Devil Desire

ความฝันของ ‘ฟางเหม่ยอี้’ คือการมีความรักสักครั้งหนึ่งในชีวิต และเมื่อวันที่ปรารถนามาถึง เจ้าชายปริศนาได้มอบดอกกุหลาบให้ 999 ดอก นั้นให้กับเธอ แต่ใครจะไปรู้ว่าคือเขากันละ ! ทว่าสำหรับ ‘เฟยหลง’ การที่ได้มองรอยยิ้มของสาวน้อยนั้นทำให้เขามีความสุขมากที่สุด แม้จะไม่ยอมรับว่าแอบชอบเธอก็ตาม แต่ทว่าลูกพี่ลูกน้องได้บอกกับเขาว่า “ถ้าอยากรู้ว่าหลงรักไหม ให้ลองกอดดูสิ !”

Sepuluh tahun berakhir sia-sia, meski tidak ada perselingkuhan mewarnai hubungan kita. Maafkan aku, jika tidak bisa menepati janjiku. Maafkan aku jika tidak bisa menemanimu hingga nanti kita menua. Kita cari kebahagiaan masing-masing. Kamu dengan pilihanmu dan aku dengan pria yang bisa menerima kekuranganku. "Mungkin di kesempatan kedua nanti, kamu akan mendapatkan kebahagiaanmu dan aku mendapatkan bahagiaku." (Embun) "Penyesalan terbesar ketika aku kehilanganmu." (Fariq) "Aku menerimamu dengan semua kekuranganmu. Aku tidak akan mengkhianatimu. Seperti yang dilakukan papaku pada mamaku." (Andrean)

They say love is blind. But in a world like his, blindness is a luxury. Aurelio De Luca. A devil. He doesn't believe in love — to him, it is a beautiful lie. He alone is the truth — and the truth is brutal. Cold. Calculated. To him, emotion is nothing more than a weakness. Until her. Snow. The moment he laid his eyes on her, something stirred within him — something dark, wild, and utterly uncontrollable. She doesn't make him soft — she makes him want. She's everything he isn't. Everything he doesn't want. Pure. Innocent. Her beauty haunts him. Her smile torments him. Her beauty? A curse. Her softness? A poison. She makes his body burn with a desire he cannot extinguish. She's everything his world has poisoned. He's never been this out of control. Aurelio is bound by a contract — a cold, unyielding rule that forbids him to fall in love. She doesn't understand the rules. She doesn't understand that to fall for him is to play with death. But she wants him — her desire becoming a threat to him and the entire Italian mafia. But Snow, like fire burns with an untamed desire — a desire he can't contain. He doesn't fall in love... But he's about to fall into an obsession. No, not fall. He's walking into an obsession.

Kahit anong pag mamahal ang binibigay niya sa asawa niya ay hindi siya nito minahal pabalik, sakit at pagdaranas lang ang binalik nito sa kaniya, Hanggang sa dumating ang pagkakataon na tuluyan siyang umalis sa tabi ng kaniyang asawa at ilang taon ang lumipas ay nagkita silang muli pero sa pagkakataong ito ay hindi na niya ito maalala dahil sa kaniyang amnesia.

Tekad ingin melarikan diri dari cengkeraman Hores membuat Avanthe mengetahui keberadaan lubang hitam di istana bawah tanah. Dia tak bisa hidup dengan bayang-bayang kekejaman Hores. Mengakui bahwa kenangan masa lalu mereka bagai saur yang menyala di tengah tumpukan lumpur. Beruntung, lubang hitam itu membawanya ke bumi secara acak untuk kemudian ditemukan oleh wanita paruh baya. Dengan bekas penyiksaan Hores dan pendarahan yang dialami-nya. Avanthe segera mendapat pertolongan. Beberapa bulan kemudian dia telah melahirkan putri kecil yang dikandung sejak kekejaman Hores luar biasa tak terkendali. Akan tetapi, bagaimana jadinya jika Hores memutuskan untuk tinggal dan berbaur dengan entitas manusia supaya dapat menemukan keberadaan Avanthe yang sulit ditemukan? Sementara kebenaran lainnya justru: menyatakan Avanthe tinggal bersama wanita paruh baya yang Hores pekerjakan sebagai asisten rumah tangga? . . . "Di hari kau memutuskan untuk berubah jahat. Kau tak pernah mengajariku cara melupakan pria yang pernah sangat kukenal." -Avanthe- (Season dua: Series Demigod).

She was always the shadow. He was always chasing the light. Lavinia Hartwell had learned early that love was rarely for girls like her. She was the quiet one, the overlooked one—always second to her luminous best friend, Verity Langford. Even Henry Wynthorne, the boy whose compassion had unexpectedly caught her heart in high school, only had eyes for Verity. But years change people. Henry’s dreams of studying abroad collapsed with his father’s death. Verity left. Success became his only compass, and alcohol his only escape. And somehow, in the wreckage, there was Lavinia—never demanding, never judging, quietly holding him together in ways he never noticed… until she was gone. When an arranged engagement threatened to give her to him, Henry assumed she was being forced into it and set her free. Lavinia smiled, thanked him—and walked away, taking with her the steady presence he had taken for granted. Only then did Henry begin to notice the ache. The way her absence unsettled him. The way another man’s hand on her waist ignited a heat that was not anger, but something darker, sharper, and dangerously possessive. A single night blurred the lines forever—her lips on his, soft at first, then desperate, as though she’d loved him all her life. Desire flared, undeniable. But in the morning, she was gone again. Now, with Verity back and the past colliding with the present, Henry must face the truth: he no longer loves the woman he once chased. But has he realized too late who truly held his heart all along? Slow-burn, sensual, and laced with aching restraint, this is a story of unspoken devotion, of a man’s reluctant fall, and of the quiet girl who was never anyone’s first choice—until she became the only choice.

