Promises We Meant To Keep

I've been married to my mate, William Parker, for three years. Yet, he has never claimed me. He always says that once his territory expands, he will hold a grand marking ceremony for me. I believed him and willingly waited for three years. But today, I witnessed with my own eyes William claiming my younger sister, Naomi Jenkins, at the altar. In fact, she has been missing for three years. At the marking ceremony, my three older brothers stand firmly by Naomi's side, supporting her. "Naomi was too young back then and was deceived by the Beta of the Northern pack into fleeing. Now she's been poisoned by silver nitrate and doesn't have long to live. Her only wish is to become your mate," they say. William nods and replies calmly, "For three years, I didn't hold a marking ceremony for Patricia. I was waiting for Naomi to return and explain things to me. "I will claim Naomi as my own to fulfill her final wish. But Patricia must never know. If she finds out, she'll leave me." My brothers, however, are certain. "It's fine. She loves you that much. Even if she knew, she wouldn't leave. Right now, nothing matters more than Naomi." I flee in despair, realizing that those three years of waiting were nothing but a cruel joke. The marking ceremony was always meant for Naomi. After she left, my brothers showered me with affection. I foolishly thought I was finally loved. But the truth hurts. Whenever Naomi returns, all their love goes back to her. The moment I learn the truth, my heart shatters, and I leave. Yet why, after I'm gone, do they all regret it?

For four years I was his secretary, and for four years I warmed his bed. I knew everything, from his family business to the secrets he whispered to me at night. But to him, I was nothing more than a toy he could summon whenever he pleased. The moment his first love, Sofia Costa, flew back into the country, he humiliated me without a second thought. He kissed her in a Sicilian church, abandoned me on a rain-soaked road with a gash ten inches long on my calf, and later dismissed me with a cold, cutting line. He said I was someone unimportant, someone he could simply ignore. She waved the tulip plush he'd given her in front of me. "I'm the only one he loves. You were just a stand-in." While I rebuilt my life in Chicago and finally found some peace, this ruthless Mafia don knelt outside my door, eyes red with emotion. "Elena, come back to me." I kicked his hand away with a smile. "Your so-called devotion disgusts me."

My husband and I were the two people who hated each other most in this world. He hated me for tearing him away from the woman he loved. And I hated him because that his heart remained occupied by another woman. For eight years of marriage, the words we spoke to each other most often were not love, nor duty, but curses. Yet on the day the city fell, everything changed, the enemy banners were already visible beyond the inner gate. He rode ahead and took the road, putting his body between the enemy and my escape. “Live,” he said quietly. Then he raised his blade and did not look back. Arrows came like rain. As they tore into him, he turned his head once—only once— After that, his body held the road,and nothing passed. “If there is another life…may Your Highness grant me the mercy to belong to her.” That night, with the city in ruins and the people either dead or fleeing, I climbed the highest tower of the palace. I leapt. When I opened my eyes again, I went to the king. “The northern kingdoms require a royal bride,” I said. “I will go.” This lifetime, I will be the one to cross the border. In my previous life, he died believing he had failed her. This time, I will not allow that regret to exist. I will take the marriage meant for her. I will carry the crown meant to exile her. I will walk into a future she should never have to endure. Let her stay. Let him protect her. Let him live his life believing he has finally kept his promise.

“Minsan, sa pinaka-wasak na puso, doon pa pumipili ang pagmamahal.” Akala ni Celeste ay siya na ang pakakasalan ng lalaking minahal niya ng buong puso. Pero sa harap mismo niya, ipinagpalit siya nito sa matalik niyang kaibigan. Masakit. Nakakahiya. Nakakawasak. She lost everything—her love, her trust, and herself. Pero sa gitna ng pagbagsak niya, isang lalaking hindi niya inaasahan ang dumating: Eliandro Velasquez—cold, mysterious, at isang powerful businessman na desperado ring maghanap ng mapapangasawa para sa isang kontratang kailangang masunod. Isang kasunduan. Isang papel. Isang fake marriage for 30 days. Walang puso. Walang damdamin. Walang commitments. Pero paano kung habang tumatagal, hindi na peke ang nararamdaman nila? Dahil minsan, kahit ang pusong akala mong hindi na para mahalin… May nakatakdang magmahal muli.

