Smiling Flower Seventeen

La pluie tambourinait contre les vitres de la salle de classe vide. Élise resta immobile devant le tableau, les yeux fixés sur la porte que Monsieur Deveraux venait de franchir. Son cœur battait encore la chamade, résonnant du compliment qu'il venait de lui faire sur sa dernière dissertation. "Vous avez un talent rare, Élise. Une sensibilité qui transcende les mots." Ces paroles tournaient en boucle dans son esprit. Elle avait dix-huit ans et se croyait préparée à tout. Mais pas à ça. Pas à ce regard qu'il avait posé sur elle, différent de celui qu'il réservait aux autres élèves. Un regard qui la voyait vraiment, au-delà de l'étudiante modèle qu'elle s'efforçait d'être. Elle ignorait encore que ce professeur d'histoire-géographie, respecté de tous, cachait un secret qui allait bouleverser sa vie : il était le père adoptif de Lucas, son meilleur ami d'enfance. Celui qu'elle n'avait pas revu depuis cinq ans, depuis que sa famille avait déménagé mystérieusement. Et elle ignorait surtout que dans quelques jours, lors d'un dîner de famille organisé par sa mère, veuve depuis deux ans et nouvellement amoureuse, elle allait découvrir que son nouveau beau-père n'était autre que... Monsieur Deveraux. L'amour peut-il vraiment conquérir tous les obstacles, même les plus moralement inacceptables ? Certaines histoires ne devraient jamais commencer. Celle-ci était l'une d'entre elles. Et pourtant...

Trois jours avant les fiançailles, Lucien Thomas m'a appelée : « Reportons notre cérémonie de fiançailles d'un mois. Ce jour-là, ce sera le premier concert de Lily Moreau après son retour en France, je ne peux pas ne pas y aller. » « Ce n'est qu'un report de fiançailles, rien de grave. » C'était la troisième fois qu'il a repoussé notre cérémonie de fiançailles cette année. La première fois, c'était parce que Lily avait eu une appendicite à l'étranger et avait été hospitalisée. Il avait dit qu'il devait aller s'occuper d'elle et il s'était précipité là-bas sans attendre. La deuxième fois, c'était parce que Lily avait dit qu'elle n'allait pas bien. Craignant qu'elle ne sombre dans la dépression, il avait immédiatement réservé un billet d'avion pour l'étranger. Et c'était la troisième fois. J'ai simplement répondu d'accord, j'ai raccroché puis je me suis tournée vers l'homme élégant et fier à mes côtés : « As-tu envie de m'épouser ? » Plus tard, lors du concert de Lily, Lucien l'a pourtant laissée sans hésiter et, les yeux rougis, il s'est précipité à ma cérémonie de fiançailles. « Léa Bernard, veux-tu vraiment te fiancer avec cet homme ? »

The night before the bond ceremony, the moonlight was like silver, sprinkling over the altar of the werewolf tribe. The Moon Goddess chose Jonah's white moonlight, Emma, and assigned her to William, the tyrannical alpha of the werewolf tribe.His blood flows with the power of the ancient wolf king, but also with untamed wildness. Rumor has it that every woman who spends the night with William will be covered in bruises the next day. William’s desire is intertwined with his wolf nature, and the silver bed is his unique symbol. Silver is poison and a test for werewolves. William would let those women lie on the cold silver bed, watching their pain of being eroded by silver and the joy of desire intertwined, making painful moans and confused gasps. This contradictory torture is the catalyst for his wild desire. Jonah knows William's cruelty well, and he can't bear Emma to be the next victim. So, under the protection of the moonlight, he kidnapped Emma one step ahead and completed the marking ceremony with her under the witness of the Moon Goddess. And I, the woman abandoned by Jonah. The vows I made turned to ashes under the moonlight, and my name became a laughingstock in the tribe. In the evening, the setting sun was like blood, and William's figure appeared in front of my tent. His golden pupils flickered in the twilight with the aggression of a beast. His voice was low and threatening: "Since Jonah has robbed my partner, you can be my Luna: how about it?" Luna, the partner of the alpha in the werewolf tribe, symbolizes power and glory, but also means endless bondage and danger. I raised my head, looked directly into his eyes, and a sneer appeared at the corner of my mouth: "Okay."

Ziva, seorang dokter muda yang selalu tampil glamor dan penuh gaya, maniak kebersihan dan disiplin, bahkan debu 1 inci saja langsung jadi sasaran tangan seribu Ziva. Namun segalanya berubah kacau saat dia dijodohkan dengan Reza, pria tampan tapi super santai, pecinta tidur siang, dan punya kucing galak bernama Binggo. Hidup glamor yang ia bayangkan berubah jadi petualangan absurd penuh cucian menumpuk, piring kotor, remote TV yang selalu rebutan, dan tisu berserakan. Alih-alih cinta yang menggelora, pernikahan mereka penuh drama kocak, pertengkaran receh, dan kejutan-kejutan lucu yang bikin mereka mempertanyakan: "Ini beneran kehidupan pernikahan?!" Di antara gaya hidup bertabrakan, dua karakter yang bertolak belakang itu justru perlahan mulai memahami makna cinta yang nyata—bukan yang didandani bunga dan lilin, tapi yang dibungkus kompromi dan kejujuran.

Lexy is the 24 year old woman who recently graduated doctor school, wanting nothing more than to come back home to her father and work at his hospital in Los Angeles. Yes, she was finally going to be with her father after the long years of medical school. While Lexy thought all she ever wanted was working side by side with her father, she's challenged with a world she knows nothing about. The werewolves. Werewolves was merely myth but her world starts to crumble when she gets mated to a werwolf, An Alpha of one of the prestigious werewolf pack. Little did she know who she was destined to be, having to struggle between the human life she used to know and the werewolf life she never believed. While she fights to refute this destiny of hers, she starts to fall head over hills for her Alpha mate, Luth. Is it a love doomed from the start or it was a destiny meant to be?

