Sit Still Pretty

Pretty, cool, genius, and talented— those are the adjectives I am being described in every street and places you asked about my name, Khrystyanna Solano. I am being entitled as a perfect girl with a perfect life for the riches my family possesses. I am being called by names in different ways for who cares about it. But no one asked if: who really is Khrystyanna Solano? I am the so-called perfect who once had a perfect life. A complete family, a cozy house, trusted workers, loyal family friends and even the perfect parents. But who would have thought that in a joyous occasion that is supposed to be filled with happiness and laughter, all I and my best friend once have... just vanished? Not long after this, another wave of surprises welcomed me. The once I thought finished is still nothing but a dream. Because the man who took everything away from me, returned for another thing he wanted... me. What is his intention for chasing after me? What is his reason for doing such a horrendous thing in our family? And... What is he?

My biased mother brought my sister, Irene Baxter, to help me with my child. But one day, I forgot to bring a contract to work. When I returned home, I saw two bodies entwined. To cover up their secret, my husband, Sam Hodgson, and Irene pushed me off the tenth floor. It was only after my death that I realized I had been nothing more than a tool for carrying on the family name. "It's better that she's dead. Now my sweet girl can be a mom without having to go through childbirth." "Sleeping with her was revolting; she was like a block of wood. Irene is so much better." Even Irene had regrets. "Still, we shouldn't have pushed her down. She was smashed beyond recognition—otherwise, we might’ve been able to sell her corpse for a pretty penny." When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day they pushed me off the building. This time, I wouldn't let any of them off the hook.

“Open your pretty mouth, Kitten, I want to kiss these pretty pink lips I waited five hundred years to for.” He growls, setting every inch of me on fire. As his hands grip my hips, I arch myself into his touch. ………… In a world where Omegas are treasured and Alphas rule, Serena Infirma, an Omega, who can’t shift faces rejection from her mate, gets banished from her pack and is left to die. She encounters her savior and second chance mate, Nicholae Lykon, the infamous Lykon King, who upends her reality. Will Serena be able to move on or will the scars of the past and secrets of her birth hinder her happiness?

"...You want me to go to another town as you date and later marry some other lady whom you underestimate to be stupid, and I’ll be your mistress until the day that I’ll realize that I lost everything for you… you want me to sit back and wait as I grow old and see another woman bear your children.”

My adopted sister, Rebecca Lawson, steals the gift I painstakingly prepared for the Don and presents it at a family gathering. Everyone in the room is stunned. So, my parents turned what was supposed to be my engagement party into a celebration banquet for Rebecca. They sit together and raise their champagne glasses to toast her, while I collapse alone in the bathroom, hitting my head and bleeding out. After regaining some consciousness, I use all my strength to call them for help, but only the mafia's consigliere and my fiance—Yves Gilbert—answers my calls. "Tessa, why didn't you come to Rebecca's celebration? She felt hurt by your absence! I know you've always been jealous that she could easily gain everyone's affection, but it's what she deserves. "Quickly come over and apologize to Rebecca. Don't disappoint us any further." Yves hangs up the phone after saying that. I stare at the darkened phone screen with an unsightly smile. They don't know that the gift I have prepared for the Don is still a half-finished product and needs to be repaired. However, I don't have the time to tell them. Because I am about to die of illness.

In the seventh year of my relationship with Ruby Carrington, she picks me up from work in the heavy downpour one evening. When I open the door to the front passenger seat, I notice a puddle of water on the seat. A strand of short hair is there as well. Ruby grips the steering wheel without even looking at me. "I just dropped off an intern from the project department at his home. He didn't bring an umbrella with him, so he was drenched." As I sit on the damp seat, I feel my heart slowly going cold as well. "Ruby, you knew very well that I'm severely germaphobic." Ruby just chortles in response. Her tone is filled with impatience and exhaustion. "It's just a seat, isn't it? He's younger and funnier than you, not to mention he's also more handsome than you even when he's drenched in the rain. "I tried having a relationship with him. Being with him is definitely a lot more interesting than with you. But I'll still marry you, though. As long as you pretend not to know anything about my affair, we can keep this relationship going." Rain continues streaking down the window outside, and yet, I find the air inside the car even more suffocating than the rain itself.

YOLO! You only live once.That is my motto in life. I don't care about what other people would say and think about me. I am me. And others' opinions don't matter.I am Alexa Lopez, Alex for short. Everyone calls me by that name, including my parents. I am a proud lesbian and I am lucky that my parents accept me for who I am but sometimes my mom still wishes that I will wake up to my senses one day and meet a man.Me? Meeting a man? Yuck!I heard many times from my friends and some relatives that I look pretty. They said I have a good body and they are sure that if I am a straight girl, many boys will chase after me.But that will never happen. I am not pretty, I am handsome.I am 17 years old, still a teenager and young as they say but I am already mature. I already had 3 girlfriends in the past and all of them were head over heals at me. I can't blame them, I treated them nicely and I did my best to be a good partner for them, giving them gifts, accompanying them when they go shopping and help them with their studies. I sometimes even do their homework and their projects.I am the only child in my family and I must say we are financially stable. My dad is a lawyer and my mom is a dermatologist.I am currently a senior high school student in Mary Poppins International School and I am also one of the varsity players of the women's basketball team. I am quite famous I must say.It may seem that I have everything, but inside this tough person is still a fragile lady.

In Black Salt, love is a sickness you can’t hide—a slow gnawing beneath the skin that leaves you hollowed, grayed, and eventually gone. No one stays long enough to see it through; they leave before the rot finishes its work. It’s what the town teaches you: when it starts, you run. You look away. You survive by pretending not to feel. But Atlas is tired of pretending. The halls of Black Salt High are full of kids pretending they don’t see each other’s bruised hearts, pretending their bones aren’t already whispering warnings. Still, he can’t forget the weight of a father who stayed—not out of love, but because he never felt it deep enough to decay. That truth lingers in Atlas like a second shadow. And then there’s Nova—the outsider with a storm in her bones. And Wren, all sharpness and fight. Milo, who cracks jokes to keep the silence at bay. Luce, who wears her thorns like jewelry. Together, they don’t know how to stop the rot. But they’re learning how to sit with it, how to name it, how to refuse the small, hollow deaths of pretending not to care. In a town where love is a death sentence, staying might be the bravest thing of all.

Claire has had a crushed on her best friend's dad, Rawls, since she was sixteen years old. Now that she is all grown up, she wants it to be so much more. Does she take the chance and tell him how she feels? Or does she just sit in her window and dream about him.

Brianna Lester, with her unusually platinum blonde hair and grayish-blue eyes, is impossible to miss wherever she goes. Her bubbly personality, hyperactivity, innate talent for tripping even while standing still, and her knack for always causing trouble ensure that she immediately catches the attention of the coolest tattoo artist around. Unfortunately, it's not her rather unique appearance that gets noticed, but her clumsiness. The moment she closes the door of the tattoo shop, one of the pictures hanging on the wall-the owner's favorite, and quite valuable-unexpectedly falls down. To make up for the damage, she ends up working at the shop until she can pay off the cost of the picture. It would all be pretty easy if a sexy tattoo artist didn't enjoy teasing her about her bad luck. By now, Brianna has resigned herself to the idea that her life is stuck in the "never a joy" zone, and her birthday is proof of that. Who can be considered lucky if they were born on a day that only comes once every four years? No one. Some people are kissed by fortune at birth, while others are kissed by bad luck. Brianna definitely falls into the latter category.