Itself

“IKAW?” My eyes nearly popped out of my face when I saw him—the mysterious stranger from last night. Is it him? The same man? Parang gusto kong mahimatay. Wehh? Hindi pwede! Impossible! my inner voice screamed, pero ang katawan ko nanginginig na parang nakuryente. Hard f*ck na yata ng buhay ‘to. And suddenly, a memory crashed into me like a tidal wave. That night. That stupid, reckless night. The stolen kisses, the laughter between moans, the way he made me beg—“Wag kang titigil!”—like I’d lose myself if he stopped. I swore I’d never see him again. I swore it was just a one-night stand, a mistake I could bury. But now he’s standing right in front of me. Not just a man. Not just anyone. But the CEO. And worse… the ex-boyfriend who once shattered my heart. His smug grin sent shivers down my spine. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” he said, like fate itself was mocking me. I froze, torn between rage, fear, and something I couldn’t even name. My mind screamed run, but my heart whispered, stay. My world was spinning, and suddenly, every choice felt heavier than ever. Will this be the start of something dangerous… or a responsibility I can’t escape?

In the coastal quiet of Baler, a studio is born—not of architecture, but of intention.* Founded by Yam, a poet whose words cradle pain gently, and Franc, an artist who paints tenderness into walls, the studio becomes a refuge for those learning to stay—with grief, love, longing, and themselves. As visitors arrive, they leave behind more than footprints: a sigh recorded in bamboo, a poem tucked into the “Found Letters” shelf, a mural painted in crooked lines. Through zines, tea, silence, and sketchbooks, the studio teaches softness as revolution. Ren creates the *Window of Soft Returns*, an installation of anonymous voice recordings—each whisper forming a community of echoes. Drew builds the *Staircase With No Wrong Turns*, inviting people to walk through emotions without shame. Franc offers brushstrokes as brave work, and Yam curates writing circles that map healing in half sentences. Together, they host festivals that feel like hugs, and they begin traveling their archive, letting softness cross oceans. Even those who once left—like Miguel—return, discovering that some doors never truly close. Others, like Tala, capture the studio’s sound and turn it into a podcast of breath and becoming. Over seventy chapters, the studio transforms into something larger than itself: a mural of memory, a sanctuary for second chances, a place where return is sacred and voice is proof of survival. In the final bloom, the studio stands not as a monument—but as a reminder: > *“Staying isn’t easy. > But chosen together, > it becomes home.”*

"I can't be with you," he states, and I look up at him in outrage. "This isn't right." I take a step closer to him, pressing my body on his and feeling him responding with desire. "Look me in the eye and tell me that it feels wrong." He doesn't move. But he doesn't turn away either when I lift my hand to his chest, letting my hand trail down. "Don't," he warns, but I can only hear lust in his voice. "Dont' start a game that you can't finish." I don't listen. I let my touch speak for itself, to let it translate all the need I feel in my body right now. I go lower, much lower, until he finally snaps and grabs my face, devouring my lips and pressing me up against the wall. "You asked for this, and now I have to claim you." *** Astrid Marshall has always been infatuated with her best friend's dad, former Alpha Klaus Slate. At first she thought it's just a childish crush, but she later finds out that they're connected in ways that she can't comprehend. They're fated mates. He's the man of her desires, but she's his temptation, the woman he's forbidden to have.

Roselle Jackson Roselle has seen too much and endured a lot in life. After losing her parents and brother to a gruesome murder, she's thrown into foster care. She gets adopted and it turns out her new family isn't as innocent and caring as they pose. Facing child labour,abuse and negligence till she's 17, she plots to get out as soon as she finds out the truth about her family's death. Her plan is discovered and she's murdered by the same people who killed her family but this time she has seen the ugly faces behind those masks, she knows a lot about them and she's coming back for revenge.. Snow De Luca I've always had people do my biddings. Yes!! I'm a boss, a monster and some say I'm worse than death itself but who cares. I love to feed on fear and I must say am sick and twisted, no hope of salvation or redemption until her... She's everything I want and even more. She wants revenge, I want every single piece of her soul.She's my own personal brand of heroin. I always get what I want and I never loose but this time am up for a fail and I can see it...

