I Hope By Jay Lewis

I go deaf in an attempt to save James Duncan. He falls to his knees before my parents and begs them to let me marry him. He says he'll care for me for life. He finally passes his five-year test, but he sleeps with his lover before our wedding. He does it before my very eyes. He clamps a hand over her mouth and says, "Be quiet. Don't wake Layla up." His lover giggles and nibbles on his palm. "What's there to be afraid of? She's deaf; she can't hear us." James doesn't know that I've already regained my hearing. He and his lover are also unaware that their behavior is being livestreamed.

Sa araw ng libing ng kaniyang ina, nalaman niyang hindi siya mahal ng kaniyang asawa. Nag-file siya ng divorce at umalis. Pagkalipas ng ilang taon, muli siyang bumalik ngunit hindi na ang dating babae na nakilala ng lahat.

I am Jessica Myers. 30 years of age. I am an introverted type of person and spends most of my time at home, watching Netflix. I don't usually go out and I don't have a lot of friends. Despite my age, I still keep a diary with me and every time I want to share something to someone, I write it on my diary. Everyone might think I am boring, but this is the life I am comfortable to live with. I was bullied as a student which makes me have a hard time trusting other people. Like other , all I want is to be loved. I hope to meet someone who can make me feel special despite my characteristics and flaws. I am an ordinary woman who wants to be pursued by a guy, receiving flowers, going on dates in cinemas or simply walking in a park. My ideal man? I just want to meet someone who is nice and who can listen to my stories no matter how simple and boring they are. I don't think I am a difficult person to deal with but why is no one liking me? I am an NBSB and because of that, I have low self-confidence. I sometimes ask myself if I am capable to love and to be loved. I hope someday, like in fairy tales, my prince charming will come. I hope someone out there will see the beauty in me, maybe not physically but with my character. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my life now, but I am sure I will be happier to be spending it with someone. Will I still get a happy ending like the characters in fairy tales? When can I experience the love I have always been hoping for?

It is 9:00 pm, and a soft glow still lights the master bedroom on the Lowe residence's second floor. "Helena, there's only a month left before the marriage agreement ends. Once it's up, I'll go ahead and arrange the fake death." Sitting at her vanity, Bianca Lane types the message and sends it to her mother-in-law, Helena Johnson. A reply comes back almost instantly. "Bianca, you've worked so hard these past ten years. You've taken such good care of Sebastian and even gave birth to a child for our family. "To me, you've always been my daughter-in-law. Why not just forget about the agreement?" Reading the message, Bianca unconsciously tightens her grip on her phone before quickly typing her response. "No, Helena. Let's just stick to the agreement."

Mr. Aidan Bruce Christopher Desmond the 3rd, a multi-billionaire business man in his early 30's, is emotional detached to the rest the world making him be a selfish dark self-centered dangerous man. Blindly he ends up falling deep into a situation that he never in his wildest dreams thought he'd be in. Belinda Nadia Logan, the last heir to the Logans empire, takes up a role of becoming a simple woman that diminishes her Logans title to ashes. Naively she gets herself entangled in a messy situation between two rocks that she can not escape from. This bounds her to the ruthlessness of what the universe could offer. When time comes will she choose to free herself from being earthbound or set herself free...

“Please sweetheart, I’m sorry for how I treated you, you know this has always been my dream job. I can’t lose it please, I’ll do anything you want please sweetheart”, came Cooper’s disgusting voice. The audacity of this man, he even had the guts to call me sweetheart, the name he had stopped calling me during our marriage. “Don’t you ever call me again in your pathetic little life and from now on, refrain from calling me inappropriate names, I am your boss’s wife. The next time you disturb my peace or call me inappropriately, you’ll be hauled off to jail”, I replied coldly and hung up. After Mila catches her husband, Cooper having sex with his “shortcut to a better life” in their matrimonial bed, he divorces her then throws her out in the middle of the night. Mila is shocked to discover Cooper also cleared their joint account leaving her penniless. Mila thought her life was over but she is swept off her feet by Ryan Anderson, the richest billionaire in New York, one who happens to be Cooper’s boss and maybe something more. Now Mila can make those that hurt her pay. Mila is finally happy but like they say good things don’t last forever. Will she be able to save herself and her family when danger starts lurking? Will she finally get her happy ever after?

