Don't Trust Your Gut

On my 18th birthday, my adoptive uncle, Roderick Campbell, discovers my journal. He immediately starts berating me. "How could you have such dirty thoughts about me, Savannah? I never would've expected you to be like this!" I apologize to him and say I should never have developed feelings for him. However, he still banishes me abroad. Then, he has a grand wedding with his first love. Later, I return to the country with a child. Roderick looks at me in astonishment. "Who is this kid?" I hold the child closer. "My son. He's three this year." I turn to Danny Tucker and say, "Say hi, Danny."

Dad is famous for being a total simp over Mom in the elite society. Naturally, he views Callie Archer, the stepdaughter whom Mom has brought with her, as his own. But Callie is afflicted with a severe case of walking phobia. Her feet couldn't touch the ground at all. Only when she's stepping on my back can she roam around in the house freely. So, whenever Callie looks in a certain direction, Mom will press my head down and force me to crawl toward Callie to serve as her doormat. The doctor issues a warning to my family that my spine is severely contorted. So when Callie wants to admire the flowers in the yard while wearing a pair of spiked shoes again, I can't endure the pain anymore, so I shiver slightly out of instinct. Callie ends up losing her balance and falling to the ground. She bawls like a baby afterward. Mom rushes over immediately before kicking me in the gut, her high heel lodging into my flesh. "It's extremely rare for Callie to be willing to leave the house! Why must you ruin her mood? Can't you just be more understanding and play your role as a doormat for the sake of your sister's illness?" Meanwhile, Dad scoops Callie into his arms, his heart bleeding for her plight. He coaxes her gently, telling her that he'll buy her new dresses later. I can only curl up on the ground while hacking up blood. But Dad just thinks I'm playing the pity card. He commands his men to throw me into the basement. Apparently, I can only be released once I've learned to stay stationary when I'm supporting Callie. As I clutch my broken ribs, I feel my tears flowing down my face as well as the blood from my injuries. I'm sorry, Dad. Next time, I will definitely not move a muscle, just like a corpse.

My mother is gravely ill and needs a million dollars for surgery. I run all over the city, desperately trying to borrow the money. Just when I'm at my breaking point, my childhood friend shows up, holding a check for one million dollars. His condition? He wants to marry me. Everyone's waiting for me to say yes, but I calmly refuse. Because in my last life, even after I married him, my mother still died. Her surgery failed. Later, I accidentally overhear a conversation between him and a doctor. "Christopher, you sabotaged the surgery just to transplant Alice's mom's kidney into Jennifer? Was it worth it? If Alice finds out, you’re done." "I just want Jennifer to live. And honestly, marrying someone like Alice? My life is already over." That's when I realize our entire marriage was nothing but a carefully woven lie. He did it all for the woman he truly loved.

For the past three months, I've slept only three hours every day just so my team and I can create an app. Thanks to our hard work, the app goes absolutely viral to the point we've garnered over 100 million registered users on the first week of its launch. At the afterparty, my wife, Stacie Woodward, announces that her godbrother, Tory Frost, who's the PR manager, will be the one receiving the million-dollar bonus. She then tosses me a few 50% discount coupons that can be used in shopping malls as my bonus. "You're just a code monkey—why do you need that much money anyway? You can have these discount coupons. Use them on anything you want. At least buy some nice clothes for yourself. Don't go around wearing these rags. You'll just end up humiliating me more." I plead to her in a low tone, "Have you gone crazy, Stacie? My dad needs the money for the best medication in order to save his life! Can you please stop joking around?" But Stacie clings to Toby's arm, looking high and mighty. "Your dad's dying, isn't he? He might as well stop wasting the public resources! I can always choose him a better grave and hold a nice funeral for him when his time comes!" As I look at Stacie's smug face, I just smile at her instead of getting mad at her. She must have forgotten that the app's core algorithm and the user growth model are built using my private, undisclosed technology stack. That means the copyright is mine and has nothing to do with the company. I just smile while nodding at Stacie. That night, I activate the technology stack's self-destruct and migration protocols.