Nineteen-year-old Rose should have lived a charmed life as an Alpha’s daughter, but nothing about her world is easy. Her mother died in a pack war she can’t remember, her wolf has never awakened, and her father’s rules keep her caged. On the night of the Luna Festival, Rose seizes one breath of freedom. She sneaks out with her best friend Laura—only to lose her in the crush of bodies and stumble into danger. Cornered by men with cruel intentions, she’s saved by a stranger with spellbinding mismatched eyes—one blue, one green. He vanishes before she gets his name, but his face brands itself into her dreams. When she meets “him” again, his eyes are only blue. He speaks like he knows her. He remembers details only her savior would know. Every time she sees him, something small is different—the gaze, the scent, the smile—but the same face keeps her believing… until the truth snaps into place. It was never one man. It was four. Quadruplet brothers who share a face and a secret—and who cleverly traded places to keep Rose in the dark. Drawn into their dangerous game of heat and deception, Rose becomes their forbidden. What happens when the quadruplets decide to make her their plaything? And what will Rose do when she finally uncovers the secrets they’ve been hiding all along?

My name is Kai and I lived in a world where guardian angels were assigned to an individual once they were 14, you are meant to only feel their presence and know they are with you and once you are 16, you are meant to meet your soulmate and your guardian angel's purpose will be done. However, I was 18 and in my senior year in highschool and never for once have I felt a presence, it was like I was forgotten and abandoned. I lived my life as the abnormal kid and pursue my dreams of getting into college but one day, that perception of my life changed when I walked into my room to find a glowing boy with wings on my bed, grinning at me. Was I supposed to see my angel?! What was the meaning of this? And instead of an innocent and delicate being, I was blessed with Chaos itself and like a switch, my once abnormal life took a dangerous turn and was flipped upside down, committing an Internal Sin. And what was all those flashbacks about, why was I getting memories of a life I've never lived? "You broke the wrong parts of me. You broke my wings and forgot I had claws. I should have plucked your feathers when I had the chance!" - Kai "A demon? Oh no, I am much, much worst," - Ralph "I'd kill them all if I fight back," - Cameron "I have no Master," - Rhys There is only one way to find out more. Click Read!

In my past life, I was a rare treasure: the only she-wolf capable of bearing a pureblood werewolf heir. That singular gift made me a prize, claimed by Leon, the Alpha of the formidable Silvermoon Pack in North America. Leon's ambition burned with the desire for a child. A pureblood heir, he believed, would secure his ascension to President Alpha—the supreme leader of all North American Lycan packs. But fate, as it often does, twisted his expectations. After ten long months, I birthed a pup with gray fur and gray eyes which was different to the golden-marked purebloods. By all standards, a low-ranking wolf. Simultaneously, my sister Eve, wedded to the rival Seurin Pack, delivered a golden-furred, golden-eyed pureblood. Leon's dream of becoming President Alpha shattered in an instant. From that moment, he harbored a strong hatred for me and my pup. He forced wolfsbane down our throats and ended our lives with a silver blade in a cold merciless way. Only in my dying breath did the horrifying truth reveal itself: my own sister had stolen my gift—the ability to bear purebloods—using dark magic, claiming it as her own. Now, I am reborn. I find myself reliving the day Leon and Seurin arrived to propose marriage. Just as before, Leon chose my sister Eve without hesitation. I saw it in his eyes—he remembers everything. He, too, has been reborn. But this time, I possess the knowledge. Without me, he will never father a pup—not pureblood, not even half-blood. Not even a mutt.

