Glass

My husband, Zachary Larson, and I are holding a welcome dinner for my sister, Julia Scott. When someone asks what Julia's greatest regret is, she raises her glass and looks at Zachary dreamily. "It's probably the time I wasn't brave enough to keep his child." Everyone starts to whisper amongst themselves. I tighten my grip on the pregnancy check-up report I'm about to reveal to them. My stomach twists with the emotions swirling in my head. Julia suddenly returns to her senses and chuckles. "I was just kidding. We were only friends with benefits, so don't take it to heart, Queenie. He married you, so you're the one he loves."

After the young officer Edward Shaw took first place in a high-profile shooting exhibition attended by senior officials, his family adopted a rather peculiar tradition. At the annual family banquet, he would perform a blindfolded shooting. Whichever woman's token his bullet struck was taken as a sign that she would become his fiancée. Determined to marry him, I placed the handkerchief I had carefully chosen as close to him as possible. Yet, for three consecutive years, his shots hit nothing at all. I told myself the handkerchief must have been too light, too easy to miss. So each year, I replaced it with something more refined, more eye-catching than before. That illusion lasted until the night before my eighteenth birthday, when I happened to overhear him speaking with a friend at a reception. "Miss Jasmine's handkerchief is right in front. Even blindfolded, you should be able to hit it. How do you keep missing every year?" Edward swirled his glass, his tone casual. "Tracy's still young. The moment she hears I'm getting engaged, she starts crying. "I promised I'd wait until she's a little older. As for Jasmine, she's waited for me all these years. It's not like she's going anywhere." With that, he casually tossed his glass into a metal bucket in the corner. It rang out with a sharp, hollow clang. I lowered my gaze and thought of my younger sister, only a year younger than me. So it had never been about the token. It was about the person who placed it there. In that case, there was no reason for me to keep holding on. After all, my father had already arranged a marriage for me. Three days later, at that same family banquet, I would be formally engaged.

Stanley Meyer and I were the main leads of a sappy school romance novel. We were childhood sweethearts with a bond stronger than iron and steel. Everyone thought that I'd be Mrs. Meyer in the future despite the fact that I was the daughter of the Meyers' housekeeper. That was, until I personally witnessed Stanley making out with Tina West, Gerard West's illegitimate daughter who has just returned from abroad. He even put the emerald pendant, which was supposed to be a keepsake from my grandma, on her neck carefully. I was overwhelmed trying to figure out this unexpected variable outside the plot. But Stanley decided to imprison me in a mental asylum instead. "It's better for you to wake up from that daydream of yours. I'm sick of hearing you prattle about the male and female leads for so many years. Only when Tina is by my side do I feel a sense of freedom." The torture I was forced to undergo in the mental asylum was too much for me to handle. My only salvation was the spare time I got to scribble down the original plotline of this novel. When Stanley found out, however, he torched my drafts instantly. He even went as far as to poison the glass I drink from. Before I died, I heard his icy voice. "Tina will continue to live her life in fear as long as someone in this world remembers the original plot. That's why you must die for her sake." When I woke up again, I'd returned to the day I witnessed Stanley and Tina making out with each other. Everyone around me wore various expressions, though they collectively decided to stay quiet. I was the one who shattered the silence by raising my glass with a smile. "I wish you a lifetime of happiness."

In an ordinary life with her mundane family, she is persuaded by her best friend, Arabella, to attend a lavish party thrown by King Magdon for his son, Prince Ariel. But the evening takes a deadly turn when her best friend betrays her, leading to her untimely death. Possessed by a new spirit, she is unexpectedly crowned "Queen of the Day" after unknowingly drinking from a glass with a hidden "Queen’s Ring." As the Chosen Lady, she finds herself at the heart of a prophecy meant to unite the human world with the realm of the gifted. Burdened with the task of mastering her powers to prevent a catastrophic war, she faces a daunting choice: marry for love or for duty. Will she follow her heart or succumb to the weight of her destiny?

