Expression Compliment

A young psychologist, Maria Reyes, fresh out of college, decides to take her first freelance case to build her résumé. Feeling bold and free on her graduation night, she let herself loose after getting charmed by an alluring mysterious man. One drink leads to another and another, and she finds herself drowning in passion in his bed. She reads him like a map and falls for his scars before she even asks for his name. But the morning brings the brutal truth, Darian Wolfe is her father's enemy, a ruthless businessman, an heir to the empire sworn to destroy her father's legacy. She vanishes before he wakes, unable to face what has been done. Weeks later after being able to set up her new office, the past begins to blur until her first patient walks through the door. It's him, Darian Wolfe. Her expression freezes when she sees him. He walks around her office uninvited. He takes a seat without a word. The silence between them is thick with everything unsaid. And then, he looks unblinking in her eyes. "I have a lot to... unpack, Dr Reyes," he says, with a dark smile. "Let's start with a woman I met two weeks ago at a bar," he says, pulling out a red panty from his pocket.

Le jour de mon mariage, tout aurait dû être parfait. Je devais avancer vers l’autel, sourire, les yeux pleins d’amour pour Adrian, l’homme qui m’a sauvée, celui qui m’a fait croire en un avenir meilleur. Mais quand mon regard s’est perdu parmi les invités, mon cœur s’est arrêté. Là, assis au premier rang, un homme que je n’avais jamais pensé revoir. Un homme dont le regard m’a traversée comme une lame. Un homme que je connaissais trop bien… **Mon ancien client.** Celui avec qui j’avais passé cette nuit, des années plus tôt. Et aujourd’hui, il était là, devant moi, portant un costume élégant, une expression impassible… Parce qu’il était le père d’Adrian. Mon futur beau-père. Comment était-ce possible ? Que devais-je faire ? Tout avouer ? Faire semblant de ne pas le reconnaître ? Et surtout… que se passerait-il si Adrian découvrait la vérité ? Mon mariage venait-il de s’effondrer avant même d’avoir commencé ?

A soft gasp escaped her lips when Tobias’ hand slipped into her gown and caught one breast. She tried her best to suppress her emotions but her eyes just involuntarily shut due to a pleasurable sensation brought by his warm touch. She blinked her eyes open when he detached his hand from her breast. Tobias distanced himself from her, however, the rage in his eyes was still there as he watched her. “I almost forgot. You told me a few years back, only I can touch you unless I pay you.” Minah's brows furrowed, her eyes fixed on him. Tobias pulled himself away from her, composing himself before he took his wallet out of his pocket. He then pulled out some paper bills and threw them on her. Her eyes darted to the money that he tossed right in front of her. Six violet-colored paper bills. Her mouth was left agape. Six hundred pesos! Minah could feel her blood rushing to her face as insult, rage, and humiliation stirred inside her. She lifted her face once again and threw daggers at Tobias. “I am no whore, you son of a bitch!” His expression grew ominous. “You are filthier than a whore, Damara,” he said firmly, his voice sounding displeased.

Stephanie Ford has given her heart and everything else to Tyler Grover throughout their five-year relationship, only to find out that he has already married his first love, Kiara Grover, on their wedding night. The fake marriage certificate that Stephanie holds is proof that she's stuck in an elaborate scheme that Tyler and Kiara have come up with. This realization leaves her heartbroken and her trust in Tyler permanently shattered. Throughout the past five years, she's gone through a car accident that's apparently staged by others, which has ruined her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. To make things worse, Tyler and Kiara intend to use her as a surrogate mother for their child. Hence, Stephanie decides to go home and enter into a business marriage that her family has arranged for. The next time they meet again, Tyler watches as the cold and aloof heir to the powerful Hawke family of Jetterpolis, Adrian Hawke, pulls Stephanie carefully into his arms. He treats her with utmost care, as though she's the most precious treasure in the world. Tyler's eyes redden instantly. He sinks down to his knees like a madman and begins begging Stephanie for her forgiveness. "Steph, this is all my fault! Please come back to me!" But Adrian shields Stephanie from Tyler, his expression now glacial. "Get lost! Don't you dare taint my wife's sight with your filthy presence!"

When Seth Gibson told me his legs were crippled and that only snowmelt from a mountain's peak could cure him, I did not hesitate. I scaled the mountainside, climbing over 15,000 feet just to get some snow for him. When I staggered back, bruised and scratched, cradling the snow outside the hospital room, I overheard cruel voices down the corridor. "Seth, today's the deadline. Nevaeh still isn't back. Could she have died up there?" "I heard that the mountain's pretty high. She might have gotten altitude sickness. What a shame! She's already risked herself for Seth ninety-nine times. This was supposed to be the last time before the game ended." "Serves her right! She used to bully Janice, Seth's childhood friend, didn't she?" I saw Seth through the crack in the door. He was standing at the window, his legs perfectly intact, and his expression ice-cold. "Enough," he said flatly. "If she dies, the game ends." I froze in disbelief until it finally sank in. Seth had been pretending all along. A laugh nearly escaped me. What a relief! I could finally get rid of this weight on my shoulders. I pulled out my phone and called his uncle. "I'll marry you," I said.

