Seafood 45

During a company team-building event, I collapse from a seafood allergy. Yet my fiance, Frederick Scott, rushes Beatrice Sutton, who only twisted her ankle, to the hospital. I come close to dying because I don't get treatment in time. Later, Frederick explains, "Beatrice is my best friend's sister. He's seriously ill now, and I promised him I'd take care of his sister. I swear I'll keep my distance from her from now on." This isn't the first time I've heard an excuse like that. On our fifth anniversary, Beatrice accidentally deleted a work file and burst into tears out of worry. When Frederick heard about it, he left me stranded on a mountain and drove back to the office himself. I spent a whole day and night walking home through the rain. On Christmas, Beatrice's house lost power. Frederick was worried that she might be scared of being alone, and he rushed over to her place without even telling me, leaving me out in the snow waiting for him until dawn. These kinds of things have happened countless times. Afterward, he always brushes them off with the same excuse. I've long since lost all faith in him and no longer believe a single word he says. I pick up my phone and call the company that keeps reaching out to me. "I've decided to accept your offer from last time. I'll bring the core technology with me."

Ibu kandungku mengatakan bahwa suamiku berselingkuh dan memintaku untuk bercerai secepatnya. Aku hanya ingin memverifikasinya terlebih dahulu baru menangani masalah ini. Jika memang benar, aku ingin melindungi hak-ku. Namun, dia langsung membuat keributan di pameran seni yang membutuhkan waktu tiga tahun untuk menyelenggarakannya. Dia mengataiku sebagai wanita matre di depan umum. "Kamu menggunakan uang pria itu untuk menyelenggarakan pameran, apa bedanya dirimu dengan seorang pelacur? Apa aku membesarkanmu untuk menjadi wanita matre? Kenapa kamu begitu menjijikkan?" Dia mengamuk, menghancurkan lukisanku yang bernilai puluhan miliaran dengan pisau, tetapi dia terus mengatakan itu demi kebaikanku, berharap aku menjadi mandiri dan kembali ke jalan yang benar. Aku memegang tanganku yang tergores dan berdarah sambil berkata kata demi kata, "Yang kamu sebut kembali ke jalan yang benar itu berarti aku harus bercerai dengan suamiku, lalu menikah dengan duda berusia 45 tahun yang memiliki seorang anak, berpenghasilan 5,6 juta sebulan, dan masih ingin aku yang memberinya mahar?"

My name becomes the sensational topic on the trending list thanks to my company's employees, who have cyberbullied me relentlessly. It all started when an intern named Cecily Plinkton posted a complaint on her social media feed, claiming that the seafood thermidor, a new food item that had just gotten released in the company's cafeteria, was sold for 14 dollars, which was four dollars more expensive than before. "What a scum company! Are the higher-ups that crazy over money? They're just leeching from us white-collar peeps repeatedly!" The entire Internet doesn't hesitate to curse me out. They claim that I'm a cold-blooded capitalist who's greedy enough to charge her own employees for lunch. No one cares about the fact that I've been shelling out my own money in order to upgrade the cafeteria's food choices just so I could make the employees happier. Every day, they get to eat over hundreds of dishes to their fill for free. Every week, the expensive dishes, such as lobsters and crabs, are charged at the net price. Thanks to these free benefits, the administrative department has been suffering from almost a one-million-dollar loss every year. So, I announce that the food prices in the cafeteria will be changed to reflect the current market's prices. At the same time, I've fired the head chef and the kitchen staff and left the meal preparation to another company that produces instant meals. As soon as the announcement is made, the entire company goes into a frenzy. The employees all crowd outside my office while begging me to bring back the benefits with tears streaking down their cheeks.

