Not Everything Is As It Seems

As I was about to leave my brother’s restaurant, the female manager stopped me. "Miss, excuse me, but you haven’t paid your bill." I looked at the unfamiliar face and thought that she was probably new and didn’t recognize me, so I explained politely, "Just put it on the owner’s tab. He knows me." The manager shot me a disdainful look. "Miss, this is a Michelin three-star restaurant. We don’t let just anyone run up a tab." She handed me a printed bill. I glanced at it. Fifty thousand dollars for one meal. Three thousand for tableware maintenance, five thousand for exclusive air purification, ten thousand for a VIP mood-calming service fee, and a bunch of other ridiculous charges. I didn’t even know my brother’s place was such a scam. I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. "I’m the owner’s sister. If there’s a problem, tell him to talk to me at home." But she just wouldn’t drop it. "If you can’t afford it, stop acting like you can. And don’t act like you know Mr. White, either." I fired off a quick text to my secretary. 【Tell my brother to either fire this manager or I’m pulling my investment.】

My sister ate the half plate of mango I had left on the table and broke out in hives from her allergy. My brother stormed over, pried my mouth open, and poured the mango juice straight down my throat. "You love mangoes so much, don't you? Today you'll get your fill." The juice flooded my lungs. I choked, fighting for air as my throat swelled in agony, begging him to save me. Instead, he turned and locked me in the basement. "Betty suffered because of you, so don't expect any comfort. Stay down here and reflect on what you've done. Growing up without any real guidance. No wonder you're so vicious." Two days later, my mom remembered me. "Ralph, that's enough. Let Catherine out. If she stays there much longer, she might start resenting Betty." My dad chimed in casually, "What's the big deal? Just buy her something nice to make up for it." My spirit clung to his back, floating along with them toward the basement. I'd like to see how they were going to compensate a dead girl.

While I was five months pregnant, my husband, Randall Harris, accompanied his assistant to the hospital for an IV drip.   He even posted a selfie with her on social media.   I called him, and he lied straight to my face, saying he was stuck in a meeting at the office.   When I confronted him, he fought with me, gave me the cold shoulder, and then went straight back to his assistant for comfort.   “Are you sure you don’t want to notify the baby’s father? The surgeon asked me. “After this surgery, you won’t ever be able to have children again.”  I closed my eyes.  “He’s dead to me.” 

During the long National Day holidays, I planned a Golden Highlands trip for the whole family. I even booked tickets for a luxurious train ride so we could enjoy the scenery. But on departure day, my husband and son vanished. I called my husband. I could hear an airport boarding announcement in the background. My voice trembled. "Where are you?" He panicked and mumbled that the company had an emergency before hanging up. I tried calling again, but the line was busy. The next day, he posted an update on his social media. In the photo, he stood beneath the snowy peaks of Wintercrown with one arm around his old love while the other held our son. The caption read: [If we had been a little braver back then...] A friend commented: [Where is your wife?] I stared at his reply: [She's sick and resting at home.] Three expired train tickets sat on the table as my eyes welled up with tears. A decade of marriage. A pack of lies. It was time to bring it all to a close.

It was our wedding anniversary when my husband's high school sweetheart posted a sonogram picture on her social media, with her captioning a public thank-you to my husband: [Thank you to the man who's been there for me for ten years, and for giving me a son.] The room spun, and anger surged through me as I quickly commented: [So, you're proud of being a homewrecker?] Almost immediately, my husband called, his voice full of rage. "How can you think such disgusting things? All I did was help her with IVF, fulfilling her dream of becoming a single mom. "And by the way, Ruby only needed one try to get pregnant, while you’ve been through three rounds with nothing. Your body is useless!" Just three days ago, he told me he was going abroad for business—ignoring my calls and messages the entire time. I thought he was just busy. However, it turned out he was with her, attending her prenatal checkup. Half an hour later, Ruby posted again, showing off a table full of delicious food. [I got tired of French food, so Ash made me all my favorite dishes. He’s the best!] I stared at the pregnancy test in my hand, the joy I had felt earlier now completely gone. After eight years of love and six years of swallowing my pride just to keep the marriage alive, I’m finally ready to let go.

No fling! No way! Not now, not ever! Mackenzie Swanson is not having a fling with Wyatt Carlyle! And she has told him so… time and time again. But that's fine with Wyatt. She's not his type anyway. He's a ‘wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am’ kind of guy who believes in true lust, and she's a former virgin who believes in true love. Not a match! Nope! Not suited at all. But after their one seductive night together, Wyatt is strangely hooked. He's prepared to follow this gorgeous virgin anywhere and everywhere. He can't keep his hands off sexy Mackenzie and he can't keep out of her oh-so-tempting bed. So, he's going to prove that what she thinks isn't happening is actually the most passionate fling of his life.

After being disfigured by a fire, Annabelle Sanchez was kicked out by her parents. Twelve years later, she was brought back, not out of guilt but out of the need of a victim of an arranged marriage. What was worse, her fiancé, disdaining her looks, dumped her in public. In desperation, she married Kendrick Gregory, her ex-fiancé's brother. After marriage, Kendrick was surprised to find that Annabelle was incredibly gorgeous. She, on the other hand, realized Kendrick was actually a cunning fox.

She's chaos in lipstick. He's order in an Armani suit. They were never meant to mix - and now the office might burn. When Katerine Brown storms into Mason & Co as the new creative hire, her loud laugh and unapologetic flair clash with everything Sebastian Mason stands for. He's the CEO with a no-nonsense policy. She's the woman who doesn't know how to stay quiet. But as late-night meetings stretch longer, stolen glances turn bolder, and tension crackles between coffee breaks and deadlines, Sebastian starts breaking all his own rules - especially the one that says he can't fall for a woman like her. A woman who challenges him. A woman who makes him feel. A woman who refuses to lower her voice.

I was the perfect wife. Loyal, loving and patient. I gave him ten good years of my life— my inheritance, my body, my heart. I was beside him when he had nothing. I helped him build an empire he could call his. I treated his family like they were mine. And how did he repay me? With a mistress and a daughter I never knew existed. He thought I wouldn't find out— he thought I was too blind, too soft and too in love to see the cracks. But he's the one who made a mistake, he underestimated me. Now I'm done playing the fool and I won't leave empty handed. This time, I'm taking back everything— I'm done… I'll make him regret those ten years he spent deceiving me!

“See, malyshka, you walk in here wearing that little skirt and dare to talk about modesty?” I glanced down at my blazer skirt, heat crawling up my neck as his gaze dragged over my legs. “If I weren’t your patient…” He turned slightly, gesturing to the examination bed, his voice dropped dangerously low, “I'd put you right there and demonstrate… “Mr. Ferrari!” I snapped, leaping to my feet, my heartbeat pounding in my ear now. I had never met a man as vulgar, audacious, and devastatingly magnetic as Gideon Ferrari, especially not one wearing a hospital gown. My first therapy session with the sex-addict patient who should have been a simple case… became the moment my ordinary world spinned off its axis. I wasn’t supposed to think of him. I wasn’t supposed to dream of him. And I definitely wasn’t supposed to wake up breathless, aching, and ashamed of how desperately I wanted him. I prayed I’d never see him again. But part of me wondered, hoped, if he’d ever cross my path once more. When he did, everything changed. It became clear that there was more to this infuriating gorgeous Russian than meets the eye. He seemed too willingly to carry my weight and I had deep wounds from the past that needed healing but the problem was, he's already taken. Will we get away with satisfying our deepest dark desires in secret or will he eventually step up and claim me as his forever?