Seventy

Wendy staggered forward at the hospital entrance. She held the Seventy Thousand Dollars she had received for selling her kidney. Her pale face carried a satisfied smile. That was enough to cure Lucas. She thought it was worthy to sell off her kidney for his life. She ignored her post-surgery weakness, and stumbled all the way to the hospital ward. Her heart ached even more as she looked at the frail man lying in bed. "Lucas, your lowly girlfriend is not around. Why put on a show?" "Shut up! I'm perfecting my acting. How else could I fool her?" A familiar, teasing voice came from inside. Wendy's hand froze on the door handle. What did he mean... by fooling her? Laughter and exclamations erupted from the room. "You're smart, Lucas! A fake medical report was all it took to make that woman believe you had cancer!" "I heard she handed over all her savings; all she had was only Eight Thousand Dollars!" "Eight Thousand Dollars? Lucas could simply spend more than that on a single bottle of liquor at the bar. Her money is worthless, yet she actually offers it."

The night my in-laws were rushed to the hospital after a car accident, I hurried over to handle the situation. At the payment counter, I swiped my card—only to find that the joint account I shared with my husband had a mere two dollars left. I called my husband, Zarrick Thompson, over and over again. But he never picked up. It wasn't until later that I learned the truth—he had taken our money to celebrate his first love's birthday. Desperate, I borrowed seventy thousand from a friend to save my in-laws. But after they recovered, they flat-out denied everything. My husband, meanwhile, made no attempt to hide his relationship with her. He wanted me gone. To force me into a divorce, he went as far as setting me up—staging an affair, taking photos of me being humiliated. Then he used them to threaten me. Either I walked away with nothing, shouldering all our debts, or he would ruin me completely. I worked endlessly, day and night, to pay it all off. Until, one winter, I collapsed in a frozen alley and never got up again. But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the accident.

How much will the surgery on your brother cost? He asked. It's $250,000. I replied. But the contract says that you will be paid $80,000." How are you going to pay for something with that little money? He asked. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. If you agree to have sex with me, I'll give you three hundred and seventy thousand dollars. He said. "What'll you do?" I asked him again as if I hadn't heard him before. I want you to get pregnant normally with my child. He said. Not by having a surrogate? I asked. No. If you agree, though. He answered. After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to take him up on his offer. Yes I'll do it. So that my brother can stay healthy. I thought I said the last part. So, that's that. He said. You'll have your own room and a credit card that you can use to buy whatever you want or need. But it can't be taken back. For two weeks, you will sleep in my room and have sex with me every day. You can't leave without my protection or permission. And last but not least, you won't have boyfriends as long as you're pregnant. You'll only belong to me after you sign that paper.

“Dad, I agree to move to Haven State for the arranged marriage. Let’s do it quickly before I change my mind.” Her father, Joe Stone, replied instantly. “Good girl, I’ll have it sorted within a month at most!” Just an hour ago, Tara Stone had been in the backseat of a luxury car, her soft sighs slipping out as Leo Carter kissed her. His phone rang, and he answered in Genovian, his tone impatient. “Calling at a time like this?” The voice on the other end chuckled. “What’s up? Busy with something important? How much does she resemble Nina Lucas?” Leo absentmindedly stroked Tara’s delicate face. “About seventy percent similar. If you don’t get to the point, I’m hanging up.” “Wait, don’t! Nina’s flight lands tomorrow. She’s returning to revive her career back home. I thought I’d give you a heads-up. Nice of me, right? Your first love, your ‘one true love,’ is back. Think you’ll finally ditch the stand-in? What if she won't leave you?” Leo replied coldly, “There’s no problem money can’t solve.” Tara, her head lowered against the seat, felt her tears streaming uncontrollably. Leo had no idea she understood Genovian. Three years of heartfelt devotion, and to him, she was nothing more than a dog.

