Pampering Artinya

"Hubby, kiss me. I miss you so much. When are you coming home?" Out of nowhere, I received a text. The sender was the cold, untouchable CEO who was currently scolding us in a meeting, Veronica Starling. What shocked me even more was the timestamp on the message. It was sent five years in the future.

My online boyfriend is my university professor and the future werewolf king, Sarek. And me? I’m Mila—just a human hunter’s descendant scraping by in the cracks of an era where species coexist in uneasy peace. What he doesn’t know is that his online girlfriend, whom he wishes to tear apart a thousand times over, is sitting in the very last row of his classroom. The online relationship was never meant to be real. It started as revenge to get back at him for failing me. But who would’ve thought this werewolf was so starved for affection that he’d fall deeper and deeper in love? Again and again, he pushed to meet in person. However, if we ever really met face to face, I’d be torn apart and swallowed whole—bones and all. To save my life, I made a split-second decision and broke up with him. The result? The “abandoned” werewolf king lost his mind. Classes dragged on for three extra hours, and homework increased fivefold. For the sake of my classmates’ mental and physical health, getting back together… wasn’t entirely impossible. There was only one condition: he could never find out who I really am.

I go to the city where my online boyfriend, Logan Wright, lives to surprise him without telling him first. Instead, I overhear him talking with his friends. "So what if her voice is nice? She's probably ugly as hell if she's reluctant to even send a picture. If the hottest girl on campus hadn't turned me down, I wouldn't even bother messing around with someone like her. "Not only is she ugly, but she's also horny as hell. She keeps saying she has to see what I'm packing down there before we even meet." One of his friends snickers. "So did you show her?" Logan let out a low grunt in agreement. "But it wasn't mine. It was Troy's." His friend blurts, "What the hell? Troy Levine? Your roommate? You said he was at least eight inches. Were you serious?" "Of course. Why would I lie to you? Troy is a real bro. Seeing that I didn't want to send that kind of picture, he offered to do it for me." They freeze for a second, then all burst out laughing. I laugh too. I've heard of body doubles in Showbiz. This is the first time I've seen a body double in online romance. I want every detail on Troy, and I want them in the next three minutes!

My childhood friend said that he was connected with the doll. Now that he had lost it, he called me up to cry. One hand held my phone as I consoled him, while the other toyed with the doll. His voice began to take on a more interesting tone with my purposeful touches… I squeezed and pinched the toy and comforted him, “Shh, I agree with you. Whoever took your toy is a terrible person…”

My dad called me right after I got paid. He said my little brother needed money for school, Grandma had medical bills, and there was still the rent, water, and electricity. Then, at the end of the call, he admitted he’d lost money gambling. I sat in the security booth, rubbing my bad leg, completely lost for what to do. A car horn blared, and I quickly raised the security bar. Just one look and you could tell how expensive the car was. It belonged to the boss, who had a thing for amputees. Damn it.

My husband, Trent Bradford, is a paranoid supermale who has only had eyes for me just because I saved his life during an accident. Using his status and money, he had my former fiancé sent abroad before forcing me into marrying him. After that, he forbade me from having any sort of contact with other men, even going so far as to make me wear a bracelet with a tracker embedded inside. Even so, he would shower me with nothing but love and would not tolerate anyone hurling insults at me. For example, he cut off ties with his elder sister, Lucy Bradford, and sent her away to a slum because she said I reeked of poverty. On one occasion, he even attacked Tess O'Neil, his childhood friend, and poured wine all over the latter for her purposely spilling some on me prior. Still, I couldn't bring myself to love him despite all he's done. In the end, he decided to undergo a reverse vasectomy so that he could make me stay. However, Lucy barged into our villa with a bunch of people on my first trimester. She wanted to make me lose my baby and said I was a disgrace to the family. Fortunately, Trent showed up when I was most vulnerable. Holding the evidence that Tess gave her, Lucy said, "Step aside, Trent! That baby inside of her isn't yours, but another guy she's been having an affair with! I have taken care of her for you!"

My online boyfriend is very rich. Every time I get treated badly by my unscrupulous boss, he transfers money to me. But after another late overtime shift, I finally snapped. I was on the phone, yelling, “I’ll never forgive Zack Barlow. That scumbag!” However, my online boyfriend suddenly becomes quiet. He then asks, "Is your boss also named Zack Barlow?" His words made me pause.

My boss, who made me work overtime every single day, finally got what was coming to him. Somehow, he got connected to my new keyboard. It was like he was synced to it. His face flushed red, his eyes brimming with tears. "Don't type anymore," he begged. I just smiled and nudged the mouse. "Don't move the mouse either!" 'Do you expect me to just stop because you said so? Wouldn't that make me look pathetic?' I thought to myself. I kept working until midnight. Just as I was about to leave, I glanced down. The carpet at my boss's feet was soaked through. I figured he must have knocked over his glass of water.

Zachary Smithson was my uncle in name. When I was seventeen, I confessed to him, but he rejected me fiercely. He tore up my love letter and told me to give up on such thoughts. When I was twenty-two, I graduated and attempted to move out. To my surprise, I found a dress I had lost. He had hidden it under his pillow.

The college student I had a passionate night with at the hotel turned out to be the intern I was supposed to mentor. On his first day at the company, he pulled me into the break room and wrapped his arms around my waist. "You have such a slender waist. That night, I never expected you to be that fervent..."