Face Smacking

My girlfriend and I were reborn, returning to the cramped basement apartment we rented right after graduation. We silently walked out the door together, neither of us mentioning staying together. She went abroad with her childhood sweetheart to further her studies while I stayed behind, grinding away at my company. Seven years later, she became a rising young designer with a bright future and a happy family. I was still grinding away at the same company. When we met again, she clung to her childhood sweetheart's arm, looking down at my slightly disheveled state with a mocking smile. "Long time no see. How did you end up looking like a beggar?" I ignored her. However, later, when the powerful, world-renowned CEO of a top design firm clung to my arm, acting sweetly, her face twisted with panic. "Alex Prescott! How can you be so close with another woman?!"

On the night of the Silvermoon Festival, the entire Black Forest pack is bathed in the light of the Moon Goddess. I'm about to share the spectacle with Kaelen through the mind-link, but then I spot a familiar figure. Kaelen Payne, my Alpha and fated mate, is holding a she-wolf in his arms. She tilts her face up to him, her voice edged with challenge. "Kaelen, prove I'm not just a secret. Mark me." My blood seems to freeze as I hear Kaelen murmur his agreement before pressing his mouth to hers. My wolf lets out a painful howl inside me. Just an hour ago, Kaelen's voice had come through the mind-link, "My Luna, I wish I could see the festival too, but there's an emergency at the border. Don't forget to share it with me through the mind-link." My fingertips turn cold, and I instinctively reach for him through the mind-link.

Lumaking sakitin si Pamela kaya halos iilan lang ang nakakakilala sa kanya. Palaging nasa anino siya ng kakambal niyang si Plumeria. Nang ipakasal si Plumeria sa cold and ruthless billionaire na si Tiger Rivas, malinaw ang tanging misyon nito: ang magkaroon ng tagapagmana. Ngunit hindi nito kayang ibigay iyon Tiger dahil ilang beses na itong nagpa-abort sa mga naging lalaki nito. Kaya humingi ito ng pabor kay Pamela. Pumayag si Pamela na pumalit bilang asawa ni Tiger at magbuntis para sa kakambal. Sa loob ng isa at kalahating buwan, natutunan niyang magmahal sa lalaking hindi naman para sa kanya. Ngunit isang tawag mula kay Plumeria ang gumulo sa lahat. Tapos na ang pagpapanggap ni Pamela dahil nagdadalang tao na si Plumeria, at si Tiger ang ama. Pamela is in love. Plumeria is pregnant. At iisa lang ang lalaking nasa gitna nila.

From a stall in the office restroom, I overhear someone badmouthing me. Henry Fielder, the intern I've been mentoring for three months, grumbles, "The guy's got zero people skills. He's a total fossil, like a robot stuck in one mode." I'm about to push the door open and jump in when someone laughs and piles on. "The paperwork is incomplete. The receipts aren't compliant. I can't reimburse it without a manager's signature. We could recite his canned empathy lines in our sleep!" Once they're gone, I quietly head back to my office. Later, Henry drops a thick stack of expense reports onto my desk. "Quit waving the rulebook and rejecting everyone's reimbursements." I skim the fake receipts, and for once, I don't call him out. Instead, I give a thin smile and say, "I have a headache. I can't make out the words."

After my husband died in a car accident, I worked tirelessly running a small restaurant to raise my son, Henry. Right before Henry's wedding, I won eight million in the lottery. Thrilled, I decided to sell the restaurant and finally enjoy retirement. So, I called to tell Henry about selling the restaurant, his usually polite fiancée turned hostile. "You're not expecting us to support you, are you? We've barely started working!" She even warned Henry, "If you spend any of our money on your mom, the wedding's off!" Henry argued with her but then reassured me, promising, "You've worked hard enough, Mom. I'll take care of you." Feeling pretty good, I planned to give him two million to start a business. The next day, I got a call saying Henry had been in a serious car accident and urgently needed fifty thousand for surgery. I sent the money immediately, but afterward, Henry vanished. Desperate, I braved a storm to find him in his city, only to walk into a wedding at some fancy hotel. There's Henry, giving a toast and calling another woman "Mom." And, oh, sitting beside her? My "dead" husband from ten years ago.

