Spoiling Myself

The first time I met him, he was lying in the recovery room after surgery, looking weak and lifeless. But strangely, my heart skipped in a way I hadn't felt in three years. I tried to act professional, but every time I stood beside him to check his vital signs or give his medications, my heart reacted in ways I couldn't explain. I couldn't even look him in the face without feeling shy. One small moment led to another until I finally gathered the courage to ask him for his number. But as his recovery improved and his discharge day approached, I couldn't stop asking myself one question: Would our story end at the hospital, or was this just the beginning?

After my mother left me, I found out what I could do. I teamed up with my best friend and other teens with special skills. We will fight all sorts of evil, supernatural creatures. Our mission is to protect people and keep the peace. But I find out something that changes my life forever. I am not the teenager I imagine myself to be. I am a human-demon hybrid who falls in love with a man I hate. I didn't know that the man I fell in love with wasn't who everyone else thought he was. Do we, as different beings from different worlds, have the right to be happy and love each other? Will our love for each other take an unexpected turn?

Everyone knew how much I was in love with Alex Carter. I was willing to do anything for Alex just to see him happy and never bothered if they ruined my dignity or worth. But to Alex, I was seen as a desperate shameless lady who wanted him by all means even though I knew he always had a lover. After we got married, he treated me like dirt and threw me in prison, accusing me of financial crimes. Killed by a jailer sent by him, I died with regret of loving him. When I woke up again, I found myself back on my wedding day with Alex in my previous life and realised it was an afterlife, a second chance at life. This time, I wouldn't let him ruin me twice.

“7 Million Dollars and 28 cents.” That was what I saw written on the blood stained papers I picked up from the ruins of my father’s burnt down restaurant. His arrest, our debts it all came crashing down on me in one night. Desperate, I ran to my fiancé for help… only to find him sliding a ring onto another woman’s finger. My heart shattered into pieces. From then on, I was nothing but a beggar ,broken, humiliated, and alone. Until one night changed everything. I opened my eyes to find myself tangled in dark silk sheets… in the bed of the most feared mafia lord on the continent. My ex’s future father-in-law. Ruthless. Dangerous. And for reasons I couldn’t understand he had claimed me.

My legs were shaking and my heart was beating so fast as I entered the chambers. It was a little dark inside and I could hardly see anything. "Ly..Lycan..you sent for me.." I said with a shaky voice. That familiar scent hit my nostrils, making me grow excited and assaulting my senses. I could feel myself gradually growing wet underneath. "You.." I heard him say coldly and turned to his direction. He was sitting on a sofa beside his window. "Come here.." he commanded and I took slow strides to where he was. "What is your name?.." he asked Icily "Oli..Olivia, Olivia Gael.." I stuttered. "I Kayden Enzo of the paxon pack reject you Olivia Gael as my mate and Luna of my pack.." he said with no emotion. "What!!"

''Sometimes I sit alone in my room, not because I'm lonely but because I want to. I quite like it but too bad sitting by myself always leads to terrifying, self-destructive thoughts. When I'm about to do something, he calls. He is like my own personal superhero and he doesn't even know it. Now my superhero never calls and there is no one to help me, maybe I should get a new hero. What do you think?'' ''Why don't you be your own hero?'' I didn't want to be my own hero I just wanted my best friend, too bad that's all he'll ever be to me- a friend. Trigger Warning so read at your own risk.

The entire world froze. Overnight, the city plunged to –40 °F. Yet, in the middle of this frozen apocalypse, my mother, my sister and her son moved into the home I bought for my marriage. Even my own husband took my sister’s side. They threw me out into the freezing cold to scavenge for supplies. I came back frozen half to death, and they had not even saved me a bowl of warm soup. Then, my sister shoved me straight off the fifth-floor landing. In that bitter cold, my body hit the ground and shattered like glass. When I woke again, I found myself back in the week before the apocalypse struck. This time, I resolved to cut them all off. I would make every last one of them pay.

