Single Mom Artinya Apa

Di balik ketenangan sebuah desa terpencil, tersembunyi rahasia kelam yang tak boleh diganggu. Bukit kecil, dua pohon beringin tua, sumur peninggalan Belanda, dan rawa yang tampak biasa ternyata menjadi gerbang menuju dunia lain—kampung bangsa lelembut yang tak kasat mata. Reza, perantau yang pulang kampung, tak sengaja melanggar larangan tak tertulis: Jangan pernah ambil sesuatu dari tanah itu. Sejak saat itu, dunia sekitarnya berubah. Bayangan-bayangan muncul dari kabut, suara-suara dari sumur memanggil namanya, dan sosok yang menyerupai dirinya sendiri mulai menampakkan wujud... Tanah Larangan adalah novel horor berdasarkan kisah nyata dari sebuah desa wingit di Indonesia. Atmosfer mencekam, teror perlahan yang merayap, dan misteri gaib yang siap menarik pembaca ke dunia lain—ini bukan sekadar cerita, ini adalah peringatan. Apakah kamu cukup berani untuk masuk, dan keluar dengan selamat? ---

On my fifth birthday, my parents showed up at my birthday party later than usual. They brought with them a skinny little girl who couldn't seem to speak at all. I rushed over, hoping to hug Mom, only to get knocked down by her. That was how I fell into the ten-foot cake that my parents had specifically picked out for me. Buttercream filled my nose and mouth, suffocating me to no end. When I managed to climb out of the mess, I burst out in tears and asked Dad to cuddle me. But Dad retracted his hands while looking conflicted. "Don't blame your mom, Willow. From now on, you must take good care of Maple, your little sister. As long as Maple is happy, your mom will be happy." Later on, the mean kids in the neighborhood shove Maple Thompson, my new little sister, into a pile of sand. I rush over to protect her immediately. Once we get home, I mimic my parents by drawing a bath so that I can clean Maple up. That's when Mom suddenly barge into the bathroom and slap me heavily across the face. "You've already enjoyed our love for the past five years! Why are you still greedy for more? I can't believe you're trying to drown Maple right now!" Mom's eyes have gone bloodshot. She drags me by the hair and stuffs me into the washing machine. "Only a washing machine is capable of cleanse that filth out of your soul! You can only scramble out of the washing machine and apologize to Maple once you've decided to quit bullying your sister!" In the living room, Dad lowers his voice. "Keep your voice down when you're chewing Willow out. Maple is about to fall asleep. Don't go around waking her up now." Mom doesn't want to look at me anymore. Instead, she slams the lid onto the washing machine forcefully. I can't get out of the machine. What she doesn't know is that the washing machine will activate. "The 212-degree-Fahrenheit wash cycle has been activated." Scalding hot water is soon dumped onto my body. It hurts so much that I gradually lose my consciousness. Will Mom love me again once I'm squeaky clean after the wash cycle?

When I was born, I was already a certified liar. That's a fact that everyone seems to agree with. The truth is, my mom, who's a scientist, has implanted advanced chips into me and my fraternal twin brother, Ryan Hartwell, when we were still babies. By right, as long as we lie or make mistakes, our mom will receive the devil signal from the chips. Then, she'll administer electrical shocks as a form of punishment. Ryan's chip often transmits the smiley signal. Even if he destroys our mom's research equipment and pins the blame on me, his chip still has the smiley branded on it. Meanwhile, when I reach home ten minutes later than usual because I had to help out a classmate, my chip transmits the scary devil signal. The next thing I know, I've already crippled to the floor from the intense pain caused by the electrical shock. At first, I'll still explain to Mom what happened. But she often exclaims, "Don't think you can pull off clever little tricks just like that gambling father of yours! The chip is ten thousands times smarter than you! The punishments will only be branded into your bones if the pain is searing enough! What I'm doing is saving your life!" After suffering from the pain countless times, I get brainwashed into thinking that I really am a liar and a troublemaker by nature. On the night of Christmas Eve, Mom comes to the attic to tell Ryan to join the family at the table for the Christmas dinner. That's when my asthma suddenly acts up, causing me to stumble and fall to the floor. "I… I can't breathe… Save me, Mom…" But Mom just coldly gazes at the devil signal that she has just received on her phone. Then, she dials the shock value to the maximum. "You don't have asthma at all! Ugh, you're kicking up another fuss just to attract attention! Seriously, you never change your ways!" After that, she takes Ryan's hand and leads him out of the attic. Soon, she slams the door heavily behind her. As I suffer from asphyxiation while on my deathbed, I can't help but think that Mom is right. After all, my chip has just transmitted the devil signal. Maybe the asthma attack really is just a figment of my imagination. I've always been a bad girl who loves lying to others, after all. When Mom finds out that this is the last time I've ever lied to her, she must be really happy, right?

