Mom Come Pick Me Up

On my fifth birthday, my parents showed up at my birthday party later than usual. They brought with them a skinny little girl who couldn't seem to speak at all. I rushed over, hoping to hug Mom, only to get knocked down by her. That was how I fell into the ten-foot cake that my parents had specifically picked out for me. Buttercream filled my nose and mouth, suffocating me to no end. When I managed to climb out of the mess, I burst out in tears and asked Dad to cuddle me. But Dad retracted his hands while looking conflicted. "Don't blame your mom, Willow. From now on, you must take good care of Maple, your little sister. As long as Maple is happy, your mom will be happy." Later on, the mean kids in the neighborhood shove Maple Thompson, my new little sister, into a pile of sand. I rush over to protect her immediately. Once we get home, I mimic my parents by drawing a bath so that I can clean Maple up. That's when Mom suddenly barge into the bathroom and slap me heavily across the face. "You've already enjoyed our love for the past five years! Why are you still greedy for more? I can't believe you're trying to drown Maple right now!" Mom's eyes have gone bloodshot. She drags me by the hair and stuffs me into the washing machine. "Only a washing machine is capable of cleanse that filth out of your soul! You can only scramble out of the washing machine and apologize to Maple once you've decided to quit bullying your sister!" In the living room, Dad lowers his voice. "Keep your voice down when you're chewing Willow out. Maple is about to fall asleep. Don't go around waking her up now." Mom doesn't want to look at me anymore. Instead, she slams the lid onto the washing machine forcefully. I can't get out of the machine. What she doesn't know is that the washing machine will activate. "The 212-degree-Fahrenheit wash cycle has been activated." Scalding hot water is soon dumped onto my body. It hurts so much that I gradually lose my consciousness. Will Mom love me again once I'm squeaky clean after the wash cycle?

19-year-old Ethan moves in with his best friend for the summer, only to fall for the one woman he should never want: his best friend’s mom. She’s beautiful, mysterious, and completely off-limits. But the more he tries to stay away, the closer she pulls him in. One look was all it took. Now, there’s no turning back.

My younger fraternal twin brother finally gets a girlfriend. Our parents, who are overseas, entrust me with the task of welcoming her. I instruct the maids to prepare a feast to welcome her. As we sit around the dining table, my brother scoops a bowl of soup for me himself. After that meal, my brother's girlfriend pulls a long face at me. "Who gave you the right to eat the soup my darling scooped? How could you be so lazy? You can't even cook, yet you're not even embarrassed to stuff yourself with all that food!" I'm stunned by her outrageous words. I reply in annoyance, "What does that have to do with you anyway? I'll do as I please!" She glares at me with hatred written all over her face and yells, "Why aren't you married yet? The family's assets belong to me and my darling. Who do you think you are that you can spend our money? "Just look at you. You will never be able to get married like this. Perhaps it'll be better for you if you beg me to introduce my elder cousin to you. He doesn't mind that you're lazy. All he wants is for you to give him a son. He earns over ten thousand dollars a month!" I'm dumbstruck by her shamelessness. I storm straight to the bathroom where my brother is and bang on the door repeatedly. "Come out here right now! What is with your girlfriend? And since when have our family's assets become yours and yours alone?"

When Steven Baxter, the heartthrob of the school, admits that he loves action movies the most, my childhood friend, Lisa Thornton, has my limbs strapped to four huge drones. During the flag-raising ceremony on Monday morning, the drones lift me high up in the air in front of the entire school. The students' laughter is deafeningly loud. The videos they take quickly go viral, too. I only get to return to the surface once the drones finally run out of power and make their descent automatically. With a wide grin on her face, Lisa unties me from the drones. "Steven loves action movies, so we had you cosplay the main character from the most popular Tom Cruise movie. "We grew up together since we were kids, Dominic. Surely you don't mind, right?" As I sit on the ground, Steven pulls Lisa into his arms before he starts guffawing at me. Tears soon streak down his face from all the laughing. "I can't believe you actually peed yourself!" "Ahahahaha!" I get up to my feet and walk away. From then on, I don't return to Lisa's side. But Lisa soon loses her mind. "We've known each other for ten years! Must you really do this to me?"

