Cherry Blossoms After Winter Read

On my way back from a business trip, I scrolled past a video. A newborn was abandoned by the roadside, crying so hard. As a first time dad, I couldn’t help looking at the baby a little longer. I froze because that baby looked exactly like my son. I had booked the best confinement center in the city for my wife. I had checked them into a VIP suite. I had employed a nanny and a nursing team to look after my wife and my son full-time. I broke out in a cold sweat. My wife didn’t check her phone, so I immediately called the center's manager, Ms. Thompson. She laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, Mr. Smith. Your wife and baby are perfectly fine. They just fell asleep.” The next second, she sent me a photo of my sleeping baby. I stared at the tiny, unfamiliar face. In that instant, the blood in my body turned to ice. I was only gone for four days. So how was my son a different person?

For five consecutive years, I secured eighty million in core contracts for the company. Yet my salary remained six thousand. At the annual company gala, I simply told my boss, “I want a raise.” In response, he slapped me across the face three times right in front of the entire company. “Do you think clients come to you? They recognize the company! “Paying you six thousand is already charity, so don’t push your luck!” Everyone in the office watched, laughing at me. I said nothing, only quietly wiping the blood from my lip. The very next day, I took all the client resources and moved to a rival company. Three days later, my former boss broke down over the phone, screaming, “Why?! Why did they all pull out?!”

My younger sister was crazy about novels and always envied the way ordinary heroines pick up penniless heroes and climb the social ladder. So, she started picking up men wherever she could. Until one day, a man with a face covered in sores collapsed at our doorstep. I instantly recognized the signs of syphilis and warned my sister repeatedly, and only then did she give up the idea. However, fate had other plans: my sister's best friend "picked him up" instead and married into a wealthy family. My sister held a grudge. On my birthday, she locked me in my room and set it on fire. No matter how desperately I begged, she refused to open the door. Outside, she sneered: "I know you're just scared I'll live better than you, so you want to drag me down into misery with you. People like you don't even deserve to be a sister!" I burned alive, my body reduced to nothing but ashes. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day my sister insisted on "picking up that man." This time, I quietly stepped back, letting her have her way—of course, I chose to let her succeed.

Seven years ago, one night inside a hotel suite changed everything. Luna Herrera-an honor student struggling to survive college-never imagined that a single assignment at the Blackwell Grand Hotel would cost her everything. In one heartbreaking night, her innocence was stolen by a man too powerful to remember... and too untouchable to confront. Damon Blackwell-billionaire heir to the Blackwell Empire-is feared, admired, and dangerously controlled. But behind his cold success lies a night he cannot recall, and dreams that whisper of a woman he may have broken without knowing. Now a licensed psychologist and a single mother, Luna lives quietly with her six-year-old son, Callyx-his gray eyes the only link to a past she tried so hard to bury. Damon, on the other hand, is unraveling. Public breakdowns. Family pressure. And an ultimatum that forces him to seek therapy... under a false name. When fate brings them face to face-patient and doctor, unknowingly connected by a secret neither of them is ready to confront-can the truth stay buried? Or will six weeks after midnight come back to rewrite everything?

After seven years of marriage, Marisol Speight's husband, Lucian Muller, is unpredictable and treats her with cold indifference as if she's nothing. She once believed that after marrying Lucian, she would one day win his heart and live a happy, fulfilling life. However, on a snowy anniversary that only she remembers, she finally realizes that Lucian and his family are happy enough without her. She'll never be anything more than an outsider who can't blend in. He hates her for making him break his promise to marry his childhood friend; their son mocks her for falling short in every way when compared to said childhood friend… Marisol is doubly betrayed by her husband and son. They're as intimate with another woman as they never were with her. She laughs self-deprecatingly at the mess that is her life. Then, she loses hope in them and asks for a divorce. She gives up custody of her son and leaves, later becoming a globally renowned fashion designer and genius painter—her work isn't accessible to just about anyone. Unexpectedly, her husband and son refuse to let her go despite her already giving up on them. Her son cries, "You're my mom! You can't hold other children!" Her husband, who has always been cold and indifferent, turns clingy and refuses to agree to the divorce. "You're the one who chose me, so you have to bear the responsibility for life! You want a divorce? Dream on!"

