It's Just An Empty Cup

"Dad, Mom, I've decided—I'll go through with the marriage arrangement with the Kingston family. I'll be back by the end of the month." Daphne Wharton made the decision in the middle of a camping trip with Luke Hardy. She curled into herself, pulling her scarf higher against the chill. For a moment, there was only silence on the other end of the line. Then, her mother's voice came through, thick with tears. "Daphne, we know this isn't fair to you. Our company is struggling, and the Kingston family is willing to help—but only if you marry their son. We've failed you as parents…" Her father let out a heavy sigh beside her mother. Daphne listened, her gaze unfocused. A faint, bitter smile tugged at her lips. "It's okay, Mom, Dad. This is what I should do. I'll be back in fifteen days—when their son returns to the country."

I worked for a restaurant, and our boss loved making empty promises about giving us restaurant shares. The boss said we would start with zero shares, but we could earn 0.01% for every two hours of overtime, covering someone else’s work or saving the restaurant 1,000 bucks. I suggested she write this down in an official document and have someone track it properly. She just smiled and told everyone to work harder. She never actually put it in writing. The experienced staff did not believe her, but one prep cook took it seriously. At the end of the year, he went to the boss to claim his shares. The boss said, “Sorry, the head chef told me there’s no official document, so it doesn’t count. You can’t claim any shares.” The prep cook worked hard all year and got nothing for it, so he took his anger out on me. The day before I was going home for the New Year, he killed me with a knife. “If you hadn’t said it doesn’t count without an official document, this whole restaurant would’ve been mine!” I lay in a pool of blood. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day the boss first made those empty promises.

Cerita ini tercipta berdasarkan kisah yang dialami langsung oleh sipenulis alias cerita asli meskipun terdapat beberapa bagian cerita yang akan dikasi bumbu penyedap rasa alias fiktif namun tujuannya tidak lain dan tidak bukan hanyalah untuk menambah sensasi didalam alur cerita agar pembaca tidak mudah bosan dalam pengembangan karakternya. Buku ini akan mengisahkan tentang dua sejoli yang kata-nya sedang jatuh cinta namun sulit untuk saling mengekspresikan perasaan masing-masing dikarenakan cinta mereka yang dianggap tidak wajar karna sesama jenis. Dan hal itulah yang membuat salah satunya kadang terlihat egois dan mendominasi didalam hubungan mereka.

I was dying from my fear of heights, but my husband, Don Vincent, was busy with his assistant, savoring the latest coffee flown in from Hawaii that morning. "You're a grown woman, Bella. What's the big deal? You're stuck on a roof, figure it out." Then he hung up on me. I collapsed onto the hot tar of the roof, my body shaking uncontrollably before everything went black. It was two hours before building security found me. When I got home, I asked Vincent for a divorce. He rubbed his temples, his patience worn thin, looking at me as if I were a child throwing a tantrum. "Over a cup of coffee? I told you, the heights are all in your head. You’re perfectly safe now. Stop making a scene alright? What's this nonsense about a divorce? I have more important things to deal with. Calm yourself down." I stared at his back as he left, tears already streaming down my face. Something important? Did he really think I couldn't hear his assistant, Sophia, murmuring in the background? Did he think I didn't know he took her to the last family gathering? I had loved Vincent for three years. Everyone knew he was the center of my world. They all thought an orphan like me could never leave him. But now, all the love I had was eclipsed by a profound, soul-crushing exhaustion. I was done. I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't touched in three long years. "Uncle, book me a flight to Seattle. I'm ready to leave Vincent."

Ini bukan hanya cerita tentang Arini dan Brandon, tapi juga kedua anak-anak mereka; Elfarehza dan Alyssa. Sakinah, mawaddah dan warahmah. Ketiga hal inilah yang diinginkan oleh setiap pasangan suami istri yang telah menikah. Begitu juga dengan Arini dan Brandon. Masa lalu yang kelam membuat Brandon diliputi kekhawatiran. Dia takut kedua anak-anaknya melakukan kesalahan serupa, sehingga membuat pria itu menjadi seorang ayah yang overprotective. Seiring berjalannya waktu, El dan Al tumbuh menjadi remaja. Mereka mulai memberontak karena merasa dikekang. Puncaknya ketika El mengetahui rahasia yang disimpan oleh Brandon. Ketika itulah hubungannya dengan sang Ayah mulai memburuk. Tak hanya Brandon, Arini ternyata juga menyimpan rahasia besar. Begitu juga dengan Elfarehza dan Alyssa. Apa rahasia yang mereka simpan? Akankah sakinah, mawaddah dan warahmah masih bisa diwujudkan dalam rumah tangga mereka, setelah semua rahasia terbongkar? Mampukah Brandon mempertahankan cintanya kepada Arini, setelah tahu rahasia sang istri?