Lindsey Johnson asks her fiance's true love, Stephanie Sullivan, to repay her debt. The next day, Jacob Whitaker throws at her a ledger that she had never seen before. Every single expense from their five-year relationship is recorded inside. From small things like two-dollar ice cream to the expensive items like the luxury bags he gave her. Even the costs of hotel stays and condoms are recorded in the ledger. "I'll split half the hotel bills with you. After deducting the 100 grand Stephie owes you, you still owe me 2.08 million. You have one month to transfer the month to my account."

After three years of marriage, Athena believed she had a happy life, until the night she caught her husband in bed with the one person she trusted the most. Her sister. Humiliated and betrayed, Athena signs the divorce papers and walks away with nothing but her shattered pride. But fate has other plans. Just when everyone thinks she has been discarded, a shocking proposal changes everything. The man standing before her is powerful, cold, and completely unexpected, her ex-husband’s father. Their marriage begins as a contract, a simple arrangement meant to protect her dignity and teach his disgraceful son a lesson. But the moment Athena steps into that mansion as the new Mrs. Whitmore, the rules change. Her ex-husband must now bow his head and call the woman he betrayed Mother. Her sister, who once mocked her, is forced to watch as Athena rises to the most powerful position in the family. What started as revenge soon turns into something far more dangerous. Because the man she married to settle a score is no longer pretending. And neither is she. What Athena doesn’t know yet is that she didn’t leave her old life completely behind. A secret is already growing inside her… one that belongs to the man who betrayed her.

When you are growing up adults usually tell you that you can be whatever you want to be, right?! I was told I would be a starving artist if I became what I wanted to be. I let their words become me. All their words. I let them dictate the person I became. I kept the real me to myself after so many years of their hatred for that person. I let little bits of my soul break away and die to keep their torment to a minimum. I learned to not rock the boat, just keep my head down and do as I was told. I was the party crasher on their life that never left. Until I shocked them when I did. Out on my own, I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was. I settled for the first “nice guy” to come along. That quickly fizzled out after a shotgun wedding. After a year alone I met Prince Charming #2 at a backyard BBQ. I didn’t know my jerk radar was still broken. Then out of nowhere, the one I had always thought was a jerk turned out to surprisingly be my Prince Charming. Being the man, I need in my life. He became everything I needed, and everything I didn’t know I wanted. Allowing me to grow and blossom as a person which inspires him to do the same. And we live happily ever after.

He left her at the altar. She returned with his child and the power to ruin him. Arabella Monroe steps into the boardroom with ice in her veins and a little girl by her side who has Roman Callahan’s exact eyes. Seven years ago, she stood in a wedding dress, humiliated and pregnant, as Roman vanished without a word. Now, the tables have turned. Roman’s tech empire is crumbling. Hers is rising faster, louder, and unstoppable. And the one patent that could save his company? Arabella owns it. She came for business. She came for blood. But when old sparks reignite and buried betrayals claw their way back, Arabella must decide: Can she destroy the man who broke her without breaking what’s left of her heart?

Cassie Anderson is a famous Blue Moon clan fighter. She quietly loves Kaiden Clark, her best friend, and the pack's future chief. Over the past few years, they ruled the area after discovering they were fated. Cassie was happy with her marriage to the alpha, but she lost her mate and became a single mother. They fly to Claybourne City hoping for a new start, for their safety, and to move on from her huge sorrow. However, Cassie found two men who confused her heart when she assumed she would live an unhappy life…forever!

"Katelyn, your love disgusts me." When Ethan forced her to apologize to that woman, completely ignoring whether she lived or died, Katelyn finally came to her senses that her marriage was a joke. Ethan had never cared about her, not even at her mother's funeral, when he cheated on her with her own sister. She filed for divorce and bid Ethan farewell. Katelyn soon returned to her career and steadily became a highly sought - after editor - in - chief. Fate smiled on her and she was discovered by her billionaire biological father, who made her the heir to all his fortune.As she danced passionately in the arms of her new boyfriend Cayden, Ethan watched with burning jealousy and regret.Unable to contain himself any longer, he dropped to his knees before her and begged, "Please, Katelyn… please come back to me."