahaan besar di Inggris, Thorn Enterprise. Mengetahui hal ini, Sir Edric Arathorn selaku CEO perusahaan sekaligus orang terkaya di Inggris mengantarkan Elly menuju kediamannya. Dalam perbincangan bersama Sir Edric, Elly ditunjuk sebagai orang yang harus melanjutkan pencarian Northern Union Loot, sebagai bentuk pertanggungjawaban akan tulisan Elly yang memberikan dampak pada perusahaan Thorn Enterprise. Waktu-waktu pencarian tidaklah mudah bagi Elly, tak jarang setiap langkahnya terguncang, mulai dari terbatasnya data CBA hingga halangan kelompok Silvie, yang juga mengejar Northern Union Loot berlandaskan dendam. Northern Union Loot bukan sekedar pencarian, melainkan ujian, untuk Elly beserta segala keterbatasannya.

“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.”

I used to think that Arthur McKinley being my older brother was the luckiest thing that had happened to me. But now, the very same wolf happens to be the most unlucky thing that has happened to me. I'm not his biological sister. Most of my memories are filled with starvation, coldness, violence, lies… Only when Arthur brought me back to the Starfall pack did I finally end my seemingly endless life of being a homeless Rogue. He had given me the warmth and affection that I've never felt before, only to retract everything from me overnight. This all happened just because I had confessed my feelings to him on the night of my awakening. Isn't it natural for me to fall in love with a werewolf who takes immensely good care of me? Moreover, he's also my fated mate. But the problem is, Arthur is my older brother even though we aren't related by blood. It's fine. I believe that I have enough love and passion to melt his heart, just like how he had slowly etched himself into mine back then. Because of that, I choose to not get in contact with my birth parents despite having located them. This is so that I can continue staying in the Starfall pack and by Arthur's side. But everything has changed the moment he brings a she-wolf home and forces me to address her as the Luna. That is the first time his words cut into my heart. Well, I'm terrified of pain, and I'm also rather prideful. So, I lower my head obediently and say, "Hello, Luna." That night, I immediately contact the Alpha and Luna of the Silverfrost pack, who are also my birth parents.

On Valentine's Day, I paid in full for a sports car and gave it to my wife as a gift. But when my wife arrived at the private dining restaurant, she brought her parents—and her childhood sweetheart—along with her. The moment my mother-in-law saw it, she slammed her hand on the table, furious. "Tyler, do you have so much money that it's burning a hole in your pocket? Is all this really necessary just for a meal? "Megan pinches every penny at home, and here you are throwing money around outside—just to show off?" Embarrassed, I tried to explain that this was simply a token of my love for Megan. My father-in-law, however, kept a stern face. "No matter how expensive the car is, it's still going to get stuck in traffic during rush hour! It's not even as useful as the electric scooter Brandon gave her. If you ask me, you didn't put any real thought into this. "Oh, right. I heard the salesperson who sold you the car was introduced by Brandon. How exactly are you planning to repay that favor? No matter how busy you are with work, you can't just push everything onto Brandon to handle for you." I could hear the hidden meaning behind his words. So that was what this was really about. They were still holding a grudge because a week ago, when my father-in-law had twisted his back, I hadn't gone to the hospital to visit him. But at the time, I had been busy cleaning up the mess Brandon Hayes had caused for the company. I'd even kept him out of prison. Yet, instead of gratitude, they were turning the blame on me. After a long silence, my wife finally looked at me. "Tyler, transfer ten percent of the company's shares to Brandon as repayment." "And if I don't?" My father-in-law barked angrily, "Then I'll have Megan divorce you!" I laughed. Then I calmly pulled a divorce agreement from my pocket and placed it on the table. "Go ahead," I said. "Sign it."

Previously known as: I'll never forgive you Maryam Junaid, a pious, confident young Muslimah who lost her parents in a fire at the age of ten. As the little girl wandered the dangerous streets of New York, she was kidnapped and somehow ended up in the foster home of the Mehmoods. At the young age o

I have a premature rupture of the membrane when I'm 38 weeks pregnant. I have no choice but to undergo an emergency C-section. To my surprise and dismay, the anesthesiologist is my ex-boyfriend, with whom I broke up eight months ago. God, save me! Could I please have another anesthesiologist? It's my ex-boyfriend's child I'm giving birth to, and I suddenly don't want to bring the child into the world anymore!