Jokes Are Half Meant の小説・ストーリー

Now that I've been accepted into a prestigious college, my family throws a college acceptance party for me. My older cousin, Jessica Boone, gives me a gift for the occasion—a scratch-off lottery ticket with half the numbers scratched already. But when she finds out that I won 20 dollars from the lottery ticket, she offers 200 thousand dollars to buy the ticket off me. Finding it strange, I refuse her offer. Jessica goes berserk. She starts cursing me out, telling me to go to hell. She even pushes me off the high-rise building right in front of all the guests at the party. The dozens of people in attendance, including my parents, staunchly support her actions and even start remarking that I deserve to die. My eyes open once more—I've gone half an hour back in time. Once again, Jessica mockingly tosses the scratch-off lottery ticket at me and says those familiar words to me.

At my eighteenth birthday celebration, my cousin gave me a half-scratched lottery ticket as a coming-of-age gift. When he realized I'd won twenty dollars, he suddenly demanded to buy the ticket from me for two hundred thousand. Something about it felt wrong, and I refused. Then he snapped. Like a man gone mad, he cursed me, wishing me dead, and in front of all the guests, shoved me off the balcony. Dozens of people watched, including my own parents, silently condoning him—joining in, shouting that I deserved to die. And then I opened my eyes… and I was back half an hour earlier. My cousin sneered, tossing the lottery ticket toward me, speaking the same familiar words.

In our world, fathers sell their half-breed daughters to purebred wolves. If they don’t like you, they will resell you to someone else. And the one who turns out to be the chosen one is lucky, and she will be combined with the highest marriage. And others are destined to belong to the multitude... I was not sold; I gave myself up. Now the big bad red wolf is my master, and I am in his hands. But why does his rival look at me like I’m the juiciest piece of steak? Does he want to buy me out?

“I tried to kill you the first day I saw you. I told myself it was mercy. That livestock shouldn’t carry a predator’s mark. Then you looked at me with those eyes, and my wolf refused to obey. You think you’re being watched? You are. Not because I want you dead anymore… but because if anyone else tries, I will end them.” …………………… Alpha Xander Nightfall was never meant to have a human mate. Especially not a male one. A mistake he plans to eliminate with a bullet. Noah Bennett has never questioned his straight, ordinary life. Until the night a masked man with gold eyes presses him against his own wall and makes him crave things he cannot confess out loud. He wakes alone, aching, ashamed… and desperate for it to happen again. Xander tells himself he is studying his target. He tells himself the touches are nothing and the hunger is temporary. Yet every time Noah trembles beneath his hands, the wolf inside him marks, claims, protects. And the more he claims, the more impossible the truth becomes. Because the human he plans to eliminate might not be human at all. And what he is……………….might start a supernatural war.

“Relax. It was meaningless. It didn’t mean a thing.” Three years. That’s how long Lena Carter loved Evan Brooks—three years of loyalty, late nights, and believing she was building a future with him. Until she finds him in a hotel suite bathroom, hands braced against marble, whispering excuses while her cousin—and closest friend—fixes her lipstick in the mirror. All this happens during Lena’s promotion celebration. Lena should be home, crying into cheap wine and shattered dreams. Instead, she’s stranded on a quiet Los Angeles street at midnight, phone dead, heels in hand, with a group of drunk men circling closer than comfort allows. Then a black luxury sedan pulls up. The man who steps out wears a tailored suit, calm eyes, and an authority that makes the street go silent. Mason Hart. Billionaire. Tech CEO. And—unknown to him—the elusive owner of the company where Lena works as an executive assistant two floors below the C-suite. He offers her a ride. She hesitates. She takes it. That single decision rewrites her life. Mason doesn’t mix business with emotions. He doesn’t date employees. And he definitely doesn’t rescue strangers with haunted eyes. But Lena’s quiet strength, the way she refuses pity, the way pain sharpens her instead of breaking her—it gets under his skin. Lena just wants to forget the man who betrayed her. Mason offers distraction. Protection. Desire without promises. But Evan refuses to let go, spreading lies and suddenly desperate to “fix things.” Her cousin is determined to destroy what little Lena has left. And the closer Lena grows to the powerful CEO who signs her company’s paychecks, the more dangerous her heart becomes. Because falling for a billionaire who doesn’t believe in love might hurt worse than betrayal.