Sebuah kesalahpahaman membuat Brandon dan Arini saling membenci. Sebuah kejadian lain membuat keduanya menjadi dekat, JUST FRIEND. Sebuah keputusan, kemudian memisahkan mereka, setelah menjalin persahabatan selama bertahun-tahun. *** Arini, seorang siswi berprestasi, memiliki hobby bermain basket. Dia memilih bergabung dengan klub basket, meski tidak bisa ikut dalam pertandingan karena bukan laki-laki. Di sanalah, Arini bertemu dengan Brandon, leader basket Casanova berparas tampan, tapi dingin. Sebuah kesalahpahaman, membuat Bran menentang kehadiran gadis itu di klub basket. Tak disangka, suatu kejadian membuat Brandon malah menjadi penolong bagi Arini. Sejak saat itu mereka berdua menjadi dekat dan menjalin persahabatan. Bertahun berlalu, sebuah keputusan mampu mengubah segalanya, ketika Arini dijodohkan oleh sang Ayah dengan pria lain. 'Tak ada persahabatan yang murni di antara pria dan wanita.'

While my husband, Gerald Brown, was abroad negotiating a business deal, he was drugged and spent the night with a female secretary from a rival company. The drug’s side effects scrambled his memory so badly that he forgot who I was. He kicked me out of the master bedroom and let the secretary smash my grandmother’s heirloom. I told myself he was sick and stayed silently by his side. But when I suggested taking him for a medical checkup, he hit me for the first time. “Who do you think you are? Only Ailey is allowed to touch me. If she gets jealous, you’ll regret it.” When the secretary framed me, he pushed me down the stairs, and I suffered a miscarriage. Late one night, when my heart condition flared up, I went to his study for medicine but overheard him talking to his friend outside the door. “Faking amnesia to bring Ailey home is one thing, but why replace your wife’s heart medication? Now, she’ll never return to the hospital for surgery.” Gerald just chuckled. “If I don’t keep her weak, she’ll go to the hospital and check the hospital records and find out I was never drugged. Ailey’s been timid since childhood and even went undercover for me in a rival company. I can’t betray her.”

My boss, who made me work overtime every single day, finally got what was coming to him. Somehow, he got connected to my new keyboard. It was like he was synced to it. His face flushed red, his eyes brimming with tears. "Don't type anymore," he begged. I just smiled and nudged the mouse. "Don't move the mouse either!" 'Do you expect me to just stop because you said so? Wouldn't that make me look pathetic?' I thought to myself. I kept working until midnight. Just as I was about to leave, I glanced down. The carpet at my boss's feet was soaked through. I figured he must have knocked over his glass of water.

"I have this strong urge to kiss you." He said as his eyes flicked to my lips and then back to my eyes. I felt my heartbeat increasing and my knees were starting to feel weak by his closeness. I wet my lips, "Uh...no one is around. There is no need." I said through the lump in my throat. "I know, but I just want to." He said as he crashed his lips to mine. ~~~~~~ Emily Samuels was devastated when she found her boyfriend of a year cheating on her. She was angry and hurt that she swore she would never forgive him. Logan has apologized to her and said it was a mistake, but Emily did not want to hear it. She also turned him down when he begged for her back. Logan's plea for her has gotten consistent that Emily wanted him to stop, so she did something that she hadn't expected to do... She kissed the school's player and heartthrob; Tyler King. She only did that to let Logan see that she has moved on. Tyler, on the other hand, got an idea, so he strike a deal with Emily - to pretend that they were dating. Spending a lot of time with the player has allowed Emily to see the real Tyler. Would their fake dating be just that; fake? Or would it turn out to be real?

Alliana Raine Ramos started working in Vergara Group of Companies when she was twenty-five. As the breadwinner of her family, she needed to work her ass off just to provide for the needs and wants of her family, and also hers. At sa halos tatlong taon niya bilang sekretarya ni Sebastian Vergara, hindi niya maipagkailang humahanga siya rito. Dahil sa halos tatlong taon na kasa-kasama siya sa mga lakad nito, unti-unti niyang nakilala ang kan'yang boss—his real identity behind that competitive and bossy persona. But of course, she needed to know her limits, to set some boundaries between them, because after all, she's just nothing but the CEO’s secretary. Pero paano kung isang gabi ay napagdesisyunan niyang ibigay ang sarili sa kan’yang boss na siyang minamahal niya? Will she take the risk of admitting her feelings to her boss then? Ngunit nang napag-alaman niyang nagbunga ang isang gabing pinagsaluhan nilang dalawa, magagawa pa kaya niyang ipaglaban ang pagmamahal niya sa binata gayong alam niyang wala pa itong planong magka-anak?