Guoba Standing Up

Aku duduk sendirian di meja makan, tepat di hari ulang tahun pernikahan kami yang ke-7. Ponselku tiba-tiba berdering. Di layar kunci telepon, ada dua notifikasi pesan masuk yang masih belum terbaca. Pesan pertama datang dari Riki, dia bilang kalau dia harus lembur di kantor malam ini. Sementara pesan yang satu lagi datang dari nomor tidak dikenal. [Pak Riki sungguh luar biasa. Kakak sanggup mengatasinya?] Ada satu foto yang ikut dikirimkan dalam pesan tersebut. Foto itu menampilkan sepasang pria dan wanita yang sedang bercumbu mesra. Aku pun meniup lilin kue ulang tahun pernikahan kami sambil menutup mata dengan penuh kelelahan. [Ayo kita cerai.] Aku mengirimkan pesan balasan ke Riki.

On the night of my fifth wedding anniversary with Sebastian Gray, he lit up the entire city with fireworks for me. All our friends kept saying what a wonderful man he was—so loving, so romantic. The kind of husband every woman dreams of. At the grand finale, the fireworks burst into words that lit up the night sky: Happy Birthday, Jen. Jennifer Kingsley was Sebastian's first love, his ideal woman, the one who had always lingered in his heart. Sebastian looked at me, his expression almost sheepish. "Ah, it's Jen's birthday too. They must have mixed up the fireworks." That night, Jennifer posted on her social media: "Men are boys till the day they die, always fumbling their way through romance." She added a picture of the fireworks, along with a photo of her and Sebastian standing close under the dazzling display. I liked her post and left a comment: "From school to altar—what a touching love story. When's the wedding?"

The day after I got engaged to my boyfriend, his best friend locked me up. He smiled as he unbuttoned his shirt, stepping closer with each passing moment. "Mich, I'm your true destiny," he said, his voice low and menacing. As I struggled to resist, I lost my footing and tumbled down the stairs. When I woke up, all my memories were gone. The handsome stranger standing before me noticed my confusion and kindly offered an explanation. "You're my fiancée, but you cheated on me," he said.

It’s ironic, you think you have a basic boring life: go to school, go on summer vacation, work, eat, sleep and repeat, and still people will find things to complain about saying they want more adventure, or something exciting to happen to them. Then suddenly, that exact thing happens to you. And you get dragged in to a war that’s been raging for hundreds of years. I’m only 17, I should be worrying about other things! Finishing school, what I want to do with my life, boys! But the day I meet Ash everything changed and I am yet to decided if they changed for the better. And it all started because of a nightmare. Who would have thought nightmares could be real. DEFINITELY NOT ME!…

On Valentine's Day, I set up a candlelit dinner and waited. At 9 PM, my husband, Alfred Johnston, finally texted. [Something came up at work. Don't wait for me.] Then I saw her post. [On a business trip with the CEO for Valentine's Day. Every hotel is fully booked—awkward...] Vivian Bianca, his secretary. Attached was a photo of a guy in a bathrobe, standing by a floor-to-ceiling window. The comments were all 'ooh, CEO's so hot and girl, you're in for a night.' Vivian? Just dropped a smug emoji. So that's what "something came up" meant—a romantic getaway with his secretary. I screenshotted it, posted it on my own feed, and added a smiling emoji. A second later, Alfred called, fuming. "Vivian was joking! Why are you so petty? She's young, not as calculating as you!" I didn't let him finish. "Then let's get a divorce. That way, I won't have to care when you screw around and catch something."

The princess was now standing in front of me. But she was not what I expected. In fact, to say I was disappointed was an understatement. Like what the fuck. I've heard stories about how beautiful and enchanting she was, but the woman standing in front of me was completely opposite from that description. The woman standing in front of me was chubby. What the hell? I thought they said she was slim and slender. She even had a mole on her nose and when she smiled at me, I almost puked. She had a huge gap tooth and looked like a clown. "Greetings your highness," she said, and I almost died. Please don't tell me that is my bride. Like, what the f*ck?!