Ezekiel Richard Wright is not only charismatic, handsome, clever, and a world-class architect, but his characteristics and achievements make him more alluring. The CEO, who suffers from sleeplessness, is arrogant, cold, and distant. Chen Xiu Ying, also known as Bella Chen, is a mixed-race woman with an American mother and a Chinese father. Her family is one of China's wealthiest, owning four mansions in Peking and three in Shanghai. She is the daughter of the CEO of Chen Entertainment. She is also the brilliant, stubborn, and acrophobic president of La Bella Fashion Threads Co. What if the worlds of these two CEOs collided as a result of their parents' arrangement? Can they figure out what's behind their phobias and cure each other, or will they trigger each other's fears and end their marriage?

I was born with a weak heart. When I was nineteen, I got a heart transplant that allowed me to survive. Soon after, I met my wife-to-be, Vivian Cosby. Three years after we got married, I found a note in her phone that was not deleted. The date was marked as the day we met. The text simply read, [I found him. His name is Quinn Waverly. The heart is with him.] When I looked through the notes further, I saw a man’s photo, captioned with a name. [Randall] There was another line of text in her notes. It read, [Randall, through your heart in his chest, I will show you the world.] I finally understood. The first time we met, she had not been taken aback because it was love at first sight, it was simply shock. The tears she shed when she proposed were not because of me. In the night, she would always lay her head on my chest. However, she was not listening for my heartbeat, but his. Tonight, she came home very late. As usual, she held me tightly and buried her face in my chest. “Your heartbeat always makes me calm.” I did not open my eyes, nor did I ask about Randall. This was the first time I realized that one could hear a heart beat so loudly that it echoed, even through so many layers of skin and muscle.

Neriah's perfect life was a lie. Her husband's loyalty was a facade, shattered when she discovers his illicit affair with her own sister. The ultimate betrayal: her sister just gave birth to her husband’s child, a replica of the man she loved. But that was only the beginning. A brutal accident nearly claims her life, and in the depths of her recovery, her husband's true intentions are revealed - a press conference announcing her death, a twisted attempt to erase her existence. Consumed by a thirst for vengeance, Neriah finds an unlikely ally in Denver, her husband's sworn enemy and half-brother. A proposal is made: a contract marriage, a union of convenience, with one rule - DO NOT FALL IN LOVE. . As the stakes rise, Neriah and Denver dance to the tune of vengeance, but they must confront the ultimate question: Will their hunger for revenge consume them, or will they succumb to the one thing they cannot afford— Love?

Mabel always knew She was born to be a Luna… until her husband, the only man she loved chose her sister, murdered her baby and turned her into a disgraced trash Mabel's title is stolen, her heart shattered, and her home is ripped away from her. Mabel is abused, humiliated, and banished from the pack she was meant to rule. But fate isn’t done with her. To survive, Mabel is forced into the hands of her worst enemy, Alpha Alistair aka the devil of the north. The same man who killed her parents! He is a dangerous Alpha king who is powerful, feared…and obsessed with destroying her. What begins as a deal of necessity turns into something far darker and intoxicating. Determined to return and take her revenge on all her enemies, Mabel is forced to rise from her ashes, train, and conquer until She becomes powerful enough to set the world on fire. And Now she’s back, but not for forgiveness, shes back for revenge. But suddenly, the ex who betrayed her swears he never stopped loving her and he wants her back. While the man who was her sworn enemy now vows he’ll burn down kingdoms before he ever lets her go. Two Alphas. One scorned Luna reborn. This is war for her heart and her crown.

At the wedding, Victoria Langley's childhood friend, Spencer Calloway, catches the wedding bouquet that she's just tossed. He arches a brow at her. "Does this mean I'll have to propose to someone? Well then, Vic, are you willing to elope with me?" Victoria's bridesmaids begin cheering on him. Amid their loud cheers and giggles, they push Victoria into Spencer's arms. "Give us a kiss!" "What's with that shy look, Spencer? Didn't you bury your face into Victoria's chest and hold her while sleeping on the same bed at the bachelorette's party last night?" Victoria giggles as she pinches one of the bridesmaids. "What's with the ruckus? My husband is still here, you know!" But the tips of her ears have secretly gone red. Spencer's lips curl into a wicked smile as he shrugs nonchalantly. "I'm fine with it. It's just that a certain someone's mooch of a husband will be pissed." Only then does Victoria turn to look at me. She pinches me on the chin gently while saying to me casually, "C'mon, it's just a joke. Don't be so petty." Then, she declares, "Let's continue the wedding." But I wave Victoria's hand away coolly before taking the microphone from the wedding host. "Spencer wants to crash this wedding, right? Well, I'm taking everything seriously now." Three days later, Victoria's eyes become red-rimmed as she stands outside the courthouse. As for me, I've never looked back ever since.