Healing

Di tahun kelima pernikahan tanpa hubungan suami istri, sebuah pesan teks tentang suamiku yang meninggalkan duniawi dan saudara perempuan angkatnya yang sedang menginap di hotel muncul. Detik berikutnya, foto pribadiku yang mengenakan pakaian seksi untuk menggoda suamiku, tetapi ditolak dengan dingin, terkirim ke grup obrolan kerja. Grup obrolan kerja itu penuh dengan sarkasme, [Awalnya, berusaha mati-matian memaksa menikah dengan Pak Jason, Pak Jason menjadi biksu untuk melindungi kepolosannya, sehingga dia harus berpisah dari kekasihnya.] [Pak Jason menahannya selama lima tahun, wajar baginya untuk kehilangan kendali atas emosinya dan kembali bersama kekasihnya.] Ayah yang sakit parah meninggal karena syok, tetapi suamiku bahkan tidak menghadiri pemakaman. Malam itu, aku berlutut di depan Ibu Jason dan mengajukan perceraian. “Awalnya, kamu bilang aku adalah jodoh Jason, pernikahan kami akan memberinya masa depan yang cerah, jadi kamu rela membayar biaya pengobatan yang sangat mahal dan menyetujui perjanjian lima tahun denganku.” “Sekarang waktunya telah tiba dan kamu harus melepaskanku.”

“Camille, I’ll love you forever!” Jameson let out a low, agonized growl. Just as he was about to climax, his phone suddenly began to buzz. He ignored it, of course. Now was hardly the time. However, his phone lit up again. The moment he saw the text on the screen, his body froze. Camille heard him answer the call. “Hello?” In the deep silence of the night, the voice on the phone cut through the stillness, clear and unmistakable. “Jameson, did you know that Sylvia—” Jameson switched languages and cut in with a sharp command, “Keep it down. It's not a good time.” The other person switched languages too, though he was still loud. “The hospital results came in. Sylvia is in the final stages of cancer. She only has a month left! Her last wish is to become your wife. Can you grant her that before she passes?” Jameson’s expression changed immediately. “What?! Wait for me!” He ended the call and turned to Camille. “Camille, something urgent came up. I need to step out for a bit. Be good and stay home. I’ll be back after you’ve had some sleep.” Before she could respond, he rose to wash up, changed his clothes, and left without looking back. Moments later, her phone buzzed. Sylvia: [Camille, you lost. I told you—Jameson has always been mine.] Right above it was a message from three days ago: [If I tell him I have cancer, do you think Jameson will leave you and come to me? I bet he will.] Camille’s gaze slowly shifted from her phone screen to the open bedroom door. What Jameson did not know was that she had already picked up a new language. She understood every word of that call. After a long moment, a faint, bitter smile appeared on her face. “Yeah, I lost...”

My best friend's brother and I have been dating for half a year, and she has no clue. My best friend drags me out on Christmas for a singles' night out. Unexpectedly, we see her brother, Chris Lambert, holding hands and kissing a girl under the fireworks. "Damn, Chris finally got the school belle!" She looks thrilled and pulls me forward to say hi. Chris awkwardly rubs his nose and introduces me to his girlfriend, "This is my sister, and the one beside her is… sort of like my sister too." I smile silently. We have held hands and kissed, yet now, I am just sort of like his sister.

After Nathan Seville stands me up for the seventh time we're supposed to register our marriage, I finally cut all ties with him—completely and on my own terms. If he shows up at a gathering, I don't go. If he's invited to perform at the college anniversary, I leave early. The moment my company decides to work with him, I resign on the spot. Even on Christmas Eve, when he shows up at my house with gifts, I make up an excuse about needing to visit someone. Calls? Blocked. Socials? Deleted. My strategy is simple—cut it all off. I don't reach out, and he has no way of finding me. For the first 30 years of my life, I spent most of it loving him with everything I had. I cared for him, supported him, and waited for him. But after being left hanging for the seventh time at the City Hall, I finally wake up. I don't want to live like this anymore. Even if I end up alone, it's still better than spending night after night waiting in an empty house that never feels like home!

