Christmas Celebration Artinya

Harriet thought the worst thing she’d done this December was surrender to a stranger in a dark room one reckless night that left her shaking, breathless, and certain she’d never see him again. She was wrong. The next morning, she arrives home for Christmas only to learn her parents have rushed off on an emergency trip, leaving her alone to supervise the renovation of their house. Except… she’s not alone. Devon, the boy who grew up in their home like family, the “almost-brother” she hasn’t seen in years, opens the door older now, broader, too handsome for her peace of mind. And when he looks at her, she feels it in her bones. Because he isn’t just Devon. He’s the stranger from last night. The man who took her virginity. The man she swore she’d forget. Now they’re trapped in the same house for the holidays, two people who should never have crossed that line, pretending not to remember the way his hands fit her body, the way she whispered his name without knowing it was his.

"I hope I'm not late." A sudden chill went through me when a deep voice spoke, a voice I recognised easily.Everyone fell silent, staring at who had interrupted our celebration, I stared at him and gulped.I couldn't believe I was looking at Xavier, his nostrils flared as he stared at me, shock evident on his face."He has a brother?" my parents asked simultaneously."Yeah, Xavier is our second son and the youngest." Mr Alejandro replied.I stared at Xavier, our passionate night flashing in my memory, I looked away immediately swallowing hard feeling hot all over.Alana is forced by her parents to get married, she goes to a club and has a one night stand, after getting married two days later she realizes the man she had the one night stand with was the younger brother of her husband.Will Alana forget the passionate night she has and focus on her marriage? Will Xavier let the fact that his brother is married to the one woman he wants stop him from wanting her? What happens when Alana realizes that the family she married into is more complicated than she thought it would be?..........

Ericka Matthews has been in love with her roommate for two years. The problem? Dominic Anderson made her sign a contract when she moved in: no romance allowed, or she's out. She's respected that boundary, hidden her feelings, and watched him from across the breakfast table every morning without letting on. Then Dominic kisses her. And immediately tells her not to kiss him back. Heartbroken and humiliated, Ericka decides to disappear. She has a backup plan, savings, and an apartment lined up. She'll be gone before he even notices. But when she collapses on campus and ends up in the hospital, Dominic is forced to confront what losing her actually means. The contract gets torn up. Confessions are made. And it turns out their mothers have been running a secret spy network dedicated to getting them together for three years. Now they just have to survive Sunday dinner with both families and Aunt Linda's unopened Christmas presents. A contemporary romance about two idiots who wasted three years pretending to be "just roommates," the meddling families who saw right through them, and the kiss that finally broke all the rules.

When I was born, I was already a certified liar. That's a fact that everyone seems to agree with. The truth is, my mom, who's a scientist, has implanted advanced chips into me and my fraternal twin brother, Ryan Hartwell, when we were still babies. By right, as long as we lie or make mistakes, our mom will receive the devil signal from the chips. Then, she'll administer electrical shocks as a form of punishment. Ryan's chip often transmits the smiley signal. Even if he destroys our mom's research equipment and pins the blame on me, his chip still has the smiley branded on it. Meanwhile, when I reach home ten minutes later than usual because I had to help out a classmate, my chip transmits the scary devil signal. The next thing I know, I've already crippled to the floor from the intense pain caused by the electrical shock. At first, I'll still explain to Mom what happened. But she often exclaims, "Don't think you can pull off clever little tricks just like that gambling father of yours! The chip is ten thousands times smarter than you! The punishments will only be branded into your bones if the pain is searing enough! What I'm doing is saving your life!" After suffering from the pain countless times, I get brainwashed into thinking that I really am a liar and a troublemaker by nature. On the night of Christmas Eve, Mom comes to the attic to tell Ryan to join the family at the table for the Christmas dinner. That's when my asthma suddenly acts up, causing me to stumble and fall to the floor. "I… I can't breathe… Save me, Mom…" But Mom just coldly gazes at the devil signal that she has just received on her phone. Then, she dials the shock value to the maximum. "You don't have asthma at all! Ugh, you're kicking up another fuss just to attract attention! Seriously, you never change your ways!" After that, she takes Ryan's hand and leads him out of the attic. Soon, she slams the door heavily behind her. As I suffer from asphyxiation while on my deathbed, I can't help but think that Mom is right. After all, my chip has just transmitted the devil signal. Maybe the asthma attack really is just a figment of my imagination. I've always been a bad girl who loves lying to others, after all. When Mom finds out that this is the last time I've ever lied to her, she must be really happy, right?

I had been married to Natasha Bates for ten years, and not once did she ever join me for our family's Independence Day cookout. This year, on the night before the celebration, I finally gathered the courage to ask if she wanted to come. She scoffed and said, "What are you, stuck in the past? Who even celebrates the Fourth with a family dinner anymore?" Yet that very evening, I saw a social media post of Natasha with her male best friend, Stanley Rogers. They were quite intimate in the picture, and the caption read: [True happiness is celebrating Independence Day with your bestie!] I commented back: [Hope you two lovebirds make it official soon.] Stanley did not hold back. He messaged me a bunch of intimate photos of the two of them. Then, he added, [You're just a leech living off his wife. What right do you have to question anything about Nattie?] Everyone always thought I was a gold-digger living off Natasha's success. However, they all forgot that I was the sole major shareholder of the company. This time, I’m done staying silent.