The day before our wedding, my fiancé invites our family onto a cruise ship. He says he wants to test the authenticity of my feelings for him. He shoves my mother off the ship when the waves are at their choppiest. Then, he jumps into the water, too. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I panic, not knowing what to do. My mother had already choked on a lot of water, but she pushed me away weakly. She cried, "Save Adrian first! He can't swim!" However, after I drag Adrian Lawson onto land and go back for my mother, I find that she's already stopped breathing. Adrian watches me cry, his expression frosty. "Drop the act. Your mother was a swimmer when she was younger—how can she be dead? I can't believe you didn't save me first. "Vi is right—you don't love me enough. Our wedding is postponed. It'll happen only after you've reflected on your mistakes and I've received an apology from you and your mother." After that, he leaves while holding Vivian Sinclair's hand. He doesn't know that my mother can no longer swim after a major illness a few years back. He's shoved her to her death.

I accidentally saw a notification pop up on my husband’s phone saying that an automatic transfer had been completed when I was using it for navigation. Immediately after that, his ex-girlfriend, Wanda Blake, sent him a message on WhatsApp: [I’ve received this month’s 10,000 dollars for child support. Thank you, Koah. I don't know what I would have done without you.] I froze. “Child support? “Koah, you told me that the money you send every month was for medical expenses for your mother’s treatment!” Koah Quinn’s expression stiffened as he explained, “Honey, don’t misunderstand. I just felt that life has become really hard for her because she’s a woman raising a child on her own. Her ex-husband refuses to pay child support, so I wanted to help her out…” I touched the old watch on my wrist. The one I had not replaced in years to save money, and felt extremely disappointed. “Your monthly salary is only 6,000 dollars. Where did you get so much money to send her?” He was silent for some time before finally admitting. “I used the money we had set aside for the new house’s downpayment.” I was stunned. He had taken the money my parents had scrimped and saved for decades for me as downpayment for a home and then transferred it to his ex-girlfriend as child support.

After working overtime every day for a month, I finally completed an important code that could save my company. Five minutes into my break, my team leader, Fiona Smith, suddenly hit me in the head with her file. “Because you spent so much time in the office, our electricity bill this month has increased by 15 kWh! Do you see this office as a free air-conditioning supplier?” I was about to defend myself when she angrily pointed at my cell phone and tablet on my desk. “You’re charging your devices here? You should charge them at home! Aren’t you aware of the company’s current condition?” I could no longer hold back my anger. “Fiona, I’ve been working overtime. I’m not here doing nothing!” “Can’t you do overtime at home instead? For a fresh graduate, you sure know how to exploit the company’s resources. Who knows what other despicable things you might be capable of doing in the future?!” Fiona yelled. I stared at her twisted expression and suddenly chuckled. If only my parents had seen me working so hard over such a trivial matter. They would have immediately asked me to quit and work in their company instead. I grabbed the flash drive with the important code and called my secretary. “Jane, I’d like to purchase Galaxy Corporation, and I want it to be the best in the industry.”

BOOK TWO OF THE CARTER BROTHERS SERIES “I want to get married to you Claire, just for a few years and we would go our separate ways.” Nathaniel Carter proposed before swiping through his documents like it was a casual thing. “What!!!!! Are.. are you joking sir?” Claire asked hoping her boss was joking but his serious expression was saying otherwise. _________ Nathaniel Carter, the oldest of the carter brothers is wife hunting after his brother got married and his grandfather is threatening to disinherit him. He has put in too much hard work to let the company go away to any of his stepbrothers. He had an idea, a messy one at that. His secretary Claire was the kind of woman that would steal the heart of his grandfather and stepmother and he would play that card till they got off his back for being too lonely. Claire Wordsworth had so many views about her boss but nothing compared to the crazy look on his face when he proposed to get into an arranged marriage with him. She thought he was kidding but the firm set off his jaw told her otherwise. Life could really change in a matter of seconds. She had too many to gain and of course, it would give her career a good boost if she was married to the great Nathaniel Carter. Maybe getting into this marriage would really be a good decision or her nemesis.

The champagne was flat, much like the expression on Julian’s face. "It’s not that I don’t love you, Elara," he said, adjusting his $5,000 suit jacket. "It’s just that you’ve become... predictable. I need a woman who challenges the world, not someone who waits for me to come home and tell her what color the sky is." Elara felt the sting of the words more than the cold wind on the balcony. For six years, she had been Julian’s shadow. She had curated his life, managed his moods, and dimmed her own light so he could shine brighter. And now, on the night of his company’s gala, he was discarding her like an outdated software update. "Predictable?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "Go home, Elara. I’ve already had your things moved to the guest house. We can talk about a settlement in the morning." She didn't wait for the morning. She didn't wait for the "settlement." She walked out into the rain, her silk dress clinging to her skin like a second, cold layer of grief. It wasn't until three days later, sitting in a dingy motel with nothing but a suitcase and a bruised soul, that the notification popped up on her phone. ARE YOU READY TO LIVE FOR YOURSELF? ENTER THE SURVIVAL GAME. WIN YOUR FREEDOM. Elara stared at the golden icon on the screen. It felt like a trap. Or maybe, it was the only way out.