Shallow Water Artinya

My husband, Steve Malone, thinks of himself as a highly-educated person. Not only that, but he's also very uninterested in physical intimacy. When we go to bed every night, we have to sleep with a bowl of water between us. In fact, Steve refuses to let me touch him at all. But on the day he returns from the volunteer teaching program in the countryside, I discover a pair of pantyhose all tangled up in his clothes. Upon hearing my question, Steve maintains his cool facade as he explains, "This is contraband that I've confiscated from a student." I never respond to Steve. Instead, I get in contact with the female teacher, Rebecca Cramer, who has gone teaching with Steve earlier. From the other end of the line, Rebecca's sarcastic voice drifts over. "Your husband sure is unstoppable, Audrey. He couldn't resist kneeling in the pig sty while licking the dead skin off that Paige widow's feet. No one could stop him at all. "I heard that Paige even intends to give birth to a child for him. They went at it once per day, you know. I think you should head over here and witness everything for yourself." As soon as I end the call, I contact my lawyer right away and prepare to file for a divorce. This time, I'm hell-bent on ending things with Steve.

On my fifth year anniversary, the first two things I receive are two bills for water and electricity. My wife, Whitney Chapman, comes home at a late hour. She's carrying a food container that's filled with food that has gone cold. "Sorry, I was dealing with an extremely difficult client. I can only make it up to you with supper." She puts down the container before walking into the bathroom. While she doesn't reek of alcohol, there's dust coating the hem of her windbreaker. I call Whitney's secretary, only to find out that she has not been to the company today. A second before I end the call, the secretary adds, "By the way, Mr. Spencer, the new warehouse manager, Maxwell Clarke, was also absent from work today." Maxwell Clarke? The illegitimate child who brings nothing but shame to the Spencer family? What a big coincidence… or was it? I quickly contact the property manager of the villa based on the bills I've received. "A father-and-son duo have just moved into the villa last month." The manager then sends the list of inhabitants to me. The name listed is also Maxwell Clarke. This villa happens to be a property my father left for me back when Whitney and I first got married. Since it's too far from the city, I've left it vacant all this time because I wanted to reserve it as a villa meant for vacation purposes. Now, the people I hate are the ones living in that villa.

For a decade, my world had been measured in laundry cycles, grocery lists, and the ever-growing pile of dishes in the sink. I was elbow-deep in soapy water, scrubbing the remnants of another family meal, when it happened. A sudden, silent cascade of text flickered at the edge of my vision, like subtitles for a movie only I could see: [Gosh, the heroine is so tragic. Her husband's entire family has been feeding on her luck like parasites!] [Her husband stole her graduate school admission and her career!] [The in-laws are literally siphoning her health away. No wonder she's always sick.] [And the sister-in-law took her "romance" stat! No wonder her love life is a desert.] [Heads up! Her husband's about to give her another "gift." Let's see how much more he takes from her this time.] My hands, clutching a greasy plate, froze. Right on cue, my husband, Tristan, sauntered into the kitchen. A smug, self-satisfied smile was plastered on his face as he took my wet hand. He slid a flimsy, garishly colored plastic bracelet onto my wrist. "Look what I got for you, sweetheart," he announced, his voice dripping with pride. "I made a special trip after work. Found it at the dollar store. It's romantic and economical, just like you always say you want. You love it, don't you?"

Viviene's peaceful morning walk was ruined when a speeding black car splashes muddy water all over her. I glared at the back of the car while cursing it on my mind. Hindi man lang huminto ang sasakyan! Nagpatuloy lang ito. I quickly memorized it's plate number. Naiinis kong pinunasan ang t-shirt na nadumihan dahil sa nangyari. My peaceful morning was ruined because of that car! Just wait! I'll ruin you! Inis akong umuwi ng bahay. I walked slowly when I saw the car from earlier. It was parked in front of our house! I smirked. Makakabawi na rin ako sa wakas. Nilibot ko ang tingin ko sa paligid hanggang sa may nahagip akong putik sa may gilid. "Kung sinuswerte ka nga naman" saad ko sa aking sarili habang naglalakad patungo sa putik. I winced in disgust while scooping the mud. Agad kong pinunas sa sasakyan ang mga kinuha kong putik. I made sure na malalagyan ko ang harap. Pansin ko ang pagtingin ng mga taong napapadaan pero pinabayaan ko lang sila. I walked inside our house, only to find my brother's friend—Devin Raleigh Carter, the owner of the car that splashed mud all over my shirt.

They killed me. Betrayed me. Buried me like I was nothing. I was Sera Nightshade, Luna of the Crescent Moon Pack, the most powerful werewolf territory in North America. For five years, I stood beside Damien Blackwood, my Alpha mate, believing in our bond, our love, our future. I gave him everything: my loyalty, my body, my soul. On the night of our official mating ceremony, with the full moon as our witness and the entire pack gathered to celebrate, he made his choice. Her. Vivian Cross, his childhood sweetheart, his secret mistress, the she-wolf he'd been hiding in the shadows for years. In front of everyone, he rejected our mate bond and claimed her instead. The pain of a broken mate bond should have killed me instantly, but I survived. Barely. That's when things got worse. They couldn't let me live. A rejected Luna who knew too many pack secrets, who had too much support, who might challenge his rule. So Damien and Vivian made sure I'd never speak again. They poisoned me, wrapped my body in silver chains, and threw me off Widow's Peak into the frozen river below. I felt every second of my death. The silver burning through my veins. The ice-cold water filling my lungs. The darkness swallowing me whole.