When Edna Crossby ditches the marriage registration for the fifth time, I block her contact number and social media accounts on the spot. If she's in any of the social gatherings, I turn down the invitations right away. I'd rather take the long route than walk past the cafe Edna frequents. If she attends a team-building session, I take the day off without hesitation. Even when Edna shows up on my doorstep with gifts in hand on Christmas Eve, I pretend that I'm not home at all. I don't answer any calls from her. I don't respond to texts she sends me. Just like that, I completely fade away from Edna's world. In the past, Edna used to be the focus of my life. My emotions fluctuated all the time because of her. When Edna flakes out on me for the fifth time, I finally snap out of my lovesick stupor. I don't want to live life like this anymore. Rather than getting abandoned time and again, I might as well live my life on my own happily.

Sarah has been dating her boyfriend for a year now and is waiting for him to propose to her. They were invited to a Christmas Eve party from his job. Sarah believes this will be the perfect setting for John to propose. However, during the party, she discovered John having sex with another woman. She confronted them both, but John became aggressive. Out of nowhere, a handsome stranger came to her rescue. The rest of the night, Sarah was drinking to erase the pain while the handsome stranger kept an eye on her to make sure she was safe. Sarah was so drunk that she wound up kissing the handsome stranger under the mistletoe, not knowing he was claiming her as his mate. The handsome stranger was determined not to leave Sarah and her drunken state at the party alone. He didn't know where she lived, so he took her to his penthousein the city. Sarah was the type of person who didn't believe in the supernatural. However, she finds out that this handsome stranger is not only her mate but also a werewolf. Will Sarah accept him as her mate, or will she run away scared? Only time will tell.

It was Christmas Eve. Once again, my parents left me alone at home, chasing triple pay at work. However, after twenty years of the same lonely holiday, I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to sit in the quiet house by myself again, so I packed up some sandwiches and went to them. What I didn’t expect was to see them stepping out of a luxury car, arms linked with a boy who looked about my age, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world, heading straight into a five-star hotel. “Mom, Dad, is it okay to leave Suzie all alone at home like that?” My mom waved it off and said, “It’s fine. She’s used to it.” My dad just brushed it off with a chuckle. “She’s nothing like you. You're our real treasure.” Upon hearing that, I turned and walked away. They'd been pretending to be broke all these years, lying to me about working overtime, about scraping by. Well, fine. If they don’t want me, I’m done wanting them, too.

I gave Evan Cole six years. I changed my name, walked away from the Moretti family, and became the kind of woman he could handle: quiet, useful, easy to overlook. I paid the bills, fixed his proposals, opened doors he thought had opened by luck, and waited every time he said we were almost ready. Then Maracame back. His first love. The woman he swore he hated until the second she needed him again. After that, I became the problem. Too jealous. Too dramatic. Too hard to please. Evan thought I would break down and beg for my place. While he played house with Mara, I saved every receipt, every post, every lie. Then I cut off the money behind his perfect little life and called my family. On Christmas Eve, he asked if I would wait. I smiled and let him believe Leah was still waiting. By the time he learned my real name, Alessia Moretti was already gone, and the mafia princess he never knew had finally chosen herself.

Lima tahun setelah pernikahanku dengan Yovan Murdaya, seorang Bos Besar mafia, dia meninggalkanku dalam keadaan sekarat saat baku tembak untuk menyelamatkan selingkuhannya, Diana. Aku terbangun tiga hari kemudian di kamar VIP rumah sakit. Tanpa ada permintaan maaf. Yovan bersikap dingin. “Kau itu istriku, tentu saja sudah tahu resikonya. Jadi, jangan lebay.” Lalu, dia menambahkan, “Tapi, Diana berbeda. Dia itu rapuh dan membutuhkanku.” Setelah itu, selama tiga bulan aku diabaikan. Seperti biasa, dia berharap akulah yang akan menyerah dan kembali memohon maaf. Tiga bulan kemudian, aku menyerahkan kesepakatan dengan orang Irlanda kepada Diana begitu saja. Itu kesepakatan besar yang telah kubangun sendiri selama setengah tahun. Yovan mengira itu artinya aku sedang membujuknya. Dia tersenyum, sesuatu yang langka dan tulus akhir-akhir ini. “Sudah kuduga kau akan berubah pikiran. Sebagai hadiah, kita akan pergi ke Vergasi. Aku tahu kau selalu ingin pergi ke sana.” Keesokan harinya, Diana mengeluh bosan, dan Yovan kembali mengingkari janjinya. Dia malah membawa wanita itu ke Vergasi, dan mengatakan padaku bahwa itu karena ada urusan keluarga yang mendesak. Kali ini, aku tidak menangis, juga tidak membuat keributan. Yovan senang aku menjadi begitu pengertian. Tapi dia tidak tahu bahwa sebenarnya aku sudah memutuskan semua hubungan dengan Keluarga Murdaya. Dan, bahwa dia sudah menandatangani surat perjanjian cerai kami. Akhirnya, aku bebas.