Number Nine

After obtaining the Mech Designer System, Ves aims to create the greatest mechs in the galaxy! In the far future, the galactic human civilization has entered the Age of Mechs. The countless lesser powers of humanity have come to adopt mechs as their main weapons of war. Only a small number of humans have the right genetic aptitude to pilot these destructive war machines the size of buildings. Born to a military family in the edge of the galaxy, Ves Larkinson is one of the many people who lacks the talent to earn glory in battle. Instead, he became a mech designer. Helped by his missing father, Ves has obtained the mysterious Mech Designer System that can help him rise in the galaxy and beyond. His mechs based on the principles of life quickly allows him to rise to prominence. Powerful and highly compatible with mech pilots, his products have the potential to take the market by storm. However, success does not come easily, and countless challenges bar his ability to sell his mechs to a market eager for innovation! With the sins of the human race in the galactic arena slowly catching up, Ves must navigate the perils of the ultra-competitive mech market and maintain control over his growing organization of misfits. This is the golden age of mechs. This is the golden age of humanity. The question is, will it last? "Any challenge can be overcome as long as I design the right mech!"

Colleen Caddell is broke, jobless, and at the verge of being thrown out of her house. Desperate as she was, she conned her way into a program run by the infamous Andre Lourdes. But when she becomes the number one suspect in the murder case of his mother, Colleen has to explain to Andre, and the whole world, what she was doing in the room minutes after Camilla Lourdes was shot dead.

Lantana Luca is constantly in love; in the nine years since she began dating, sixteen men have broken her heart. Despite the trauma, he continues to love and support Shane. Shane Lafitte is indeed a polite as well as an obedient teenager who believes his parents that everything is for his own good. He defers to his parents in terms of who he dates and meets. He shouldn't fall in love with the girl because his mother didn't want them to. They exchange vows as soon as they escape one another's family, oblivious to the reasons for their parents' displeasure. The ostensibly private honeymoon evolved into a terrible catastrophe that altered their plans for the future. They went from being wonderful husband and wife to a chilly instructor and a student with no recollection of their happy past. Will they still be able to rebuild their broken relationship? Is it possible for the heart to remember what the brain has forgotten? Or have they become victims of people that were meant to fall in love with each other but were not destined to be together?

Scott Maynard and I were in love for eight years. I once believed he was my soulmate. We joined Doctors Without Borders together and ventured into war zones side by side. But everything changed the day Piper Ellison appeared. To protect her, he shoved me into danger during a rebel siege, using me as a scapegoat. Then, he fled the country with Piper, and left me to rot in the prison. Three years later, Miles rescued me. Yet upon returning home, the first thing I saw was Scott staging an elaborate proposal, surrounded by nine thousand roses. He twisted the truth about what had happened in Asternis, and those around us believed him. I revealed my wedding ring, and Miles stepped forward to shield me. Despite that, Scott still refused to let go. He became obsessed and relentless, even threatening his own life to force me back. This love, riddled with betrayal and cruelty, finally came to a complete end with his death.

Via suffers from the disease of a visual hallucination; unable to distinguish the difference between the reality and hallucination whenever she was on its period. On the positive side, she was able to perform artistic talent on the stage and created a number of masterpieces based on what she sees in her hallucination period. Struggling with her disease, she became an ambitious painter since her childhood, has developed an extreme obsession with her talent in creating lifelike paintings as her only source of recovery. She had won numerous art competitions in various places enough to land her on a list of respected artists in her country of origin and popularity among her peers. However, this was not supported by her parents who lacked the proper knowledge in mental illness. She had been socially isolated for the twenty years of her life, as commanded by her helicopter parents. Determined to escape from the forced solitude and to treat her disease, she joined a prestigious art competition to achieve financial and emotional independence.

In the year 3035, the world has changed and countries started to float into the skies. While technological advancements continue to develop, human population is on its worst number so the head of the countries strategized a game. Date a Liar. A game where two opposite sex are forced to play a game until one of them or both of them falls in love. Once that happens, the coordinators will pull them out and will result to a total repulsion from their country. A game that everyone avoids. A game where; "You fall in love, you lose."

During a long holiday, my husband booked flights for a family vacation. On the way to the airport, I suddenly saw numbers appearing on everyone’s head. The numbers on my husband’s head indicated sixty years, but my parents and I had only six hours indicated on our heads. While I was puzzled over the meaning of those numbers, I noticed that the driver next to us only had six seconds indicated over his head through the car window. Five… Four… Three… Two… One. When the number turned zero, a massive truck immediately rammed into the car next to us. I saw flickers of fire, flesh and blood exploding before my eyes. People were screaming for help, but I could not hear anything. I trembled as cold sweat drenched my entire body. It was because my flight would be taking off in six hours.

Twins, Henrietta and Federica, were orphaned at a very young age. When their father died, Henrietta promised him she would do everything to protect her twin sister. And that’s what she did. For next nine years, her world revolved around Federica. Until that day came when everything changed. Four men appeared in their lives and disrupted it. They only wanted one thing - to take her sister. Because, according to them, Federica was the key to finding their true home. But she didn’t care about whatever excuses they gave. She wouldn’t just let them take away her sister. But how could she fight them when her heart beat unnecessarily fast whenever one of them was around? That one with eyes as black as the night sky.

Natasha Del Mundo suffered from the most painful heartbreak in college. Kaya naman hirap na siyang magtiwalang muli sa iba. But one day, she got a text message telling, "Can you be my textmate?" Napataas ang kilay niya. Sino pa ba naman ang makikipag-textmate sa panahong iyon, na uso na ang chat? At papaano nakuha ng kung sinong poncio pilatong iyon ang number niya? However, instead of avoiding who he is, she finds herself texting back. But until one day, she met Cedrick Thompson; the most successful billionaire-engineer and a businessman. A man that could easily get what he wants. Pero hindi iyon uobra kay Natasha. Kahit ito pa ang pinakamayamang nilalang sa balat ng lupa, hindi siya papatol sa lalaking nuknukan ng antipatiko. Never! Pero bakit ganoon? Kahit anong iwas niya kay Cedrick, he still got into her nerves. Ang masama pa noon, pareho siyang nahuhulog sa lalaki at sa ka-textmate niya. Sino ngayon ang pipiliin niya?

It was hard for Charlotte to let go of her best friend, Dalton, the boy she fell in love with since she was nine years old, to make way for her sister, Caroline, who happens to be in love with him too. It was hard for her but in order to make someone happy, even if it meant sacrificing her own, she was willing to let go. It all happened around her senior year, where she let go of the only thing that mattered to her and after graduation, she moved away with no intention of going back. Four years later, on her college graduation day, her parents rather demanded her to come home with a reason that shocked her senseless.