"There should be rules if we are even going to do this," he said without looking at me. "I have always lived by the rules." He slid a file towards me. "This is the contract. The rules are stated there." I opened the file and glanced through it. "You can take it home and study them; give me feedback tomorrow evening. But I will read out the rules for you now because they start now, and in case your brain can't comprehend them, then I can explain." Anger seethed through me, and I almost threw the file back at him, but when I thought about the money involved and how it would benefit little Sophie, I bit my lower lip to push back the anger. He continued. "Rule number one; don't you fall in love with me." His eyes flipped up to me. "Crystal clear," I said. "That would never happen." Ellen never had fun in college. One night she decided to have fun with her friends and slept with a handsome stranger who disappeared before she woke up. A month later, she found out she was pregnant and searched everywhere for him, but to no avail. Five years later, she moved to a new city and met the same man she never thought she would ever see again. He didn't remember anything about her, and he was now a cold, arrogant man who needed a wife, and she needed money. They agreed to contract marriage with strict rules, one of them being never to fall in love with each other. They were sure they wouldn't break the rule, but as sparks grew between them and became too much, they found themselves trying hard to keep to the rules. Who will break rule number one between them?

Caught between a web of lies and deceit, Kiara found herself questioning her reality and everything around her. The man she loved not only abandoned her and her child, but she also found out that he had another family~ a more perfect family. For several years, he was the only man in her heart. After their wedding, she'd literally transformed herself into his slave with his happiness and satisfaction her only goal. Yet, her loyalty and love were repaid with betrayal, heartbreak, and rejection. Realizing that she wasted her love on the wrong person, Kiara changed her mission. She wasn't going to be the same weak and docile heiress whom everyone ordered around. She was the queen of the Storm Empire, and it just so happened that Killian Reid was going to bow at her feet someday.

"The kingdom of Far Shore still resents Donnelly, its neighboring land, for forming an alliance with those filthy High Clifters and then defeating them in war. Twice! They really must pay for such an insult. And what better way to prick their pride than to steal their lovely, revered princess, mutilate her a little, and then ransom her back to them for a hefty sum. So, the king blackmails stable hand, Farrow, into accepting the mission of kidnapping Princess Nicolette and bringing her back to Far Shore to meet her gruesome fate. With his sister’s life on the line, Farrow reluctantly accepts the quest and travels through desert and forest, only to find Nicolette eagerly awaiting his arrival with her bags already packed and good to go, spouting off insane nonsense about being his destiny and one true love. What follows is a crazy, eclectic adventure that brings two lost souls together and helps them learn who they’re supposed to be and what they’re supposed to do in this ever-changing journey called life. A Love Mark Fantasy Romance! Can be read with ONE TRUE LOVE."

A COLLECTION OF SHORT LOVE STORIES. 1. FATED TO LOVE YOU She wasn't looking for love; yet, found it in the least expected person. When Dr. Mahnoor first laid eyes on Captain. Dr. Haider, she couldn't fathom even in her wildest dreams the mess she was about to get herself into. Haider, who was a , quirky and charming neurosurgeon, could hardly be described as anything except trouble personified. The kind of man, whom she never thought she could give a second thought about, least of all get involved with.Yet, little did she know that all her prayers had led her to someone, who was going to challenge everything she had ever believed in and break down the barriers she had spent a lifetime building. Fate brought them together but love tore them apart. 2. A LITTLE BIT OF LOVE Hoorain is done with her studies and ready to be thrown into all this marriage business. But what she isn't prepared for, is meeting the dashing and arrogant Hadeed who is not only far from her ideal type but a cold jerk whom she wishes to have nothing to do with. Hadeed is coldhearted and ruthless to anyone who messes with him. His past still haunts him and he measures a person's worth on that scale. Yet, he finds it hard to ignore the girl who dares challenge him at every step. Despite their mutual hatred, the two get thrown into a marriage pact. What do you do when you realise that the world is not all that it seems and you have battles to fight that you didn't sign up for? Can the two overcome their hatred and heal each other, mending the broken pieces of their souls? Or will the reality of their world tear them down even more?

I always think that all of his actions meant nothing but a friendly gesture. I always warn myself not to think too much about the way he treated me. I always think that I'm not that much of a significant girl to him. I used to think that it's okay to not think much because I don't want my expectation to be high because I'm sure the fall will hurt like a wench. I just don't really want to overthink about those things. But wasn't I already overthinking for the fact that I think to not overthink?

Isn't it amazing for you and your childhood best friend to attend college together? That's what Emma and Mila thought, not knowing that college days held a lot for them. What they had in mind was nothing like what they faced in reality. Mila has always been the extrovert, wise and reliable one while Emma was the introvert and naïve one. Despite their differences, the two girls had a strong friendship and an amazing bond that many people wished for. When Emma starts hanging out with her new group of friends at college, her friendship with Mila will go downhill and no matter what Mila does, Emma won't listen to her best friend. Things will get worse between the two girls and their friendship will get tested in many ways. Will their friendship be strong enough after all the things they will go through to make them hold onto each other?