Strangely Familiar Uncomfortable Liminal Spaces

The moment my best friend dashes into the lottery shop ahead of me and rattles off that familiar string of numbers, I know instantly that she has been reborn, too. In my past life, my best friend and I were shortlisted for an interview at a Global 500 company just before graduation. However, there was only one opening available. On the day of the interview, I had a sudden urge to buy a lottery ticket, but as a result, I missed the interview, and my best friend got the job. As it turned out, I won the jackpot, totaling 50 million dollars. After graduation, I lived a carefree life, lounging at home and living off the interest. Meanwhile, after entering the company, my best friend was paid little and got bullied every single day. Eventually, she vented her anger on me and shoved me off a rooftop. I died from the fall instantly. After my death, my boyfriend covered for her, twisting the story to claim that I'd gone mad from idling too long and jumped on my own. The two of them fed on my misfortune, becoming influencers with millions of fans and raking in fortune. When I open my eyes again, I am reborn to the very day I bought that lottery ticket.

“This is wrong. You’re supposed to help me fix my marriage” “And yet here you are, squirming under my hands like you're begging me to break it” “You're too close… I can’t think straight when you’re this close” “Then stop thinking. Just feel.” He leans in, his breath brushing against my lips. “Tell me to stop Lillian—and I will. But if you don’t, I’m going to kiss and claim your body like I’ve imagined a thousand times on that chair” *~*~*~*~*~*~*~* When Lillian Calloway walks into marriage counseling, she’s desperate—not just to save her crumbling relationship with her emotionally distant husband, but to hold together the image of a perfect life. Then she meets Dr Ronan Carter. Calm, devastatingly handsome and far too familiar for her comfort. Each session unravels more than just the crack in her marriage—it exposes desires she’s locked away for years. Ronan makes her feel alive. And when the professional lines begin to blur, Lillian finds herself stepping on the edge of something forbidden. He’s her counselor. She’s his client. Falling for each other will cost them everything. But what if the biggest lie was the marriage they were trying to save?

He didn't ask for a wife. He certainly didn't want one but when she left, he realized she was everything he. Someone he couldn't live without. After a brutal heartbreak and betrayal at twenty, Zale shut his heart on love. It became detestable to him. Emotionally wrecked, distant and cold, he returns home only to discover a big surprise, one that broke him more. His parents handpicked a wife for him. To him, Isla is nothing more than a gold digger and a stranger under his roof. He made it clear to her. Do nothing, expect nothing. Isla tries to make it work, but Zale meets her efforts and kindness with silence and eventually cruelty. When the weight of rejection became unbearable, she walks away. But her absence haunts him, overwhelmed by an ache he can't explain and a familiar feeling, he had buried for so long. The heart he had carefully guarded begins to crumble. He was no longer a man who didn't care. He is now the man desperate to get back the gem he trashed. But when he finds her... Will she still be his love? Or let him suffer like she did, with no mercy?

At the end of the year, I went to the spa and discovered a stranger had been using my VIP card. When I logged into my personal profile, the last three treatment records were not under my name. The preference section listed specific details about someone else. She was allergic to rose essential oil, preferred lavender, and her heating pad temperature could not exceed 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Her menstrual cycle fell around the 15th of each month, so no waist or abdomen treatments during that time. I stared at the screen, my palms turning cold. Only my husband, Zachary White, knew this password. At the time, he said he needed it to check the balance and renew my membership. I scrolled down and found a system note at the bottom: [Birthday treatment reserved for December 30, prepared according to Ms. Anderson's preferences.] Today was December 30. My phone vibrated. Zachary had sent a message: [Working late tonight. Won't be home.] Familiar laughter drifted from the hallway. Through the glass door, I watched Zachary walk into the adjacent room with his arm around a woman, the beautician hurrying forward to greet them. "Mr. White, we have Ms. Anderson's birthday treatment ready, just as you requested."

My superior loved tricking me into wearing tight-fitting pencil skirts to serve wine to sleazy clients while sticking close to them. Then, she would hint that I was single and a valid target while she excitedly waited for the clients to make a move on me. It was all in the name of checking the integrity of the clients and whether they were worthy business partners or not. The moment a client fell for it, she would rush over with righteous anger and throw wine in their faces. Then, she would lecture me with a voice heavy with anguish. “Do you lack money so much that you’d throw your dignity away just for better results?” She would trample all over my dignity to set up her image as a refined, noble woman. This time, she even prepared a gown with a super low neckline and pushed me to serve a client with a rich and powerful background. She threatened me by saying that if I did not go, she would deduct my bonus for three whole months of full attendance. But when I saw the familiar, cold man sitting in the seat of honor, it was my turn to laugh. If my brother saw me serving wine in this kind of dress, I did not doubt that by tomorrow, the company would be under my name.