To fund my daughter's medical treatment, I consider reconnecting with my estranged family until an expected phone call changes everything. "Sir, your diamond necklace has arrived. You may come tomorrow to pick it up." After confirming the order is placed using my and my wife's contract information, my hope sparks. Perhaps the medical bills will finally be covered. When I arrive at the luxury boutique to claim the necklace, the sales clerk frowns, eyeing me from head to toe. "You're saying… you bought this necklace?" I nod, irritated by the condescension. "What happened to the service? Did all the luxury jewelers forget how to treat customers while I was away?" I said inwardly. The clerk flashes me a polite smile and turns to "retrieve" the item, but in reality, he radios the security. "Security, we have a suspected thief here."

I had just placed the winning bid on an outrageously expensive piece of jewelry, but the auctioneer refused to close the sale. When I pressed her for an explanation, she turned to my husband with tearful eyes and claimed that I always bring different men here to spend money. “Ma'am, as a professional, I can’t sit back and watch you keep deceiving people. “Sir, I’ll refund your money and even cover the loss myself. Just open your eyes and find someone who truly loves you.” My husband looked visibly moved, their gazes locking in front of everyone as if I wasn’t even there. With all eyes on me, I snatched back my black card. “It’s my card, my money. Why are you giving it to some social-climbing chauffeur?”

My husband, once a powerful CEO, had become bankrupt and sank into depression. Overnight, I went from being the wife of a CEO to a lowly worker. To help him pay off his debts and cover the costs of his depression treatment, I took a job as a hostess at an auction house. However, I never expected to see my husband there, who should've been in the hospital undergoing therapy, sitting in the VIP section. Without any hesitation, he bid on an exorbitantly priced necklace and gave it to the woman beside him. That necklace—the one I had pawned to pay off his debts—was my grandmother's heirloom.

Si Anathalia Eirah Dela Rosa ay ang pinakatampok na halimbawa ng isang spoiled brat—matigas ang ulo, impulsive, at sanay na laging makuha ang kanyang nais. May matalim na dila at pusong puno ng mapanghimagsik na lakas, hindi siya kailanman kailangang sumagot sa sinuman, lalo na sa isang lalaki. Ngunit magbabago ang lahat nang makilala niya si Kaelion Isolde Vesperas, isang kalmado at mahinahon na gobernador na may pusong kasing matibay ng kanyang awtoridad. Walang pakialam si Kaelion sa mga charm ni Anathalia, at wala ni isang bagay ang nakakagulo sa kanyang mahinahong anyo—lalo na hindi isang maapoy na babae na akala niya’y kaya niyang pabagsakin. Habang sanay si Anathalia na ang mga tao ay yumuyuko sa kanyang gusto, nananatiling matatag si Kaelion, hindi tinatablan ng kanyang mga tantrum at maligalig na pagtatangkang mapansin siya. Habang ang magaspang na ugali ni Anathalia at mga pang-aakit ay hindi nakakalusot sa malamig na pagtanggap ni Kaelion, natutuklasan niyang hindi basta-basta mananalo ang kanyang puso. Kailangan niyang magbago at matutunan ang kahalagahan ng pagiging bukas, isang bagay na hindi pa niya kailanman inaalok. Sa isang mundong kung saan nagtatagpo ang pagnanasa at kapangyarihan, ang magkaibang impulsiveness ni Anathalia at ang mahinahong pagpipigil ni Kaelion ay nagbabanggaan sa isang laban ng mga kalooban. Magagawa kaya niyang iwaksi ang kanyang pagiging spoiled upang makuha ang respeto—at marahil pati ang pagmamahal—niya? O hahantong ba ang mga whim ng kanyang puso sa isang landas ng pagkabasag ng puso? @cursebyharrrt Date Started: November 28,2024 Date Finish: Status: On-going A/N: Slow Update, please bare with the writer.

There's an earthquake. My husband, the captain of the rescue team, abandons me to save Wendy Smith, his true love. I don't stop him. I let him go. Why? Because when he was faced with the same choice in my past life, he saved me because I was eight months pregnant. Meanwhile, Wendy remained trapped under the rubble. She ultimately died due to a lack of oxygen after the delayed rescue. Later, on the day I went into labor, my husband brought me to Wendy's grave. He watched me coldly as I collapsed on the ground from the searing pain. He ignored my pleas. "Does it hurt, Yelena? Wendy's pain was a thousand times worse when she was trapped under the rubble!" I stared at him in disbelief as he descended into insanity. "You were safe that night—you were in the safe triangle zone! Wendy would never have missed the best time for rescue if not for you using your pregnancy to threaten me! I want you to experience all the pain she went through!" He forced me down on my knees and bumped my head on the ground before Wendy's grave. He ignored the blood that flowed down my legs. Ultimately, I died after major blood loss from a difficult labor. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day the earthquake happened. This time, neither I nor my child will wait for him.