My older sister, Scarlet Dawson, is an absolute saint with a savior complex. When the apocalyptic heatwave hits us, she gives out water to our neighbors, food to strangers, and even invites her boyfriend's entire family to live with us. When our supplies are finally depleted, Scarlet actually considers selling me off to a perverted old man in exchange for supplies to look after her boyfriend, Marcus Crosby. I promptly pull out my stun gun and knock her unconscious. Then, I hand her straight to the perverted old man instead. I go back to my villa, where the temperature is constantly kept at 60°F, and enjoy a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream under the air conditioning. Not only that, but my villa is stocked with enough supplies to last me for the next few decades!

Ella is just an ordinary girl among the eight billion inhabitants of the earth who, for an unexpected reason, enters a romance novel as a poor supporting character. Gabriella de Hesing is a character whose life was complicated and she sacrificed his life as a background for the love of the main couple. After discovering the fact that she had become that poor girl. Ella decided that she could not sit idly by, but had to fight her cruel fate. She frantically runs away from her predetermined fate and tries her best to change her cruel death. But Ella's plan to escape fell apart when the girl fell into the sights of the main characters in the story. The handsome vampire prince Roger Clitus, the powerful werewolf general Nolan Conal, and the brilliant wizard Harvey Theodore are all crazy about Gabriella and looking for the girl. Ella's journey to self-rescue has not been smooth.

A guy who has a vice unintentionally falls in love with a girl. A girl who changed him to a better version he can be. That was unexpected love. But the guy didn't know that their romance would end there. A tragic happened. He was left alone in a dark world. He goes back to his habit he used to do before. The girl left 10 Promises for him. 10 Promises that would lead the guy to the best path he didn't expect to go. This story is part of a series. Scout International School Series: 1. The Ten Promises 2. The Thirteen Rules

Kaden Zacarias and I have been together for a decade. He gives me all his love throughout that time. But one day, I see the news of him marrying Gwendolyn Crawford as part of a marriage alliance. He tells his friends, "I'm only fooling around with Ella—does she think I'll actually marry her? It's not like my parents will ever agree to it. I can just keep her around as a mistress after getting married. Remember to keep your mouths shut about this." Our decade-long love goes up in flames, but I don't question him. Instead, I call my father with a withered heart and say, "I'll go through with the marriage alliance. I'll leave the country."

In my last life, I made the dumbest mistake—picked up a Moonlight Ring from the grass. That cursed thing locked me into a mate bond with Silvermoon Pack's Alpha. Too bad his heart already belonged to my sister, Irene. She lived to a hundred, had five pups with her real mate in Ravenshade Pack while I rotted. Every time she got cozy with her mate, Leon tossed me in the basement. "You picked up that ring! I had to watch my true love build a family with someone else!" For eighty years, she lived happily. I barely lived at all. Leon flayed me open, let my skin grow back, then crushed my bones just to watch them heal. Every day felt like dying on repeat. Only when Irene finally kicked the bucket did he let me go. Then boom—I woke up, right back on the day I picked up that damn ring. I wasn't gonna screw it up again. But Irene—always the clean freak—snatched it off the ground before I could stop her.

I worked for a restaurant, and our boss loved making empty promises about giving us restaurant shares. The boss said we would start with zero shares, but we could earn 0.01% for every two hours of overtime, covering someone else’s work or saving the restaurant 1,000 bucks. I suggested she write this down in an official document and have someone track it properly. She just smiled and told everyone to work harder. She never actually put it in writing. The experienced staff did not believe her, but one prep cook took it seriously. At the end of the year, he went to the boss to claim his shares. The boss said, “Sorry, the head chef told me there’s no official document, so it doesn’t count. You can’t claim any shares.” The prep cook worked hard all year and got nothing for it, so he took his anger out on me. The day before I was going home for the New Year, he killed me with a knife. “If you hadn’t said it doesn’t count without an official document, this whole restaurant would’ve been mine!” I lay in a pool of blood. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day the boss first made those empty promises.