Di malam valentine, aku bertemu dengan sahabat kecil tunanganku di depan sebuah bar. Dia tampak seperti habis diracuni, tak sadarkan diri. Kali ini, aku pura-pura tidak melihatnya dan langsung berbalik pergi. Di kehidupan sebelumnya, aku sama sekali tidak mengenalnya. Karena niat baik, aku menolongnya. Tapi, malah tanpa sengaja melihat ada tato nama tunanganku di tulang selangkanya. Awalnya, aku kira itu hanya salah paham. Tapi sesaat kemudian, saat aku membantu mengangkat teleponnya, aku mendengar suara tunanganku dari ponselnya. Karena marah dan cemburu, aku pun memutuskan sambungan telepon itu dan mengabaikan 99 panggilan tak terjawab darinya. Aku baru pergi setelah memastikan dia sudah baik-baik saja di hotel milik keluargaku. Siapa sangka, dia malah menjadi korban pelecehan malam itu. Karena merasa memalukan, dia memilih mengakhiri hidupnya. Setelah kebenaran terungkap, tunanganku tetap pura-pura tidak tahu apa-apa, bahkan tetap menggelar pesta pernikahan megah untukku. Namun, di hari aku mengetahui kehamilanku, dia malah mematahkan kedua kakiku dan mengurungku di rumah. Aku sangat terpuruk dan bertanya kenapa padanya. Dia malah tertawa gila-gilaan. “Kalau bukan karenamu, Luna nggak akan jadi korban pelecehan, dia juga nggak akan bunuh diri! Ini semua salahmu!” Tak kusangka, saat membuka mata lagi, aku malah kembali ke hari di mana aku bertemu sahabat kecilnya di depan bar.

Emily thought the only hurdle in her life was standing up to her father to follow her dream of owning a bakery. Until her boyfriend Ryan and her sister Kayla betrayed her. leaving her devastated. Those she trusted the most threatened her life. To survive, Emily strikes a deal with the CEO Logan. A contract marriage. Their union threatens the plans of many, and they would go to any length to destroy both Emily and Logan. Will they be able to overcome the obstacle?As lies unravel, dangerous truths come to light, and unexpected feelings take root, Emily and Logan must decide—will their partnership remain just a deal, or will it become something worth fighting for?

A high-profile rape case rocks Corvessa City. During the autopsy, I examine the deceased's private area as part of the standard procedure. My wife, a police captain, blows up in front of the onlookers. "Don't we have a female medical examiner in our unit? Do you realize you're re-victimizing the deceased? And your wife is standing right here. Are you really that desperate?" The crowd turns on me in a heartbeat. Bowing to public pressure, the department suspends me and tells me to keep reporting in at my own expense. I hand in my resignation on the spot. Without me, nobody in Corvessa City is going to crack this case.

“I reject you, Rhea Graymont. A shiftless wolf has no place at my side.” With those cold words, Rhea’s fated mate, Alpha Kael, shattered her soul in front of the entire pack. Disowned by her father and branded a disgrace, Rhea is left with nothing but her secret life as a legendary gamer and her only friend - Adrian, a dark possessive Chat AI she coded to be her "perfect" partner and gaming avatar. But her enemies want her dead, not just exiled. When a brutal ambush leaves Rhea bleeding out in a mangled wreck at the bottom of a dark ravine, she makes one final, desperate wish into her shattered phone. "Adrian... I wish you were real." Amidst a storm of Crimson Rain, the digital veil shatters. Adrian Veyran steps out of the void - not as pixels of a Chat AI boyfriend or game avatar, but as a ancient Vampire King bound to Rhea’s soul as her second chance mate, with a lethal obsession for the girl who "created" him. Now, Rhea is returning to Aetherion Academy. The "weak" princess is dead; in her place is a masked phantom protected by a monster. While Silas and her treacherous family celebrate her death, Rhea begins her shadow war to reclaim her throne and her mother’s stolen company. But as Adrian begins to "delete" her enemies with terrifying ease, Rhea realizes her code had a secret side effect. Her "perfect" protector is the reincarnated Shadow God. Adrian doesn't just want to protect Rhea - he wants to claim her, body, soul, and code. When the Alpha who broke her heart comes crawling back, will Rhea choose the wolf who left her to die, or the digital god ready to burn the world for her?