In the third year of our marriage, I couldn't stand the sexless relationship anymore, so I slipped some drugs into my wife’s soup. Cindy's cheeks became flushed, her eyes became hazy, and she gave me a seductive look. This was the first time she had behaved like this around me... However, when she realized that it was me, she grabbed my throat, furious. "I told you, my career is my top priority right now. Romance should be set aside first. How could you drug my soup? Do you only think with your lower body?!" I tried to explain, but she tossed me into the cold swimming pool despite the fact that I was still recovering from surgery. "Soak in the pool water to clean your filthy mind!" I pleaded desperately, but she completely ignored me and even had people keep watch to prevent me from getting out. It wasn't until I was shivering and turning blue from the cold winter night that she finally showed mercy. I stumbled back to our room, only to hear her suppressed moans. And the guy on top of her was none other than her brother-in-law! This was what she meant by putting her career first? I wiped away my tears, went downstairs, and called my father-in-law. "Stanley, I agree to let Cindy be a surrogate, but you have to promise me one thing."

I came home from a night shift and caught my husband in bed with his secretary. After the screaming and the chaos, I ran out like a woman losing her mind. Derek chased after me. We ended up at the river, fighting. Somehow we both fell in. He nearly drowned trying to save me—the doctors said the oxygen deprivation had caused severe brain damage. When he woke up, he could barely function. No memory. No independence. He followed me around like a lost child. "Wifey, don't leave me. I'm scared." Looking at that helpless, broken man, I gritted my teeth and held this family together. The secretary vanished without a trace. Six years passed. Derek slowly seemed to recover. He was gentle with me, attentive, loving. I even got pregnant with our second child. Then came the family dinner. Derek knocked back two glasses of whiskey and suddenly slammed his hand on the table, his face twisted with frustration. "My oldest boy is already in first grade, and I haven't made it to a single parent-teacher conference!" I thought his brain was glitching again. MY sister-in-law Vanessa rushed to cover his mouth, but he shoved her away and let out a cold laugh. "You really thought the water scrambled my brains?" "Chloe gave me a son. I haven't forgotten about him for a single day!"

After my husband, Trevor Penn, abuses me for the 98th time just to stand up for Callista Whitcombe, I've completely given up on him. That's when I accept his best friend, Maddox Harlow's confession. After spending the night with Maddox, he agrees to help me fake my death. That way, I'll be able to use a brand new identity to marry him overseas. I've taken the fake-death drug Maddox has given to me, only to wake up in a coffin earlier than expected. I can't move a single muscle in my body. But that's when I overhear Maddox's conversation with another person outside the coffin. "Mr. Harlow, you convinced Trevor to abuse Judith before pretending to save her from her abusive life. Now that you've obtained her full-fledged trust, why did you still arrange for her to be buried after faking her death?" "Only by doing this will the Whitcombes trust that Judith is truly dead. That way, Callie's position as the heiress will be unshakable. No one will ever bring up the fact that she's an illegitimate child ever again." The other person sounds hesitant. "Won't it be too long if we only dig the coffin out one week from now, after you've held the wedding with Callista?" "The fake-death drug's effects can last for five days. I've already had someone put enough water, food, and oxygen tanks in the coffin. There's no way Judith will die."

The Space Station was their home. Now, it's their coffin... and the world's most expensive weapon. The International Space Station (ISS), a decades-long monument to human collaboration, has been given a death sentence. In just 60 days, it will be plunged into the deepest, loneliest part of the Pacific Ocean: Point Nemo. Aboard the aging station, Dr. Elara Vance and her crew desperately need 90 more days to complete their life-saving project—a revolutionary cure for the global water crisis. But their pleas are dismissed by the ruthless CEO, Director Cyrus Thorne. Elara discovers the terrifying truth: Thorne isn't just retiring the station; he's weaponizing it. The forced crash is a calculated act of sabotage, set at a catastrophically steep angle to guarantee the total destruction of all evidence, including their project and their crew. Worse, the crash is targeting an impossible, surgically precise coordinate at Point Nemo—the cover-up for a dark, unknown purpose. Faced with this betrayal, Elara and her crew initiate a mutiny, launching the Ghost Orbit protocol to hijack the station and boost its altitude. Thorne immediately retaliates, seizing control from Earth and accelerating the crash sequence to ensure the astronauts die on schedule. In a terrifying, high-stakes battle, the crew fights the forces of Earth while their habitat breaks apart. They fail to save the station, but in a final, harrowing sacrifice, they jettison a heavily reinforced escape pod, surviving the catastrophic plunge. Now stranded, silent, and presumed dead in the remotest corner of the world, these "ghosts" have only one mission left: expose Thorne’s conspiracy and deliver the truth before the secret of Point Nemo is buried forever.

My twin sister Elena and I were mated to the Alpha twins. Only the first pup born between my sister and me would become the pack’s Alpha heir. My sister got pregnant a month before me and she was supposed to give birth to the heir first, but I went into labor prematurely a month early. But when I was about to give birth, I chose to sit in a chamber filled with special potions that suppresses contractions. Because in my previous life, my Alpha mate Marcus had dragged me into wolfsbane-laced water to delay my labor. In the end, both my pup and I had died there. The agony had been unbearable. I'd sobbed and pleaded, begging him to explain why he was doing this to me. But he'd ignored my cries completely. All he cared about was rushing Elena to the pack's birthing den. "My brother Gabriel died saving my life," he'd snarled at me then. "The only way to honor that blood debt is to ensure his child becomes the pack heir. You can resent Elena all you want on any other day, but not today. Just hold on a little longer." "This is a special potion. You'll be safe and sound. Trust me!" Safe？ I'd suffered in that basement chamber for an entire day and night. My child suffocated in my womb while the wolfsbane poisoning consumed me. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day of my labor. This time, I have to save myself.