James, my promised soulmate, shattered his vow of eternal loyalty on my eighteenth birthday. He forged a bond with another, the High Elder's daughter, a union that secured his ascension to Alpha. Yet, he craved more, demanding I become his mistress, his threats aimed at my mother's fragile health. Then, fate, in its cruel irony, thrust me into the path of Michael, the formidable Alpha King. Our encounter was a night of raw passion, a moment that felt destined. When my mother's illness worsened and I and I desperately needed funds for her treatment, I sought him out. I found myself driven to him. Stripped of all pride, I knelt before him, pleading. "Please, Alpha King, help me..."

On the day of my twenty-first birthday, I posted online: [I want a lollipop.] My childhood rival, who was overseas, dropped everything there and flew back. He showered and showed up at my doorstep. I vowed to savor lollipops more carefully from then on—they were simply too sweet. From that moment, even after I was exposed as a fake heiress, everyone in high society knew: Jonathan Chase wanted to marry me. When the Sterling family carried out their harsh punishment, the hundred lashes meant for me were almost entirely taken by him—ninety-nine of them, borne by his own body. When they locked me in the basement, with darkness closing in from all sides, his shouts each day became my only light. "Chloe, don't be afraid. I'll get you out," he promised. And he did. He really saved me. He also made me witness, with my own eyes, his magnificent wedding to the true heiress. The man who once couldn't bear to make me wait had, "for my sake", told me to wait three times. The first time was on his wedding day. Pain was etched into every line of his face. "Chloe, if I don't marry Eleanor, they'll never let you go. Wait for me for three years. Three years from now, I'll marry you." The second time was three years later. He looked at Eleanor's rounded belly, hesitation written all over his face. "Chloe… she's carrying my child. You'll have to wait a little longer." The third time was just yesterday. I was just a step away from his kid. He pushed me violently to the floor, his face tight with warning. "Chloe, can't you just wait? Why do you have to take it out on a kid?" Sunlight fell across the face that once loved me, now stripped of all its former warmth. "If that's how it is… then maybe it's time for me to leave too." I said inwardly.

On the seventh Valentine's Day after our bond was formed, my Alpha, Ethan Carrillo, goes on a business trip with a female Beta. When he returns, he gives me a blue sapphire necklace worth millions of dollars as an apology. Everyone thinks he loves me to the core, but I discover the female Beta wearing something rarer—a full set of blue sapphire jewelry. She has a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet. I act like I don't know anything and continue playing my part as the perfect Luna. The two of them go wild in the study at home after I fall asleep, wanting to add some spice to their lives. The following day, Ethan gives me a rare blue fox-fur shawl. Only then do I realize that each blue gift he gives me is a sign of his diffidence. My wardrobe is full of the blue things he's given me over the years! I start preparing a gift for him, too. He'll never know that I'm getting ready to leave him. I'll never let him find me.

I start a livestream in the middle of the road before torching down my luxurious mansion that's worth ten million dollars in front of the entire Internet. Everyone claims that I've gone nuts. "I can't believe she actually burned a mansion that's worth ten million dollars! She must have gone cuckoo in the head!" I watch the inferno from my spot on the street, feeling extremely pleased. When the firefighters and the police arrive at the scene, I honestly admit to having burned down the mansion. Then, I request the police to arrest me on the spot. "I'm an arsonist, you see. I have mental health issues, so please arrest me as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'll burn down more houses." In my previous life, I had bought this mansion as an engagement gift for me and my fiance, Nigel Taylor. But this was also the very same mansion that ruined my life permanently. Nigel and my best friend, Olivia Williams, had gotten together behind my back. Those bastards betrayed me. After they spent the first half of the night drinking, they sped down the road in a car. But after hitting a few pedestrians, they fled from the scene. Then, they hid the offending vehicle in the garage of the mansion before spending the rest of the night together in bed. The next day, Nigel and Olivia cleared the scene of all traces and made me the perfect scapegoat for their crimes. I couldn't even defend myself when I was faced with all solid evidence that pinned the crimes on me. In the end, I was thrown behind bars. My reputation was instantly ruined. Not only did my company go into bankruptcy, but my parents also fell ill. In the end, they were beaten to death by the debtors who showed up on their doorstep. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the night Nigel and Olivia are about to commit the crimes. This time, I won't give them a chance to falsify any clues.

Sonia had a hard life after getting away from her parents. She lived a life of a princess but now she wasn't more than a slave. But her life changed even more dramatically when she was forced into a marriage by a billionaire who is known for his notorious image. A man who can make anyone shiver in fear. But her nightmare didn't end there. He found himself annoyingly attracted to her, too much to resist. Though he doesn't know the meaning of love, he wants her. All he wanted was to keep her with him whereas Sonia was determined to leave because of her hidden identity. She made a deal with him that he would let her go once she completed the task he gave her and he agreed reluctantly in a tricky manner. But will he ever let her go? What will happen if he gets to know that Sonia is the same girl he had been searching for, for four long years? Know more about the couple in the book and how their threatened story becomes an irresistible love story. *********** "It's done Mr. Arjun" Sonia walked into the room after successfully completing her task, but the man before him had a suspicious smirk tugged on his face. He tossed a file before her. "Just take a look" Sonia reached out for the file and opened it, her eyes widened in disbelief. "This is cheating...! I never agreed to this" she defended, Arjun lifted his gaze and looked at her. "Didn't you sign the contract consciously?" she nodded. "Then that's it" "But how could it be a forever contract...? You tricked me...!" *********** Please do leave a review and comment about the book to let me know how my work is going on. Thank you for reading. ❤️❤️