In our pack, every wolf has one chance in their lifetime to use an enhancement elixir to strengthen their wolf abilities, but this elixir is only effective when brewed by oneself. In my previous life, although I was a normal Omega, I worked day and night brewing my wolf enhancement elixir to become the Gamma of our pack. But on the day of the selection, after I shifted into my wolf form, I completely lost control. My wolf immediately prostrated itself at the feet of Victoria, the current Beta's granddaughter. Amid the cheers of the entire pack, Victoria became the new Gamma. Meanwhile, I was beaten and ridiculed. Everyone claimed I had stolen Victoria's enhancement elixir, which was why I couldn't control my wolf. They cut off both my hands and threw me into a silver mine. I died in excruciating pain in that silver pit, my very bones corroded by the silver. Until my dying breath, I couldn't understand—how could the elixir I brewed myself make my wolf submit to Victoria? When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to one week before the Gamma selection of the pack. This time, I gave up my right to compete and entered the forest alone to train for battle. Beta Richard stood at the empty doorway of my house, questioning me through our mind-link about why I was leaving the pack at such a crucial time. Meanwhile, I was removing my protective amulet, shifting into my wolf form alone to fight in the territory of the Rogue wolves.

In a world where different creatures mingled with humans, despite struggling with the world's hardships, fighting for survival, and attempting to escape the clutches of the night creatures, humans, no matter what they did, always ended up as a tool for survival. On their quest to acquire power, freedom, and wealth, this dark power's only source of survival was through one soul; the soul of a freeborn. This soul, being an embodiment of power, could change anything and everything. Kate Warren was this soul. She was a young, spirited woman whose soul was purer than a dove and was sought by different creatures who would do anything to take everything from her. Her soul was a power treasure for the demons and a great source of energy for the witches, while her blood was the life-sustaining elixir for the night creatures. All these things they sought were the keys to unlocking power. Kate was the only survivor in her town when a massacre took place that caused the deaths of her family. Unknown to her, she was the motive behind the massacre. Her bad days changed for the worst when she got abducted by a demon. Facing the chaos surrounding her and building a strong shield around herself Kate found solace in the arms of the night whisper. The whispers of the night had a certain attraction for her. It always drew her to Clarence Roosevelt, whose name shook her very soul and core, and was also death and life to her. Having discovered that the only person who can lead her into and also away from destruction is herself, will she save herself and others from destruction, or will she be the destruction itself? “All she needed to do was listen to the Night Whispers”.

When a eighteen-year-old virgin decided to leave Louisiana, her home town for Texas, an alien town she was oblivious that the journey of her independence would become one of longing for a man's love and attention. With her love built on a misconception, she was unaware that Charles Jackson; the multi-billionaire, was an egocentric, cold-hearted, proud and unforgiving man who locked his heart to love, the aftermath of the brute conditions under which he grew up. But yet, Maureen Thompson was bent on earning her bosses attention at all cost. Though not pushy or... flirty, she developed partial-obsessive tendencies; one that kept her dwindling in the thoughts of having sex with him—even as a virgin! Forgoing his harsh countenance, overly exaggerated reactions, she envisions Charles in the portrait of cold-nineteenth century men that spew flavors of love to their lovers—indoor. But Charles Jackson, built in grace and glamor, could win a medal in egocentrism, rudeness malevolence, prudishness and of course, beauty! And yet, she judged his reactions to the plane crash wrongly, unaware that December had scared his heart. It appeared that the plane crash became memorable either through breaking hearts or eventually mending them. Be it the crash itself or the incidents after the crash, it changed people's lives and Maureen was not left out. In readiness to be true to her love, Maureen ignored warnings and hit the wrong target. Lurking in the shadows of her emotions and fated to be bewitched by perfect blue eyes that defies morality, she might discover that Charles Jackson, heir to Jackson Companies PLC and CEO of Westland Airlines was truly born of STONE and FROST. And worse, everything that she believed might just be a lie!