When Mia Blake arrives in Vermont for a peaceful Christmas holiday escape, she expects quiet mornings and time away from her chaotic life. Instead, she ends up stranded in a blizzard with no power, no phone signal, and no place to stay. Her rescue comes in the form of Ethan Carter, a rugged single dad living in the secluded cabin next door, and his sweet five-year-old daughter, Lily. Forced to share a roof with them while the storm rages, Mia soon discovers that the handsome dad is carrying wounds far deeper than the snow can cover. Their unexpected chemistry heats into stolen glances, slow-burn touches, and nights where the tension grows too thick to ignore. But buried secrets, dangerous shadows from Ethan’s past, and a twist that threatens their fragile bond force Mia to choose: run back to her old life, or stay and fight for a love she never saw coming.

Mom and Aunt Denise Taylor fell off the balcony in the midst of their heated argument. Dad rushed in just as they hit the ground, each with a broken arm. Without hesitation, he left Mom behind and hurriedly took Denise to the hospital instead. Later, Mom filed for divorce. Dad's face twisted in anger as he yelled, "Enough, Nicole! So what if you broke an arm and can't hold a scalpel anymore? What's the big deal? Dee is a genius designer. If she had lost her hand, her life would've been over! Of course, I had to save her first!" Watching all this in my ghostly state, I couldn't help but laugh. Did Dad really think that Mom had only lost the use of her hand? Mom didn't just lose her hand. She lost me. After all, I had severe heart failure, and the only person who could perform the life-saving surgery was Mom, the medical master herself. But none of that matters now, because I'm already gone.

My mom gets buzzed at the family dinner and insists on burning my admission letter. She says, "You're a guy, and yet you can't get into Horvard University! What makes you think you can study at any university now? You might as well quit studying altogether!" I try to stop her from doing so, only for my dad to stop me instead. "It's just a stupid scrap of paper. Don't put a damper on your mom's mood, now. Can't you just retake the college admission exam?" Just like that, my fruit of labor gets burned to ashes. When I'm studying for the exam again, Mom keeps inviting people home for drinks. All I do is utter one complaint, and I get beaten to death by her drinking buddies. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the night of the family dinner. This time, I've swapped out my admission letter to the IOU her boss has told her to safeguard. Go ahead and burn it. Two years later, I'll be sure to visit you at your grave, Mom.

Twenty-one-year-old Fay Willmer doesn't like children. But she is forced to become the adoptive mother of a pair of twins belonging to her recently deceased best friend. Little does she know that the children's father is Cade Goldwin, the richest and most powerful man in the town of Axton. At the insistence of the children, Mike and Mika, Fay ends up staying as a nanny at Cade's residence. The twins' mission begins. With their grandmother as an ally, Mike and Mika intend to unite the two people who have always not gotten along and remove the barriers around them.

I've been working for five years now. This is the first time my mom takes the initiative to call me to go home for the holidays. So I travel home with heaps of luggage. Still, I manage to free one hand to produce an envelope filled with cash and give it to my mom. A grin blooms on her face instantly. But when she realizes that there's only ten thousand dollars in the envelope, her grin starts to falter. "Oh, it only makes sense that you're the most manipulative out of the bunch after all these years." I pause momentarily as I'm about to go through the front door. "You've been working for quite a few years now, and yet you only bring home ten thousand bucks. Meanwhile, Sabrina gave us 100 thousand dollars in her first year of working a nice job. Having a bachelor's degree definitely pays off a lot!" Upon noticing how stunned I look, my mom yanks the gifts over right away. "Don't go around looking as though we owe you a life debt, Regina! See, Sabrina has better grades than you, and she doesn't have the intention of hiding anything from us. The gifts she always brings us are top-end supplements, so you should stop bringing us cheap stuff like this." I can only grip the hems of my shirt tightly. But the thing is, I'm the one with better scores back then…

When down-on-her-luck Rennie Brooks accepts a job as a live-in nanny for the daughter of cold, enigmatic billionaire Shawn Wolfe, she believes it’s just another job—and another clingy child—until the little girl looks up at her with wide, innocent eyes and calls her “Mommy”… then begins mirroring her every habit. The connection is instant. The tension between her and Shawn, undeniable. Because Shawn isn’t just her new boss—he’s the man from her one unforgettable night eight years ago, the stranger who vanished before dawn, leaving behind nothing but memories and heartbreak. Rennie swore she’d never fall for him again. But under the same roof, every stolen glance and forbidden touch reignites the desire she thought she’d buried for good. Her fragile new beginning shatters when Shawn’s glamorous ex-wife suddenly returns, demanding custody of the little girl Rennie has come to love as her own. Just as she prepares to walk away, a devastating secret surfaces— Diane isn’t Shawn’s daughter. She’s Rennie’s. Now Rennie must fight for the child she never knew was hers and face the hardest choice of her life: between the man who broke her heart and the one who might finally mend it.

Jarrel Grayson is a successful beach resort owner and teen heartthrob single dad to his four-year-old son, Jarshel. He can give his son everything—money, comfort, and luxury. But with all that he can give, he knows something is missing. Jarshel requires a mother. Resolute to finish his son's life, Jarrel starts looking for the ideal woman to take on the role. Unbeknownst to him, however, Jarshel had already picked someone—his teacher, Kai Mendoza. A woman from Jarrel's past. A past he had believed he had long buried.