Can Love Last

เมื่อแฟนเก่าของฉันมาขอให้ฉันมีอุ้มบุญให็เนื่องจากแฟนสาวซึ่งเป็นภรรยาหมาดๆของเขานั้นมีลูกยากและมีความเสี่ยงสูงที่จะแท้งแฟนเก่าของฉันที่รู้จักฉันดีกว่าใครเขารู้ว่าฉันรักเด็กมากจึ่งมาขอความช่วยเหลือเนื่องจากไม่กล้าท่ี่จะไปจ้างคนอื่นให้ช่วยเพราะกลัวว่าจะเป็นเหมือนในข่าวที่ว่าแม่อุ้มบุญไม่ยอมยกลูกให้เลยมาขอให้ฉันช่วย และด้วยความทีี่เราสองคนเลิกกันด้วยดีเพราะเราเป็นเพื่อนที่เรียนด้วยกันมาตั้งแต่เด็กๆและบ้านใกล้กันทำให้เรามีความสนิทกันมากสาเหตุที่เลิกกันเพราะระยะหว่างระหหว่างที่เราเรียนมหาลัยหรืออาจเพราะเราไม่ได้รักกันในแบบคนรักตั้งแต่ทีแรกก็ได้เพราะเราอยู่ด้วยกันมาก เลยทำให้เราคิดว่าเรารักกัน ซึ่งความจริงนั้นอาจจะเป็นความรักของเพื่อนแค่นั้นเอง ฉันที่ไม่ได้ติดอะไรมากและด้วยความที่เป็นคนรักเด็กเป็นทุนเดิมอยู่แล้วก็ตอบตกลงแต่ก็มีข้อยกเว้นหนึ่งข้อคือฉันจะอุ้มให้หลังจากที่ฉันคลอดลูกของตัวเองเท่านั้น ซึี่งในตอนนี้ก็คือฉันยังโสด และก็ไม่รู้ว่าจะมีแนตอนไหนด้วย ที่ฉันยื่นเงื่อนไขนี้ให้เขาเพราะว่าเรื่องอะไรที่ฉันจะเสียสละทุกอย่างเพื่อคนอื่นขนาดนั้น ฉังยังโสดยังซิงถ้าคลอดลูกไปฉันต้องถูกสามีในอนาคตมองว่าไม่บริสุทธิ์แน่ๆ

On our fifth anniversary, Henry Judd—the guy who once swore he'd propose—rented out an entire mall for Cecilia Cheape's birthday. A diamond the size of a pigeon's egg sparkled on her finger. I'd been dumb enough to think it was meant for me. "Cece, I'm gonna give you a birthday you'll never forget," he announced, loud enough for the whole world to hear. Then he yanked the tab off a soda can and handed it to me. "Lulu, those gaudy things don't suit you. You deserve something unique." He slid the can tab onto my finger—his version of a proposal. Cecilia got the dream birthday. I got a piece of trash and a slap of reality. Later, when he found out I was marrying someone else, he got down on one knee with that same ring and begged me to say yes.

In the year 2028, the government decides to destroy the world sparing only one million people to restart the next generation. Of those one million people is Christopher Woodsen, a 16 year old tasked with upholding the law of the bunker they were forced into.

As panic sweeps through the city and everyday streets collapse into chaos, Ciprian is driven by one unshakable instinct: protect Adam at all costs. When an unexplained catastrophe turns the urban landscape into a pressure cooker of fear and survival, nothing matters more than keeping his best friend alive. In this fast-paced short story, a sudden crisis forces two friends to confront more than danger. As tension rises and the city descends into disorder, buried emotions, unspoken attraction, and complicated feelings come to the surface. What begins as survival quickly becomes something deeper, binding their fates together in ways neither of them expected. Set against a backdrop of urban collapse, panic, and uncertainty, this emotional short fiction explores friendship, loyalty, and love under pressure. Perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven stories, disaster scenarios, slow-burn emotion, LGBTQ+ themes, and intimate moments set during world-altering events. A gripping short story about connection, courage, and the fragile line between friendship and something more—meant to be read in one sitting, but felt long after.

"Iwasan mong lagi akong tingnan, bawal yan," sabi ni Kara habang kumakain. "Bakit bawal?" Kinakabahang tanong ko. Nag-iba ang pakiramdam ko, ewan ko ba sa babaeng ito, may lahi yata mangkukulam. "Baka ma-inlove ka."