As a low-income student who's specifically recruited by the elite college this year, I can still feel my hands trembling as I clutch the letter that tells me I get to study for free. Not only are my tuition and miscellaneous fees waived, but I also get to receive 30 thousand dollars' worth of student grant per year. I even get to have free access to the leather seats inside the library, the equipment inside the gym, as well as the aerial garden on the roof. The best surprise for me has to be the cafeteria. All low-income students get a 50% discount on their meals, but the quality of their food doesn't decrease at all. Best beef is used in the steak dinners offered by the cafeteria, whereas a seafood platter showcases the entire huge lobster. Even the most basic mac and cheese meal has different types of freshly grated cheese baked into it. As I sit in the brightly lit classroom and look at the rich students around me, who wear custom-made uniforms and have branded watches latched around their wrists, all I have is one thought. I must be on good terms with them. But my seatmate, who's also a low-income student, isn't as thrilled as me. In fact, she just looks at the people around her with disdain in her eyes. After the first lesson, a rich student arrives at our table. He might not sound polite at all, but at least he's not putting on airs. "Do any of you have time to head over to the cafeteria and buy me breakfast?" I'm about to respond to him when a shrill voice booms out next to me. "You're so annoying! What, you think you rule the campus since you're rich? Had I known that this classroom is filled with useless scions like you who just waste their lives away on nothing, I wouldn't have enrolled in this college in the first place!"

**Perfect Blind** *She pretended to be her blind twin. Then she watched her brother-in-law die. The killer tested her—held the bloody head five inches from her face. She didn't blink.* **But what he didn't know? She's not just pretending. She's hunting him too.** --- Jiang Yan has spent three months learning to be her blind twin sister: the walk, the voice, the empty stare. She breaks into Lin's apartment seeking a diary—evidence of a murder Yan committed ten years ago. Instead, she finds a body. A killer who knows sign language. And a "dead man" who won't stop breathing. Trapped in a locked room with two strangers and one lie, Yan must play the perfect blind woman while uncovering the truth: her sister isn't blind, her father isn't dead, and the murder she confessed to never happened. **In this family, everyone wears a mask. The only way out is to see through them all.** --- **Perfect for fans of:** - *The Silent Patient* (unreliable narrator) - *Gone Girl* (toxic sisterhood) - *Behind Her Eyes* (identity games) **Tags:** #PsychologicalThriller #TwistedFamily #BlindPOV #ShortRead #DarkSecrets --- **Word count:** 10,000 words | **Chapters:** 10 | **Reading time:** 45 minutes *Every chapter ends with a twist. The final page changes everything

Sinopsis Diceraikan di malam pertama serta dipermalukan sebagai wanita yang tidak sempurna, membuat Anjani terluka sedalam-dalamnya. Juragan Supeno–Lelaki 45 tahun yang menjadikannya istri ke-dua sebagai penebus hutang pamannya itu mengumbar aibnya di depan khalayak ramai. Ia menyatakan Anjani cacat sehingga tidak bisa melayaninya sebagai seorang istri. Gadis kalem yang merasa terinjak-injak harga dirinya itu merasa perlu membuktikan pada semua orang bahwa dia bukan wanita yang lemah, yang bisa diremehkan hanya karena tidak memiliki harta benda. Berangkat dari rasa sakit di hatinya, Anjani bertekad untuk menyusun jalan hidupnya, mencari pekerjaan untuk membuktikan pada semua orang bahwa ia tak pantas diremehkan. Perjalanan hidup yang pelik membawanya kepada sebuah pekerjaan yang mempertemukannya dengan Ahmad–seorang dr. Sp.OG. Apa yang terjadi selanjutnya? Bagaimana kelanjutan nasib Anjani? Bagaimana rencana yang Anjani susun untuk membalaskan sakit hatinya? Baca juga karya Pena_Zahra yang lain : - Setipis Benang Sutera (Tamat) - Cinta Satu Malam - Pesona Om Bujang Lapuk ( TAMAT)

Aku, Sonia, seorang wanita berusia 23 tahun, terjebak dalam masalah keuangan yang parah akibat hutang pengobatan anakku yang mengidap Thalassemia dan harus menjalani perawatan medis yang sangat mahal dan berkelanjutan. Hidupku yang penuh kesulitan berubah drastis ketika aku bekerja dengan Mr. Wei, seorang CEO sukses berusia 45 tahun. Di tengah kemelut keuangan dan tekanan emosional, aku menemukan pelarian dalam pelukan Mr. Wei. Kehangatan dan dukungan yang dia berikan membuatku merasa dihargai dan dicintai, sesuatu yang telah lama hilang dalam pernikahanku. Namun, kebahagiaan kami tidak lepas dari konflik; suamiku mulai curiga dan berbagai rintangan muncul, menguji keteguhan hati kami. Cerita ini menggambarkan dinamika cinta yang penuh gairah dan sakit hati, pengkhianatan yang menyakitkan, serta pencarian jati diri dan pengampunan. Dengan latar belakang kehidupan kami yang kontras, aku dan Mr. Wei harus menghadapi pilihan-pilihan sulit dan mempertanyakan nilai-nilai yang kami anut. Akankah cinta kami mampu mengatasi semua rintangan? atau akankah kami terperangkap dalam lingkaran drama dan penderitaan?

