Smiling But Crying

On Christmas Eve, my six-year-old, Yule, was dying from cancer, and all he wanted was a gift from his dad dressed as Santa. I called Peter, my husband, begging him to come. His reply? "Can you stop blowing up my phone? I don't have time for this! I'm helping Tracey find Puffy. Do you know how upset she is?" Oh, Tracey. His first love. And Puffy? Her dog. I told him Yule might not make it through the night. His response? A straight-up dagger: "Don't act like this isn't your fault, Freya. If Yule hadn't kicked Puffy, none of this would've happened. Tomorrow, make sure he apologizes to Tracey." Then he hung up. That night, I sat with Yule, crying as I helped him celebrate his last Christmas. By morning, Peter's social medias were still full of posts about that freaking dog. Mine? Yule's obituary. Ten years of marriage, gone.

Mallory is a simple Human with a life where everybody loved her. Including her Husband Helios. But one person changed everything. “What lies did Madeline tell you this time that you had to yanked me out of the bed?” I ask calmly. “Get rid of it.” He said angrily. Confused I stared at him. “Don’t play dumb with me. Get that fucking thing growing in you aborted!” He says and my eyes widen. And how could he refer to our baby as just a thing he could easily can get rid of? “No!” I say and he laughed. He then carried me screaming and crying begging him, and he placed me on the hospital bed. “Ben, get that thing removed from her now!” He commanded. After 5 years later, Mallory comes back but without any memory of him. When it’s too late, does he deserve to be forgiven? Or he should just forget about her and move like she did? After all, they are mates.

Ahava Deene Madden was a 16 years old girl with special needs, she’s a girl who loves butterflies and anything that is in vibrant color. She is the only heiress of their family so every servant in their house was calling her young lady. She’s studying in a prestigious school under special education when she met a guy in an accident, she steps on his brand new shoes with poop causing him to piss off. After a month they met again in their school event while she’s crying, that guy helps her to find her butler. That day she’s confused why that guy she pissed off before is always playing and spending time with her until she feels an unfamiliar feeling that she doesn’t know. But she doesn’t know that this guy was suffering from a serious stage of brain cancer and his days are counted. What does Deene feel? Is she allowed to fell in love with her condition? Who is that guy making her feel special? Can both of them be happy?

In my tenth year of marriage, my old childhood friend, Joshua Sears, posts a photo on social media. Both Joshua and my wife, Sabrina Lawson, are hugging his son, Andy Sears, and my daughter, Tiana Jenkins, in it. The four of them look very close to each other. The caption accompanying the post says, "Blessed to have the perfect son and daughter." I leave a comment below the post, saying, "Looking good together." A few seconds later, the post is deleted. The next morning, Sabrina rushes home and yells at me. "Ashton Jenkins! Joshua was finally feeling better for once. Why did you have to trigger him again?" Tiana shoves me hard and snaps in an accusatory tone, "It's all your fault that Andy's crying now!" I take out a copy of the divorce agreement and slam it down before them. "Yes, it's all my fault. That's why I'm stepping out of the picture now. Then, the four of you can form the wholesome family you've always wanted."

On my way back from a business trip, I scrolled past a video. A newborn was abandoned by the roadside, crying so hard. As a first time dad, I couldn’t help looking at the baby a little longer. I froze because that baby looked exactly like my son. I had booked the best confinement center in the city for my wife. I had checked them into a VIP suite. I had employed a nanny and a nursing team to look after my wife and my son full-time. I broke out in a cold sweat. My wife didn’t check her phone, so I immediately called the center's manager, Ms. Thompson. She laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, Mr. Smith. Your wife and baby are perfectly fine. They just fell asleep.” The next second, she sent me a photo of my sleeping baby. I stared at the tiny, unfamiliar face. In that instant, the blood in my body turned to ice. I was only gone for four days. So how was my son a different person?