When we were about to head to the amusement park, my Beta boyfriend, Drew, brought along a woman and her daughter. There happened to be one seat short in the car. Drew told me to get out and give my seat to the two of them. “Laura has a kid with her. Let them go first. I’ll come back for you later,” he said. I calmly stepped out and watched as the car slowly pulled away from the pack. Three hours later, they arrived at the amusement park for the fireworks and feast. When a friend asked Drew why he still hadn’t come back to get me, Drew was patiently helping Laura light a giant firework. He wasn’t in a rush at all and even said, “It’ll be fine if I pick Sienna up later. She won’t mind. I’ll coax her a bit, and she’ll stop being mad.” Anger only worked on people who cared about someone. My dad, mom, and brother never cared, and now, not even Drew cared anymore. It was time for me to leave for good.

Willow Warma was known to be a well-behaved lady in the circle of socialites. The wildest thing she had ever done was dating her brother’s rival for three years behind his back and letting him take countless intimate videos of her.

Alpha Fabian's first reaction to learning I was his fated mate? Rejection. But drunk at the bonfire festival, he couldn't fight the pull of fate. He marked me. Marking a rejected mate came with a price. His power weakened. Forced into a bond with me, he despised me. For two years, I bled for him. I did 100 impossible things, just hoping for a single glance. I snuck into forbidden lands for rare herbs. I negotiated with enemy packs. I fought on the front lines for him in pack wars, always coming back covered in scars. But the one he truly loved was my adopted sister, Gloria. Even my own parents, the pack's Beta, hated me. I was their lost daughter, raised by rogues for fifteen years. But they only had eyes for their perfect, obedient adopted girl. Then, on my 100th task, I nearly died in the Valley of Shadows. When I woke up, I had amnesia. I was done chasing a cold mate and a family's love I'd never have. And when I finally walked away, Fabian discovered the truth. It was never me who couldn't live without him. It was always him.

After her first love died, Sophia Hayes hated me for ten years. I tried to win back her favor every day, but she only responded with cold sneers. "If you really want to make me happy, why don't you just die?" Her words were like daggers to my heart. It was a shock when she died in a pool of blood while trying to save me from an oncoming truck. With her final gaze fixed on me, she whispered, "If only I had never met you." Her mother was inconsolable with grief at the funeral. "I should have let Sophia be with Ethan Brooks. I never should have forced her to marry you!" Her father also looked at me with hatred in his eyes. "Sophia saved your life three times. She was such a wonderful person. Why couldn't it have been you who died instead?" Everyone regretted that Sophia had married me—myself included. I was driven away from the funeral, completely devastated. Three years later, I traveled back to the past after a time machine was invented. This time, I chose to sever all connections with Sophia, giving everyone the version of history they truly desired.

"Kau bukanlah putri kandung kami. Kau tertukar saat berada di rumah sakit." Sejak kecil Danastri tak pernah mengetahui alasan dirinya diabaikan, tak dipedulikan dan keluarga yang bersikap dingin padanya hingga suatu hari datanglah sosok gadis angkuh yang menggantikan posisinya. Danastri hanyalah anak yang tertukar hingga warisan dari sang kakek jatuh ke tangannya secara mutlak. Keluarganya tak terima dan berusaha menyingkirkan Danastri dengan cara melenyapkan gadis itu selamanya. Namun rencana mereka gagal, Danastri diselamatkan oleh musuh bebuyutan sang ayah. Danastri disembunyikan, dirawat dan dibangkitkan dari reruntuhan luka dan pengkhianatan. Di balik semua itu ada Widipa, pria yang dingin dan penuh rahasia. Dia menyelamatkan Danastri, tetapi tak ada seorang pun yang tahu jika keluarganya menyimpan luka masa lalu terhadap keluarga Danastri. Danastri dan Widipa bekerjasama menghancurkan keluarga Wirajaya. Namun satu hal yang tak mereka ketahui, ada surat warisan kedua yang harus dibuka saat Danastri berusia dua puluh lima tahun. Mengapa surat itu justru ada di tangan Widipa? Mampukah Danastri menghancurkan keluarga angkatnya? Siapa yang akan benar-benar hancur saat semua rahasia terbongkar—mereka atau dirinya sendiri?

ชีวิตผมกำลังอยู่ในเส้นระหว่างความเป็นกับความตายแต่แค่เพียงลมพายุพัดกระหน่ำท้องฟ้าวิปริตแปรปรวนเสียงร้องคำรามของสัตว์สี่ขาและเสียงร้องเอะอะของผู้ร้ายก็ดังสลับกับเสียงร้องหวยโหยก็ดังขึ้นมาพร้อมๆกับสัตว์สี่ขาร่างกายใหญ่โตลายพาดกลอนและเขี้ยวแหลมของมัน บ่งบอกได้ชัดเจนว่ามัน คือ 'เสือ'