As I grit my teeth and buy the last box of discounted shrimp, a young woman dressed head to toe in designer brands is picking out imported seafood beside me. She glances at me and casually drops a king crab into my cart. "It's the holidays. Treat yourself better," she says with a carefree smile. "I'll pay for everything you buy today." I am shocked when I see the five-figure price tag. I quickly try to decline her by waving my hands frantically. She pulls out a black card and shrugs. "It's fine. My sugar daddy gives me more money than I can spend. If I don't use it, he'll get mad." I force a laugh. "Sounds like he's really generous to you." "He's alright, I guess. I can't spend money as fast as he earns it," she says nonchalantly. After a slight pause, she goes on, "Speaking of which, his girlfriend is pretty dumb. She works nonstop for years just to help him pay off a debt that doesn't even exist. When I say I want him to cook on New Year's Eve, he immediately ditches his girlfriend to come be with me." I freeze for a moment. My boyfriend, Eric Sterling, is in debt. Just as I am thinking it can't be that much of a coincidence, my phone buzzes with a message from Eric. He texts, "Anne, the company assigned me to an extra shift tonight. I get triple the pay. Buy yourself something nice to eat. I'll be home tomorrow."

I donated 45 million to the city's best kindergarten, but my daughter failed the enrollment interview. She was a polymath. Furious, I demanded an explanation from admissions. She hurled an assessment file at my face. "Your daughter's brilliant, but you're the exact opposite! You're dead last among the parents!" She continued, "The others have tech domes! You're nothing but a regular Ivy League graduate! Your degree's worth about as much as toilet paper!" The other teachers laughed as well. "If we admit her daughter, it's going to look bad on the other kids. She can't take that responsibility." "Yeah, I can't believe she's demanding an explanation from Ms. Johnson. Her husband is the kindergarten's biggest stakeholder. He can make sure her daughter has nowhere to go." The admission teacher shoved me away. With disdain in her eyes, she said, "Out of my sight if you know what's good for you. My husband is picking me up in his Rolls-Royce. His car plate alone is worth more than your life! It's lucky 777! Only one in Georgeport!" Three sevens? That was my husband's car. I laughed mirthlessly and texted my husband. "I had no idea you had another wife behind me."

Raymond (Ray), 45 tahun berubah menjadi pria yang dingin dan kasar, setelah pengkhianatan yang dilakukan oleh Istri dan partner bisnisnya. Yang membuat ia jatuh dalam keterpurukan dan usahanya menjadi bangkrut. Di saat usahanya sudah mulai sukses kembali, asisten rumah tangga Ray datang membawa Putrinya yang cantik dan muda untuk menjadi pelayan di rumahnya., yang tanpa diketahui Ray pernah mejadi teman tidur satu malamnya. Pengkhianatan yang pernah dilakukan oleh mantan Istrinya membuat Ray menaruh curiga dan bersikap kasar kepada Anna, pelayan baru di rumahnya. Diam-diam, Anna menyukai Ray, karena ia merasa di balik sikap kasarnya Ray memiliki hati yang baik dan penuh cinta. Anna bertekad untuk mengembalikan itu semua dari Ray. Kesalhpahaman terjadi, ketika Anna yang hampir menyerah dengan sifat kasar Ray mengembalikan cincin pria itu, yang tertinggal, setelah percintaan panas mereka. Ray curiga, kalau Anna memanfaatkan dirinya demi mendapatkan hartanya. Ray menyangkal perasaannya yang lambat laun jatuh hati kepada Anna, selain karena usia mereka yang terpaut jauh. Juga rasa sakit dan tidak percaya kepada wanita begitu membekas di hati Ray. Kegigihan dan rasa cinta Anna yang besar lambat laun mampu mengubah sikap Ray. Cinta keduanya pun akhirnya bersatu dalam pernikahan yang berbahagia.