Maureen Salagunting is a go-getter whose dreams are bigger than her ability and wallet. In fact, she wanted to become a neurosurgeon because she thought it is the hardest profession anyone could have, and she doesn't mind if she would be an old, loveless maiden as long as her bank account is fat and flooding with money. But fate didn't coincide with her plans and she settled with being a private school teacher, then an online live seller when COVID-19 shook the lives of humanity that made her lose her job as well. When she thought everything couldn't get any worse, her shaken life shattered totally when her mother lost the battle against the virus on the day of her 24th birthday, making her wish to cease her existence too. After crying her heart to God, a dashing, mysterious man in a business suit was waiting outside the chapel, telling her to fulfill the marriage agreement she signed eight years ago as a joke. Should she deny it? Or should they begin faking love amidst the pandemic?

" I am pregnant," I said timidly caressing my flat belly hoping that he will be happy hearing the news. After all, he is going to be a father. He said chewing the food," Abort it." He said it so usually like it's the obvious thing to say at this situation. My eyes get watered immediately. I said crying," It's my first baby. I want to give birth to this baby." "I have told my decision already. You can never have my baby," He said finishing his food. " Why can't I have it? please, let me have it, I replied tightening my hold on my belly. He said banging his palm on the table," You will not listen like that." Saying that he dragged me towards the staircase and said creepily almost pushing me on the stairs," Just one push and the result will be same. Mistresses are for pleasure not for bearing children. So, don't forget your place." Warning - There are several mature content. If your are under 18 then don't read.

My childhood friends switched their university of choice behind my back. Going to the capital, they enrolled in an elite university with an exchange student. To them, I was just a tool who could not survive without them. That impression lasted until the opening ceremony of an Ivy League university. As the representative of the new students, I stood at the center of the hall. Meanwhile, the youngest PhD advisor in the entire country watched me as he smiled. Beyond the world of the novel I lived in, the readers’ comments went wild. [Shouldn’t she be crying back at home? Why is she in an Ivy League university?] However, the next part was even crazier. That man actually asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday. He was Professor Samuel Grant, the one who had rejected my four childhood friends from studying under him. When my childhood friends left me behind to chase after that manipulative witch, they never expected me to cast aside my role as someone running after them. I ended up holding a full-ride scholarship and reached heights they could never touch.

I had funded Tilly Jenkins for five years—and spent those same five years chasing after her. Just when I thought I had finally won her heart—when I believed she was ready to spend her life with me—I discovered the truth: the one she had loved all along was her childhood sweetheart, the boy who had grown up by her side. I, on the other hand, to her, was nothing more than a privileged elite who used money to grind her pride into the dirt. A few years into our marriage, she secretly transferred my assets away—and even had a child with that childhood sweetheart of hers. In the end, I died filled with resentment, trapped in a raging fire. The flames reflected the sight of the three of them together, smiling like a perfect family, while I cried myself to death in despair. After I was reborn, Tilly's childhood sweetheart shoved me hard, sneering with open contempt. "What do you take us for? Toys for rich people like you?!" I slipped my bank card back into my pocket at once. "Sorry, having money doesn't mean I'm brain-dead. I'm not interested in trashy toys like that."

My mate and my brother hated me for twelve years. They believed I stole their precious Sarah's herbal research and bullied her for twelve years into silence. At my marking ceremony, they exposed my "crimes" to the entire supernatural world. "She's nothing but a bully who torments her packmates and a thief who stole the herb formula from Sarah!" But Sarah smiled through her tears: "The formula doesn't matter anymore." "As long as it saved our wolves from silver poisoning, what does it matter who created it?" "I've already forgiven her." She became the pack's angel of mercy. I was condemned by thousands, until the very wolf I'd saved with my medicine poured silver water over my head. In my despair, I dragged Sarah down with me into death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my second year of high school. Sarah was slicing her arm with a silver blade, smiling as she asked: "Have you thought about how you'll apologize to me?" Something in me snapped. My Alpha power surged forth, crushing her to her knees. I grabbed the blade: "Let me show you what real cuts look like."