At our college reunion, I let slip about the three great catches I was dating online. One ran a successful law firm, the other was a researcher at a leading institute, while another was an up-and-coming tech mogul on the Forbes list. My so-called best friend, Cassie Young, paused halfway through her plate of ribs. Giving me the side glance, she voiced her sarcasm. “I feel sorry for your future husband. Of all the women he could have, he had to marry someone with a rich history.” I took a sip of my juice and responded, “Honestly, I’m pretty stressed about the whole thing. They are all amazing. I can’t decide between them. Cassie, does anyone tickle your fancy? You can have one.” As her cutlery clattered on the table, Cassie widened her eyes. “A-Are you for real?”

“Honey, let’s make a baby together so that you won’t leave me.” I resisted, but my husband ignored it and forced himself onto me. After that, I did it with him 520 times, each time a nightmare for me. Even when he was on business trips, he had to monitor my every move via video, terrified that I would run away. However, one day, I received an invitation to an art exhibition. The intimate gestures between my husband and me had been turned into works of art, filling the entire gallery. My husband held a young female intern by the waist, his gaze sweeping over me with indifference. “Two years ago, you insisted on going against Tiara over an art collectible and suppressed her during the auction, spending lavishly just to humiliate her.” “Now there are 520 art pieces here, an exhibition showcasing your disgrace. If you don’t want them falling into someone else’s hands, you’ll need to bid on them one by one.”

Berlatar dimasa setelah terjadinya fenomena Holocaust atau yang disebut di dalam cerita ini sebagai Rapture, tragedi yang membuat setengah dari populasi bumi menghilang. Cuba Toeli, merupakan anak SMA keturunan Italia yang populer karena kemampuan beladirinya yang mampu menghajar 6 anak yang ingin mengeroyoknya. Dia bersama dengan teman-temannya berusaha untuk mengungkap apa yang terjadi. Merasa ada kejanggalan dalam fenomena ini, mereka berusaha untuk mencari petunjuk petunjuk mengenai apa/siapa yang dibalik kejadian Rapture ini. -- Cerita ini merupakan remake dari cerita yang pernah saya buat pada tahun 2016 yang berjudul Apocalypse End, dengan konsep cerita yang sama namun dengan improvisasi jalan cerita, semoga akan membuat cerita ini menjadi menarik. Terimakasih karena sudah tertarik dengan cerita ini, semoga kalian suka!

On Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend gave me a rock he picked up off the street, while his one true love received a massive diamond. The moment I found out, I broke up with him. He immediately confessed his love to her. Three years later, we ran into each other at a luxury golf club. When he saw me snacking on desserts in the VIP lounge, my ex-boyfriend couldn't stop mocking me. “Millia, you dumped me because that rock wasn’t good enough. Do you ever regret it, especially now that you’re working as a waitress?” Even the staff joined in, spreading rumors that I was just trying to land a rich husband at the club. But the second my husband showed up, everyone was completely dumbfounded. My ex-boyfriend begged for another chance, desperate to win me back, while his so-called one true love ended up behind bars.

Warning: This story is strictly 18+ and contains multiple sex scenes. ___ Nyx had a crush on her best friend, Lynn since high school, and now in college, she hoped he would look her way once. However, he would always go back, running back to his toxic girlfriend. But after a weekend trip, it took a few buttons to make her scream out a new name, like she hadn't hoped for Lynn for years. Ron, a possessive sex god, lusted after Nyx, and his sole purpose was to take her away from his niece, shamelessly and boundlessly. He went right into her class, appearing as her professor to sway her. Nyx couldn't help the dangerous attraction she felt for him, thirsting every minute he stood teaching until she was spread right on his table.