In the coastal quiet of Baler, a studio is born—not of architecture, but of intention.* Founded by Yam, a poet whose words cradle pain gently, and Franc, an artist who paints tenderness into walls, the studio becomes a refuge for those learning to stay—with grief, love, longing, and themselves. As visitors arrive, they leave behind more than footprints: a sigh recorded in bamboo, a poem tucked into the “Found Letters” shelf, a mural painted in crooked lines. Through zines, tea, silence, and sketchbooks, the studio teaches softness as revolution. Ren creates the *Window of Soft Returns*, an installation of anonymous voice recordings—each whisper forming a community of echoes. Drew builds the *Staircase With No Wrong Turns*, inviting people to walk through emotions without shame. Franc offers brushstrokes as brave work, and Yam curates writing circles that map healing in half sentences. Together, they host festivals that feel like hugs, and they begin traveling their archive, letting softness cross oceans. Even those who once left—like Miguel—return, discovering that some doors never truly close. Others, like Tala, capture the studio’s sound and turn it into a podcast of breath and becoming. Over seventy chapters, the studio transforms into something larger than itself: a mural of memory, a sanctuary for second chances, a place where return is sacred and voice is proof of survival. In the final bloom, the studio stands not as a monument—but as a reminder: > *“Staying isn’t easy. > But chosen together, > it becomes home.”*

After the plane crash, I rejected the captain—my brother-in-law’s—final life jacket that he had as he handed it to me. Instead, I allowed myself to plunge a hundred meters from the sky. In my previous life, I had survived after accepting his life jacket. But he died a tragic death in the crash. After his death, I was consumed with guilt. My husband proposed to take care of two households at the same time so that he could look after his sister-in-law. Out of guilt, I reluctantly agreed to his proposal. I even had to give up my only chance of getting promoted to department head of the hospital to my sister-in-law, upon my husband’s insistence. When I was seventy years old, I suddenly saw my brother-in-law, who was supposed to be dead, show up in front of me. He said to my husband, “Bro, thank goodness you came up with that fake-death plan back then. I was drunk and caused the deaths of all the passengers after the plane crash. If not for that plan of yours, as the captain, I certainly could not have escaped scot-free and would have been sentenced to prison for life! “It was too bad we had to keep her in the dark for her entire life.” After a lifetime of sacrifices, I was so furious that I nearly passed out upon hearing my brother-in-law’s words. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the plane crash.

“Don’t let them turn you into a monster, Jasper.” “I’d burn the stars themselves to bring you back, Alluna.” Jasper growls in rage. Seventy years ago, Alluna gave up her immortality for love. Her love is a forbidden bond with Jasper, a hybrid feared by the gods themselves and hunted by Alphas. As the favorite daughter of the moon goddess, her mission had been to eliminate the hybrid but she fell in love with him instead. But betrayal shatters their world. Arixa, Alluna's rival, manipulates two powerful Alphas into killing her. She dies in his arms and in his final breath, Jasper vows vengeance on the world itself. His anger is so powerful the Moon herself shattered his soul into three. Now she is reborn as Leah she's drawn to three mysterious brothers who radiate the same chaotic energy she once fell for in another lifetime. Jon has all his rage. Aidan is a representation of his compassion and Scottie is his desire and lust. Each of them carries a piece of Jasper... and none of them know who they are or what they once meant to her. After a sexual encounter with them on her twentieth birthday, she remembers everything. Arixa returns using Leah's sister as her vessel. She’ll do whatever it takes to finish what she started, which is destroying Alluna’s soul for good and claiming Jasper as her own. As Leah's memories awaken so does her fire. Love, lust, and loyalty will be tested in a world where fate has no mercy... and some hearts never die.

For hundreds of years, witches have been a sub species to the vampire race, used as slaves to do the bidding of the undead creatures; but when one witch catches the eye of the vampire Prince, all that could change. The very way the world was run will be erupted into chaos, throwing off the balance that so many had died to protect. When Luna is ripped from her bed in the night, she knew her time had come, that she would pay for her father’s mistake; her world would crumble around her when her mother is killed by the prince and she is taken into his custody. A slave. But that is what all witches should expect, what they are born into. It is the way it had been for hundreds of years, Vampires were the hierarchy of the world, though not that the mortals knew that; and perhaps they never would. The undead creatures liked to feast on the unknowing, on those they could control, dis-guarding the corpses when they had finished. Luna is taken to A city one hundred and seventy feet under the streets of Paris, there she would have to learn how to be a good slave as those around her all believed that witches and warlocks deserved to be there, that they were a lesser species and needed to be controlled. But when the young witch reveals her power, all that was about to change. A mind link had never been formed between a witch and a vampire before, no one thought it possible, but when Luna makes it into Silas’ mind something happens; something that would change the course of their destiny and the fate of all those around them. With rebellion and chaos only around the corner, how will anyone survive?