At the farewell banquet hosted for my wife, Lorraine Ford, who will be getting assigned into a military unit soon, Lieutenant Chester Johnson speaks up in a sarcastic manner. "You really are generous, Hunter. Commander Ford has already given away your transfer slot in the military to her stepbrother, and yet you're still throwing this banquet for her." I find his words ridiculous, to say the least. "That's impossible! My wife hates pulling strings to make things easier! In the past, she didn't even give me the youth transfer slot even though she had one!" Chester sounds more enthusiastic now. "I've personally read the approval report. Commander Ford has already listed Rowan Langley under the family column! Don't you know that she has already taken him in as her younger stepbrother?" I feel as though lightning has struck me on the spot. Then, I turn to look at my parents and Lorraine, who look quite guilty. My parents quickly grab me by the hand. "Rowan comes from a poor background, not to mention he's a widower, too. If he continues staying in this village, he'll be the subject of everyone's gossip for the rest of his life. "Hunter, you're Lorraine's actual husband, so you must be more gracious toward him." At that moment, I feel sharp pain coming from my heart. Fine. I'll be gracious, as per their request. This time, I'll personally give Lorraine away to her beloved Rowan.

During a turf war, I took a bullet for Daniel Wilson. When I woke up in the family hospital after three years in a coma, I discovered that Eva, the showgirl I'd saved from a black market auction, had usurped my place in the Wilson family. My husband Daniel, the family's Underboss, saw that I was awake, and his first words to me were: "The entire underworld recognizes Eva as the woman by my side now. Why did you have to wake up at a time like this?" "Alice and I both love her. She's the one who's been by our side these past three years. And you? You've just been a body in a hospital bed, absent from our lives." "We're through, Sarah." Watching the man I once loved so deeply speak such heartless words, I didn't put up a fight. I simply nodded and gave him what he wanted. But he had no idea the Wilson family was about to burn to the ground.

Sybil von Rosen was never meant to grow up among humans. Born a Lycan princess through a human surrogate, she was stolen from the castle as an infant by the very woman meant to nurse her, a woman who turned out to be a witch. Hidden beneath a powerful spell that caged her wolf and erased her scent from the supernatural world, Sybil was raised knowing exactly who she was… and exactly what she had been bred for. A womb. A crown. Her bloodline’s legacy. But Sybil was never meant to be a broodmare queen. She grew up human with the strength and senses of a shewolf and the magic of the witches, which got transferred to her while she was still in the womb of her surrogate. Betrayed by her hybrid fiancé, who abandoned her to marry the princess of their kingdom, Sybil made a decision that will shake three kingdoms. She returned. Not for love. Not for duty. For revenge… But the throne comes with chains. Instead of marrying one Alpha, she is bound to four—the Alpha Guardians of Lupenreich. Ruthless. Powerful. Pureblood. Feared across kingdoms. She cannot smell her mates. She is a Lycan princess trapped in a wolfless witch body. While the Alphas believe they're claiming their future Queen, Sybil is already planning something far more dangerous. She will not stand beside a king. She will not be used to breed to secure bloodlines. She certainly will not be ruled. If the kingdom wants a queen… They’re about to kneel to a rebel queen. Sybil von Rosen is not an ordinary Luna. She is the last Lycan heir. The forbidden daughter of witches. The mate of four Alpha Guardians. And she intends to take the throne for herself and will bow to no one.

Aira Valerius, the poised and dutiful daughter of the Beta of Crescent Wane Pack, was raised to be Luna. Engaged since childhood to Rico, the Alpha’s son, her fate had always been bound to his whims his arrogance, and his indifference. And out of loyalty to her family, who owed everything to the Alpha’s bloodline, she swallowed her pride and wore the mask of the perfect mate.Until her wedding day.When Aira caught Rico in bed with her adopted sister, she walked away from the altar with fire in her veins but she never made it out alive. Betrayed. Silenced. Killed.Only… fate had other plans.Aira wakes up alive, in the past, in her bridal suite once more, memories of her death seared into her soul. And this time, she refuses to be anyone’s puppet.Still in her wedding gown, she flees, stepping into the unknown with one vow: never again.Then she meets him.Alexander Thorne, the mysterious man in the back of the sleek black car, with eyes like winter storms and a name that shakes the werewolf realm—The Alpha King.Desperate and cornered, Aira blurts out the impossible: “Marry me.”And to her shock… he says yes.But Aira is no longer just the Beta’s daughter, and Alexander is far more than a stranger. In his arms, she finds safety. In his palace, danger. Because the Alpha King has secrets of his own and a possessive streak that won’t let his new Luna walk away.Not now.Not ever.