Everyone in Oceanton knew that mob boss Jared Pierce was deeply in love with me. No one feared my disappearance more than he did. Even if bullets were raining down on him, he'd still find a way to contact me, just to make sure I felt safe. But on the night before our wedding, he didn't come home. When he finally returned, he dropped to his knees, a bruised and weakened woman cradled in his arms. "Rosalia! Melody took the drug just to save me! I can't just watch her die! So I had no choice but to sleep with her." Terrified that I wouldn't forgive him, Jared drew six wounds into his arm. Blood soaked through his shirt in an instant. As soon as the wedding banquet ended, I heard his men chuckling and teasing. "The boss didn't even take off his wedding outfit before rushing to see Melody. Just how seductive is his lover?" Jared’s low, sultry voice followed. "Last time I stayed with her, I didn’t come back for three days and nights. Take a guess." In shock and despair, I called out the system. "I want to leave this world!" The system's cold voice replied, "After your exit, this world will erase all traces of your existence. Counting down… Seven days."

He died two years ago. Tonight his perfect replica whispered the safe word only the real him knew. Now she must decide: keep the lie alive… or lose him forever.

I should have been walking down the aisle. Instead, I was running through the woods in my wedding dress. The white fabric caught on every branch, tearing apart like my life. My name is Camela Siegel. My father is the Mayor, and he sold me to save himself. Vincent Castellano was supposed to be my husband. They call him the Mad Prince, but I learned he’s so much worse than that. His hands trembled when he touched me—sometimes gentle, like I might break, and sometimes rough, like he wanted to overpower me. “You’re mine now,” he’d whisper in the dark corners of that house. “No one else gets to touch you. No one else gets to hurt you but me.” I tried the door handle every day for three months. It only turned from the outside. When help finally came, I thought it was over. I thought I could go home and pretend none of it ever happened. I was wrong. Vincent found my journal—the one where I wrote about him, about what he did to me, and about who he truly is. Now he’s not just keeping me locked up. He’s hunting me. They call him “The Fox” for a reason. He’s patient and waits. When he catches what he’s after, he never lets it go. I can feel him watching me even now—through my bedroom window, from across the street, in the shadows where I can’t see him but I know he’s there. My father thinks making that deal saved his life. He doesn’t realize it destroyed mine. Vincent said he’d keep me until the last day of my life. I’m starting to think that day is coming soon.

Madelyn Hills didn’t plan to walk out on her crumbling marriage the same day her best friend was getting married to a billionaire groom she'd never met. When Ava begs her to fill in for her for only a few hours, Madelyn reluctantly agrees. After all, it’s just until Ava returns from a last goodbye with her lover. Except… Ava never comes back. Now Madelyn finds herself on a honeymoon with Dominic Blackwell; a powerful billionaire who has secrets of his own and a family desperate to keep up the charade. What was supposed to be a harmless swap quickly spirals into a rollercoaster of luxury, lies, and one very real marriage to a man she was never supposed to meet. Madelyn tries to keep up the act, but that soon becomes hard when strings get attached. Would Madelyn and Dominic be able to save their marriage when their secrets are revealed? Or had this fairytale marriage be doomed from the start?

Mercedes Underwood is a lost girl. Lost from her world and herself. She grew up with abusive parents and had a really shitty childhood. Sometimes she believed that they were not her parents much less rassemblements between her and them. When she turned 18 years old, her parents attempt to sell her off to some bad people to pay off their debt. That did not come as a surprise that they would do such a thing and there was no love lost there. But what came as a surprise was when she woke up naked the next morning, walls splattered with blood and four people ripped to shreds. Life went from bad to bloody worse for Mercedes. It was like waking up in a horror scene. She was petrified and confused, nothing made sense but what did make sense was for her to pick up what she can and run. Felix Ransom is the Alpha of the White Claw pack. He leads his pack with an iron fist and ensures everyone's safety and makes sure the pack thrives. But something is missing. The gentle touch of a Luna. Felix is already 25 years old and has not found the one the Moon Goddess chose for him. His other half and mate. Each day without the one for him made his hope of ever finding her wither away. At a point, he even thought that she might have died. It never occurred to him that his made would come right to him much less be a human who is a fugitive for murdering 4 people. Or was she a human being after all?