Camilla Hart’s life is small but warm, filled with early mornings with her best friend Anya and caring for her sick aunt Roseline. An encounter with an arrogant stranger that she spilled coffee, will change everything. That same stranger, Adrian Harrington, a billionaire CEO, shows up at her big presentation. Impressed, he offers her a job as his personal assistant. Camilla is thrown into a world of glass walls, power games, and sharp eyes that never stop watching. Her desk sits just a glass wall away from Adrian Harrington’s — the arrogant billionaire she can’t escape from him. Everything changed when Adrian puts a contract in front of her: one year as his wife. No intimacy, no questions, no strings. In return, her aunt’s surgery will be paid for, and 20 million dollars . Cornered, Camilla signs. A dinner party with Adrian’s powerful family push her to her limits.Eleanor, Adrian's grandmother looks down on her because of her background, his father shows kindness, and just when she starts finding her place, Adrian’s childhood sweetheart, Celine, comes back to claim him. Jealousy simmers, sparks ignite, and the “rules” of their marriage start to break. Between late-night arguments, almost-kisses, and truths they’re too afraid to say , something real grows. But just as Camilla begins to trust what’s happening between them, her world is rocked: her long-lost father returns, wealthy and powerful, carrying secrets that turn her life upside down. When the contract ends, Camilla walks away, determined to stand on her own. But Adrian won’t let her go. In front of both families, at an engagement party no one saw coming, he makes his choice clear: what started as a deal on paper has become the only promise that matters.

“You’ve been a very bad girl, Ley…” He whispered, his eyes dark with hunger, closing the distance between them until her back hit the cool glass wall. Her breath caught, but she didn’t flinch. “You’re arrogant…” “You’re wet.” He wrapped his hand around her waist and leans in… She should walk away, he was her father’s best friend, arrogant, wickedly charming, and knows exactly how to ruin her resolve, but his fingers traced her wrist, slow, possessive, and she knew she would let him ruin her again. He was supposed to be off-limits… but forbidden taste the sweetest.

"I will be your mistress, Adrian. Just let my family live." Adrian lifted his glass of wine. A faint smile curved his lips. "I thought they would send me the adopted daughter," he said, "I didn't expect you." "Everyone said your brother spoiled you like a princess. Turns out that was just a joke." The tip of the pen paused, stabbing a small blot of ink onto the paper. I signed my name, calm to the point of silence. The contract would take effect in three days. Then, I would cut all ties with the Willis name. I traded myself for the survival of the Willis family and my own permanent release.

Jackson steps in front of me, his strong hands cupping my face as he brings his forehead to mine. “I want to replace it. I want to take all your nightmares and turn them into something beautiful, the way you’ve done for me. I just need you to trust me. You think you can do that?” I was only looking at how he gently held me with his huge hands. Considering his bulk frame, I was like a fragile glass he was holding. I don't know why but my heart did skip a beat, but I had to swallow it up and pretend that I didn't feel it.

There's an unspoken rule in my household—everyone has to engage in a drinking competition during the holidays. Whoever gets wasted first will have to pay off one year's worth of house and car mortgages for the other two siblings. In the first year, I collapsed after my first glass of alcohol. I had to pay the house mortgage for my oldest sister, Dahlia Zeller. In the second year, as soon as I picked up my glass, I fainted right away. Since then, I had to pay off Jasmine Zeller, my second sister's car loan. For the next 20 years, I've always been the loser. In the end, my wife, Jean McCarthy, is forced to jump off a building because of the huge debt I've racked up. The debtors keep dumping paint onto my residence, forcing me to deter away from it. Ransacked by guilt, I end up damaging my stomach from overdrinking when I attempt to train my alcohol tolerance. As a result, half of my liver has gotten removed. When I'm on the verge of death, I hear my parents snickering outside my ward. "Don't you think we've laced too many sleeping pills in his drink? He almost didn't wake up back then!" "It's fine. He's an idiot who merely thinks he has a low alcohol tolerance. Our family still relies on him for financial survival, you see. We can keep drugging him so that he'll keep getting wasted." When I open my eyes again, I've already gotten reborn in the timeframe when I'm sitting at the dining table in the 20th year.

Sienna Stone is known to the world as the Stone Princess. Her father is the CEO of the globally renowned tech conglomerate "Stone Enterprises". However, Sienna's life isn't as simple as one would think. She was born prematurely which led to a debilitating lung condition that has made her family extra protective of her. Fed up with everyone treating her like she's made of glass, she begs her twin brothers to train her to fight. Unable to convince her brothers to fight her fully, she picks a fight with the formidable Reaper. Sienna soon learns the hard way that all of our decisions come with a price. The question is, is she willing to pay? Or will she find herself defeated?