I fell in love with a man I should never have touched—my brother-in-law, Lucas Zahn. The first time he came to our home with my sister, Quincy, they looked like the perfect couple. He smiled at me, held out a peace talisman bracelet, and said it would keep me safe. I wore it like it was the most precious thing in the world. When the old injury in my ankle flared up, he would scoop me into his arms and rush me to the hospital without a second thought. When thugs tried to harass me, he made them scatter with a single look, then spoke to me in a voice so gentle it made my heart tremble. I told myself I understood—that everything he did was only because I was Quincy’s younger sister. Even so, I clung to those rare moments when I could be near him. Until the night Lucas was drugged by an enemy, his life teetering on the edge. If no one acted, he would die. So, I acted. On that reckless, desperate night, my sister walked in. The sight struck her like a lightning bolt, and she collapsed, her weak heart seizing on the spot. What came next was madness. In a frenzy of rage and panic, Lucas tied me to an operating table. His hands—those hands I once longed to hold—cut open my chest and tore my heart out for her. “When the avalanche hit, Quincy nearly died saving me. I swore I’d treat her well for the rest of my life. That means loving her family, too. I never thought you’d be so shameless. “This is what you owe her!” He never knew that I was the one who saved him in that avalanche. So, I died in agony, my love carved out of me—literally. When my eyes opened again, I found myself back on the night he was drunk.

My name is Christian Thompson, and once upon a time, I was the best striker in European football. That was until he came along—Ashford Ryder, young and carefree, 10 years my junior and the new shining star. I hate him. At least that's what I tell myself. Not just because he's taken my spot, but because he's everything I've struggled all my life to be, and not to be. He's vibrant, he's happy, and the worst of all, he's openly gay. I'm not homophobic, quite the opposite—I've lived in the closet all my life. All my life, I've had to hide who I am to please the people around me. European football hasn't always been this accepting of gay men, and I'd squeezed myself into a box to fit in with what they wanted of me. It isn’t that hard when you think about my family who'd rather disown me than have an openly gay son. So imagine how I feel when the world decides to be more accommodating to people like Ashford Ryder when they shoved me in a box. It's not so easy to hate the happy-go-lucky striker, when he does everything to get close to me, despite my insistent hatred for him. He's like a thorn in my side—a hot, sexy, blonde, 5ft9 thorn I can't stop thinking about. But when one day I lose my cool around the popular striker and land myself in bad press, I end up needing his help. It's supposed to be easy. Spend some time with Ashford Ryder, and show our fans that we can work together—it's what I need to do to save my career. But no one tells you how hard it is to hate someone you spend every waking hour dreaming about.

Tell us how you managed to capture the heart of these dangerous men?” The host asked. The audience waited for their response. “ Well, I don't think I encountered many obstacles like the rest” Jenna chuckled as she glanced at them. “ He loved me too, let go of his dark side, changed for me. Everything changed when I broke up with him, I…misunderstood him. I waited for eight years thinking he would beg me, but he didn't, then fate brought us back. That was when I learnt his dark side never leaves, always with him…” she laughed. “ But it's too late to run away from him” “ Thank you, Mrs Hindelys. What about you, Miss Kelly?” “ Err… I knew he didn't love me, but still chose to love him, he might be cold and quiet, but his heart whispers a lot, so I chased him and found myself in his trap, unable to leave” Kelly laughed with the audience” That's how I'm struck with your Big boss” “ Hahahaha, that's funny, please Mrs Lisa … how did you end up with Mr Norman?” “ I knew he had an eye for another person, but couldn't stop myself from falling for him… he treated me badly, so I thought he hated me, I decided to stop bothering him, but the thing is, he actually cares for me, he did that to protect me” “ Wow…” the host laughed and moved to the next person. “ What about you, Miss Elizabeth, how did you manage to capture the heart of the greatest doctor” “ I want him, so I got him, he was my boss so I slept with him by mistake, he was drunk and mistook me for his ex. So we're fated” “ Hmmm, I love that, thank you for sharing your wonderful experience with our leaders”