Phone Guy

At the company team-building event, I got called out by my colleague Samantha Rowler for not removing my price tag—she accused me of being a "freebie chaser." "Oh wow, Carla, you drive a BMW 5 Series. Are you seriously planning to return your clothes within seven days too?" she sneered. I tucked the tag back in and ignored her snide remark. But after the event, as soon as I got home, my phone started blowing up. My chat apps were going insane. A friend had sent me a link: [Luxury-Car Executive Turns Out to Be a Return Addict!] Someone had filmed me leaving the price tag on and posted it to a short-video platform. I opened the comment section and was met with a barrage of insults. [Can't afford to live, huh? Tag warrior.] [Is this car a sugar-daddy gift? Those who know, know.] [OMG, does this woman have some kind of illness? Which brand is this so I can avoid it!] I immediately knew Samantha was behind it. I messaged her to delete the video. Instead, the next second, she blocked me—and pinned a comment to the top of the thread: [You can know a person's face but never their heart!] I was about to post a statement to clarify, my finger hovering over the send button, when I noticed the video's likes had already shot past ten thousand. I laughed. If they wanted a scene, fine—let's make it bigger. I quickly posted a new update: [The outfit is really nice. I'll wear it again next time.] The netizens erupted. The insults doubled, the heat skyrocketed, and the post shot straight to number one trending. I just put my phone down and went to sleep.

Complete!!!!!! She grew in wealth without the love she needed the most. In a world with customs and traditions, her upbringing was her destruction. She was trained to make men bend their knees at the sight of her smile yet she bores pure innocence. Then, she was sold to the highest bidder for what her family calls an initiation before she turns a woman. What would happen to her? Would she fall in love to the enigmatic prince who bought her? What would happen if she delve herself on her darkest desires? ...... Hot breath tickled my nose and the smell of my favorite vanilla potpourri filled me. I opened my eyes. Gray met me, like a cluster of angry clouds. "Good morning," the guy whispered in my face. His proximity made me hold my breath. The guy won the bidding and I wasn't wrong. His stare held intensity. He backed down, going to his seat, across from mine. My head snapped to the side; the morning lights seeped through the window beside me. White cumulus clouds parted as the plane flew us above the horizon. I must be asleep for too long that they were able to transfer me from the helicopter to the plane. I snapped back my attention to the guy, "What's your name?" I asked the first question that popped in my mind, being able to let go of the building tensions. "I'm An--" A chuckle escaped from the guy. "No need for proper introductions but as you initiated. I am Yulian." He scratched his chin, looking for my reactions, his thick accent indicated Russian descent. "And you, milady is going to be Mi Eliza, my wife." "Wife? But--" I stopped couldn’t able to form the right words to say. "For a year, yes."

When Ayden Baldwin ignored me, who was stuck in an elevator, freaking out from claustrophobia, just so he could deliver cold medicine to his assistant, I filed for divorce. Ayden signed his name without hesitation and smiled at his friend. "She's just throwing a tantrum. Her parents are gone. I'm all that she's left. She won't leave me. "Besides, isn't there a thirty-day cooling-off period? If she regrets it, I'll be the bigger person and take her back." The next day, he posted a lovey-dovey pic with his assistant, captioned: "Capturing every shy moment of yours." Counting the days, I packed up my belongings and made a phone call. "Uncle, please book me a ticket to Burville."

Sylvia Frost and Victor Rothwell's wedding had been postponed 33 times. This time, it happened on the night before the ceremony. She was struck by a car and left with 19 broken bones. She was rushed to the ICU three separate times before her condition finally stabilized. Once she was strong enough to leave her bed, she braced herself against the wall and shuffled into the hallway. As she reached the corner, she overheard her fiancé speaking with a friend. "Last time it was drowning. This time you used a car. That gets you another two months. What are you going to do next?" Sylvia's blood turned to ice. Victor stood there in his white coat, his phone turning slowly in his hand. "No more delays." His voice remained flat.

I was the top engineer at the National Deep-Sea Institute—and the only person in the world with real deep-sea rescue experience. When my younger brother's submarine went down and he called for help from 35,000 feet below, I hung up on him. Then, calm and unhurried, I went straight to the police station and turned myself in for leaking classified research data. A few minutes later, my father called, furious. "Your brother's life is hanging by a thread—where the hell are you?! I demand you to get to the site and save him right now, or you won't see a single penny of the family fortune!" I pulled the blanket over myself and said into the phone, perfectly composed, "Busy. Don't bother me—I'm trying to sleep."

Jennifer Lockwood and Greg Davenport thought they would be together forever. Breakups and differences in hobbies couldn't separate them. But then came the phone and text that put an end to all that dreaming. He decided to go on a journey that she couldn't follow him on. Meanwhile, she ended up with her original plan of going to law school. Everything goes well for her until a devastating call leaves her shattered. Now she's left deciding. Deciding about her future, about what to say to the man in the bed in front of her, deciding whether she can love. While he falls in love with her, she's left with the memories of everything that happened before. Can she return to that life where her heart got broken, or is she forced to walk away and break his?

My husband and I take leave from work to travel to Highland. It's also an opportunity for me to return to my hometown. Unexpectedly, we get into a fight over the itinerary on our first day there. I snap at him when we're standing by the side of the road, but he calms me down. He even coaxes me and offers to pay for a nice meal at a restaurant. When I return to the hotel, I discover that he's run off with my luggage and mobile phone. He even leaves a message telling me to reflect on my mistakes. I borrow a phone to call him, but he doesn't answer. It's freezing in Highland. I'm almost about to die from the frost when I suddenly see sense. I'm not putting up with this anymore!

For five consecutive years, I secured eighty million in core contracts for the company. Yet my salary remained six thousand. At the annual company gala, I simply told my boss, “I want a raise.” In response, he slapped me across the face three times right in front of the entire company. “Do you think clients come to you? They recognize the company! “Paying you six thousand is already charity, so don’t push your luck!” Everyone in the office watched, laughing at me. I said nothing, only quietly wiping the blood from my lip. The very next day, I took all the client resources and moved to a rival company. Three days later, my former boss broke down over the phone, screaming, “Why?! Why did they all pull out?!”

My in-laws accidentally fall off a cliff in the middle of a mountain hike. But my wife, Stella Covington, who's also the leader of the search and rescue team in charge of that area, refuses to accept the rescue mission. Instead, she sets off fireworks with her junior, Noah Reid, to celebrate her birthday. By the time my in-laws are found, they've already died. Their corpses are left broken and battered. Only then does Stella call me on the phone casually. "Have your parents' bodies delivered to my team. Noah needs to dissect two more bodies in order to receive his license as a forensic doctor." It turns out that Stella thought my parents were the ones who died. I just chuckle in return. After that, I have the mangled and unrecognizable bodies delivered to Stella's team.

It's been two years since everything was taken from his world. He has become a ruthless and cold leader and he likes it that way. Now in one phone call, he must go back to where it all happened and face his demons. He must protect the one person he never thought would ever cross his path again. Jensen has not let his guard down in two years and in one glance he is totally taken off his game. Lynn never thought that she would find peace and now she must put her life in the hands of the man who blames her for the death of his fiance. Can Jensen get past his hatred and keep Lynn safe or will she face the same fate as his first love?