I Need Someone Novels & Stories

At a classmate’s wedding, everyone joked with me, "So when are you getting married?" I said, "Soon." My girlfriend, Fiona Hartley, said she hadn’t thought about it yet. After we spoke at the same time, she looked at me with undisguised disgust. "When did I ever agree to marry you?" That night, claiming it was out of spite, she went out with friends to a get-together centered around her long-cherished first love. I knew then that she had never intended to marry me. So I didn’t try to stop her. I let the wedding plans continue as scheduled. After all, she was never the woman I wanted to marry in the first place.

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

There was an unspoken rule in high society. When families arranged marriages, the woman chose her partner through an auction. I had chased Zayn Farrell since I was young. At the auction, I did not hesitate. I bid at the highest tier and chose him. Not long after our engagement, my parents died in a car accident, and my family fell from power. I thought Zayn would take the chance and leave me, but he still married me. He doted on me and turned me into the woman everyone in Ravenwood envied. I believed I had moved his heart, until his first love, Yara Xavier, returned. The first time I met Yara, she brought her luggage into the Farrell family villa. Soon after, someone threw all her belongings out. The servants later said I had ordered it. I tried to explain, but Zayn did not believe me. He locked me outside and made me kneel in the rain for the whole night. The second time, Yara tripped and fell down a steep slope. She said I had pushed her. Zayn lost his temper and punished me. He made me climb a rough mountain path in high heels. He did not stop until he saw that I was covered in blood. My legs were bruised and swollen. The third time, I found out the truth by accident. My parents died because Yara found out about my engagement to Zayn and had orchestrated it. Zayn married me to keep me close so he could watch me and make sure Yara would never go to prison. My world collapsed. On the day I finally got the evidence and went to the police, Zayn drove his car into me and killed me. When I opened my eyes, I was back at the auction. It was the day I chose my fiance.

When his first love is cruelly snatched away, HRH Prince Leonidas decides to put love and intimate relationships on the back burner. He succeeds for a while, until he meets Elisabeth, a striking young woman with a smart mouth and an attitude that warns him that she isn't a pushover. He is forced to ascend the throne he had previously rejected and due to the pressure to take a wife, he settles for Elisabeth but not without setting up rules. "Rule number one; don't fall in love with me". "Rule number two; no form of intimate touching is allowed." He hopes that their seemingly mutual dislike for each other would prevent lines from being crossed, but he's in for a surprise.

Five years after migrating abroad, my husband, Shawn Johnson, brings his true love and her son home. "Jill and Neil are new here. They'll be staying with us for a few days." He and I get into a huge fight over this. On my birthday, Shawn hands me a divorce agreement. He says, "Hurry up and sign it. Jill needs this country's citizenship, so let's divorce for show first." I frown, wanting to ask for more details. However, he points at me and calls me heartless. Shortly after, I see Jill's social media update. "Shawnie divorced his wife for me and Neil! We finally have a roof over our heads." I like the post and sign the divorce agreement. Then, I submit an application to my company to be transferred home.

During a family gathering, my mother produces a few photos of different men. She asks me which one I want to get into an arranged marriage with. I don't choose Bradley Garvin again in this lifetime. Instead, I pull out a photo of my own and give it to my mother. It's of Terrence Garvin, the Garvin family's true leader. My mother is surprised. I've pursued Bradley for many years, after all. What she doesn't know is that I married him in my past life. However, he rarely came home. I always thought it was because he was too busy. Whenever anyone asked me about it, I took all the blame. I only discovered the truth on our 20th wedding anniversary after accidentally breaking a box he kept locked in his closet. It turned out my sister was the one he'd always loved. He never returned home because he didn't want to see me. Unexpectedly, Bradley loses his mind when I'm about to put a diamond ring on Terrence's finger on our wedding day.

In the third year of my eating disorder, my husband, Nikolai Hollowell, is the only person who still insists on making me eat. Even when I vomit until I'm a trembling mess, he will make another dish for me again half an hour later. He coaxes gently yet stubbornly, "Have one more bite of the apple slice, Emi." But the moment I smell the food, I throw up again until I can barely breathe. That night, I make another post on X to ask for help. "How is someone with an eating disorder supposed to keep living?" The top comment says, "Get a boyfriend who's a chef! My darling cooks different dishes for me every single day, all 365 days without repeating once. Even the apple slices he cuts are shaped like cute little bunnies, so I absolutely love eating now." Someone replies enviously, "Wow! Where do you find a man like that?" She answers, "Find one? Good men like that no longer circulate on the market. He is actually married. His wife has had anorexia for three years. She has become only skin and bones. "He says just looking at her kills his appetite, and he does not even want to touch her. Well, I'm nothing like her. I always finish every dish he makes." My breathing catches in my throat. This morning, Nikolai personally made bunny-shaped apple slices for me. My fingertips turn cold as I tap into the woman's profile. Her caption reads, "Wow! If your wife won't eat bunny-shaped apple slices, then I will!" Attached is a photo of a man's long, elegant fingers holding an apple slice up to the woman's mouth. And the one reflected in her starry eyes after zooming in—is a face identical to Nikolai's.

After falling head over heels for Joe Smith for three years, I finally got the proposal I had been waiting for. However, on the day of our wedding, he did not show up until the wee hours of the morning. When I found him, Joe was drinking happily with a young girl in his arms. “I’m already tired of her clinginess. She’s a joke. Who else would want her?” Much later, he made me a wedding ring and proposed with my favorite jasmine flowers. But a muscular man opened the door instead. The man had two scratch marks on his neck and smirked at the disheveled Joe. “Isn’t it a bit too shameless of you to propose to a married woman?”

In order to see the aurora with Alexander, I began planning a year in advance. Alexander and my adopted sister had already left me behind and gone to the destination ahead of time. When I arrived, no one answered the phone. I waited for ten hours before he finally returned my call. On the phone, Evelyn laughed excitedly, "Diana! I've already explored this entire city. Alex is so mature and charming—he planned everything in advance. I'm having such a wonderful time!" She chattered away, sharing her experiences, while Alexander occasionally play along to add details. The two of them had spent the holiday blissfully together like a pair of lovebirds. It was as if neither of them had noticed over a hundred missed calls from me. I stood in the cold wind, listening quietly. The biting wind slashed sharply across my cheeks. My feet are frozen and completely numb. It wasn't until Evelyn whined coyly that she was hungry that Alexander took the phone, his voice gentle, "Omega bodies are frail. Evelyn hasn't been feeling well these past two days. Wait a little longer—we'll come pick you up after we finish eating." Before he could finish, I gripped my phone tightly and said softly, "I waited for you for a long time, Alexander. I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time too." It seemed like Alexander on the other end was about to speak, but Evelyn's playfully voice came through, "Alex, hurry up and eat, I'm so hungry..." Then he hung up on me. The car I had booked in advance to take me home arrived. The driver helped me load my unopened suitcase. "Madam, there's a rogue werewolf on the loose around here lately—it's very dangerous. How could your family leave you here alone?" I took out the invitation from the Nordic medical team from my phone and examined it, "It won't happen again. Never again." Then I click accept invitation. Seven days later, Alexander — we will never see each other again.

I feel unwell, so I head to the hospital alone to get myself checked. There, I find my wife, Luna Ackerman, accompanying the poor student I support financially, Levi Baker, for a health checkup. Just last night, the very same woman held me intimately in bed and said we would be together forever in every lifetime. I smile dejectedly and summon the system in my mind. "I choose to go back to my original world." What Luna doesn't know is that I'm a transmigrator. I have accomplished my mission the moment I married her. But now, I don't want her anymore.