Si Xyza Gabrielle Ignacio, dalawampu 't tatlong taong gulang, ay nag-iisang anak ng isa sa pinakamayayamang pamilya sa mundo ng negosyo. Dahil dito, lumaki siyang spoiled at sanay na nakukuha ang lahat ng gusto. Mas inuna pa niya ang barkada, gala at luho. Ang pag-aaral? Palaging nasa huli sa kanyang listahan. Ngunit nagbago ang lahat nang mamatay ang kanyang ama sa isang aksidente. Dahil sa depresyon, ay napabayaan ng kanyang ina ang kanilang negosyo hanggang sa tuluyang malugi at magsara. Kaya sa isang iglap ay bigla na lamang nawala ang marangyang buhay na kinasanayan niya. At sa isang desisyong hindi inaasahan, muling nagpakasal ang kanyang ina, isang bagay na labis niyang tinutulan. Mas lalo pang gumulo ang lahat nang napag-alamang sa bahay ng bagong asawa nito sila titira. Doon niya nakilala si Flint Atlas Martinez, ang "bagong kapatid" niya sa papel. Tatlumpung taong gulang, strikto, may kayabangan, pero hindi maikakailang mapang-akit. Isa itong CEO ng matagumpay na engineering firm na siyang pagmamay-ari ng pamilya nito. Araw-araw silang nagbabangayan. Hindi sila magkasundo sa kahit maliit na bagay. Si Xyza, palaban at maarte. Si Flint, mayabang at sobrang higpit sa kanya sa hindi malamang dahilan. Pero paano kung sa likod ng kanilang mga pagtatalo, unti-unting umusbong ang isang bawal na damdamin? Bawal na damdamin sa mata ng ibang tao, dahil sa papel ay magkapatid sila. Ngunit, kung kailan unti-unti na nilang nauunawaan ang tunay nilang nararamdaman para sa isa 't isa, saka naman nagsilabasan ang mga hadlang. Una na roon ang ina ni Xyza, dahil naniniwala itong isa na silang pamilya. At ang masaklap pa, umeksena pa ang dating kasintahan ni Flint, isang babaeng handang gawin ang lahat upang maagaw muli ang lalaking minamahal niya. Hanggang saan nila kayang ipaglaban ang kanilang mga damdamin sa dami ng mga humahadlang sa kanilang pag-iibigan?

Zoe Colette Serpant o mas kilala sa tawag na Colette. Si Colette ay bunso sa tatlong magkakapatid. Isa siya sa tagapagmana ng ZC Group. Ang kompanya nila Colette ang pangalawa sa nangungunang kompanya sa Pilipinas. They handles thousands company of mall and hospital. Hindi mapagkakailang may gintong kutsara sa bibig itong si Colette, pero kahit na ganun hindi umaasa si Colette sa yaman ng kanyang mga magulang. Bagkus nagtatrabaho pa nga ito sa restaurant ng kanyang kaibigan na si Maisha. Hindi interesado si Colette sa yaman nila sapagkat hindi naman siya ang naghirap nito. Gaya nang ibang babae simple lang ang buhay na meron ito. Nagtatrabaho siya, nagpaparty at nagmamahal din, Gano’n lang ang cycle ng buhay niya, pero nagbago ang lahat ng mamatay ang mga magulang nila. Dahil sa pagkawala ng mga magulang nila, unti-unti nang nalulugi ang kompanyang naiwan sa kanila. Ang ZC Group na lang ang natitirang alaala nang namayapa nilang magulang kaya walang nagawa ang panganay nilang kapatid na si Haley kundi ipagkasundo ang bunsong kapatid sa anak ng Wood Group na si Atlas para ma-survive ang kompanya nang kanilang magulang. Ang Wood Group ang una sa pinakamayaman na kompanya ngayon sa Pilipinas. They handles multimillion of company. Si Atlas Wood ang nagiisang tagapagmana nang Wood Group, kahit hindi pa siya nagiging CEO ng kompanya nila. Kilala na ito sa pagiging malupit, masungit at babaero. Sex lang kasi ang habol niya sa mga babaeng nakaka-date niya. He was deeply in love and obsessed in her ex girlfriend to the point that he never forget her. Kahit na hindi siya ang pinili nito sa halip ay pinili ang kanyang matalik na kaibigan. Sa kabilang banda dahil sa nalaman ni Colette palihim itong lumipad ng amerika at doon nagtago ng ilang taon.

Lucius Denovan loves game. And Alicia Lucero happen to be his only game that he loves to play. *** Saat Alicia berusia sembilan tahun, orang tuanya pergi dan dia dititipkan kepada pamannya. Namun, pamannya adalah seorang pria gila harta yang kemudian menjual Alicia pada seorang pria bermata merah kelam itu. Alicia kemudian diasingkan ke sebuah desa. Sampai usianya menginjak angka delapan belas, pria itu datang menjemputnya. Dan dia adalah manusia terkejam yang pernah Alicia temui. Pria itu menyukai sensasi ketika permainannya melukai Alicia. Dia tersenyum ketika melihat Alicia menangis. Dan tertawa ketika Alicia menjerit sakit. Namun, Alicia tidak pernah sekalipun merasa bahwa dirinya harus pergi dari jerat pria itu. Karena Alicia tahu sesuatu yang Lucius tidak ketahui. *** 2020 by Asia July Cover illustration by Asia July (@layaciart)

คนนึงก็ร้าย อีกคนก็ไม่ยอมใคร มันจะเป็นความรักได้จริง ๆ หรอ? หรือสุดท้ายมันก็แค่ความสัมพันธ์ที่บิดเบี้ยว?