The proud and spirited Evelyn White relentlessly pursued the aloof and cold-hearted Julian Moore, eventually becoming Mrs. Moore as she had dreamed. For Julian, Evelyn, the once-proud princess, lowered her noble head. However, after their marriage, she discovered that he still kept his first love in his heart, an unforgettable shadow from his past. Evelyn became the subject of ridicule among the affluent socialites of Riverdale’s elite circles. One day, a heated argument escalated into a dramatic rooftop scene, captured by someone with ill intent and swiftly posted online, making Evelyn the target of public scorn across the city. When she regained consciousness, all memories of him were gone. Evelyn asked, “Sir, may I ask who you are?” Julian replied, “Eve, pretending to have amnesia is such a cliché. I won’t divorce you.” However, Evelyn really turned and walked away without looking back. Three years later. A little girl with delicate features accidentally fell into Julian’s arms. Seeing the familiar figure that haunted his dreams, Julian instinctively blurted out, “Eve, this is... our child?” Evelyn, holding the arm of a charming and elegant man beside her, smiled and said, “Mr. Moore, let me introduce you—this is the father of my child!”

"You didn't just make mistakes, Annabelle. You left me. You didn't look back. And now you think you can just show up and fix it?" A runaway past. A desperate return. And a secret that will change everything. Annabelle Bliss built her life on a lie. For five years, she has found peace in the quiet comfort of her books and her son, Henry, safely tucked away from the small town of Pittstown and the painful memories she fled. When Annabelle receives a final, devastating letter from the second mother who gave her everything, she is forced to return to the one place she swore to never see again. Now, every step on Pittstown's familiar streets brings her closer to the man she left behind: Patrick, the intense, unforgettable boy who grew into the man whose heart she shattered. Patrick doesn't know the truth about her departure. He doesn't know that the little boy who accompanies Annabelle is his son. When Annabelle and Patrick finally collide, the secret she kept to protect them threatens to destroy the only thing more powerful than their six years of separation: the fierce, undeniable love that started it all. Can a love that was fought for survive a truth that promises to break them forever?

Our daughter, Luna Woods, developed a high fever. Her body was burning hot. I immediately dialed 911 for help. The dispatcher on the other end kept repeating his questions. He spoke slowly, as if deliberately stalling for time. By the time I finally heard the ambulance siren, Luna was already turning cold in my arms. In less than a year, my wife and I separated. We were consumed by endless grief and blamed for each other. Afterward, I merely existed for the sake of it. I was a hollow shell of a man. Then, one day, I received a wedding invitation from my ex-wife. The moment I played the audio invitation, a chill ran down my spine. The groom’s voice was identical to that of the slow, dawdling dispatcher from that year! I rushed out, utterly distraught, only to be hit by a roaring train. When I opened my eyes again, I heard Luna crying in the next room. Her forehead was burning hot. My wife hurriedly handed me the phone. “Quick, call 911! I’ll get a wet towel.” My hands trembled as I took the phone. When it was answered, I heard a familiar male voice through the receiver. “911, what’s your emergency?”

BLURB: Sydney was just trying to find a father figure for her daughter. Zeke Forbes had everything: wealth, power, and legacy, except for the one thing he never knew he needed—her. Desperate to help her daughter Michaela, who was being bullied at school for not having a father, Sydney agrees to an arranged marriage with Zeke. He gave his mother one condition: his identity must remain a secret. As the heir to the powerful Forbes empire, Zeke believes women come for the money only. But neither of them expected the past to catch up. Years ago, Sydney was the victim of a horrific setup; her stepmother hired someone to violate her. But instead, she ended up in a stranger’s bed: Zeke’s. That one night, which gave her Michaela, has changed her life ever since that day. Years later, a familiar ring on her father-in-law’s finger sparks suspicion. A DNA test confirms the unthinkable: Zeke is Michaela’s father. Then comes another shock: Zeke is revealed on live TV as the heir of the Forbes family. Now, everything Sydney thought she knew crumbles. Will she confront Zeke with the truth? Will he admit what really happened that night? And if he does… can she ever forgive him?

By the fifth year Dylan Crewe dropped me on a remote island, I finally learned submission. He brought his sugar baby, a college student, along with a Doberman to pick me up. I sank to my knees, wiped the sand off his leather shoes with my sleeve, and bent my back as a step for them. “Your duty from here on out is to take care of Tammy Bates. She and the Doberman are your family now.” I complied with his demand with a smile. Dylan took over my family’s empire, pushed my parents to the depths of despair until they jumped to their deaths, while I was abandoned in the middle of nowhere to break me. He succeeded in his venture. Back in the familiar manor, I couldn’t recognize the place I once called home. My alarm clock rang at 4 o’clock every morning, as my day would start with a special diet for Dobie and its grooming session. At nine o’clock, I would lay out Tammy’s outfit for the day and be her literal punching bag at the gym. I would have the drinks and food ready for Tammy’s friends in the evening, as she kidded around with her friends about how she tamed the once proud, notoriously spoiled heiress of Hedgewood’s high society.