Sweetly Stitched

I dated my younger brother’s best friend, Dylan Lane, for three years. More than once, he told me how much he loathed arranged marriages and how he hated being chained by family interests. However, one night, after another bout of indulgence, he wrapped his arms around me and begged me sweetly to design a wedding ring for his fiancée—someone he had never even met. The smile froze on my face, yet he just said indifferently, “Aren’t people like us all destined to marry for our families' benefit?” Seeing the blood drain from my face, he even chuckled. “Vee, don’t you tell me you're still as naïve as a 20-year-old girl, thinking I would ever marry you? At most, we're just… pillow friends." Later, I agreed to the marriage my family had arranged for me. Dylan showed up on my wedding day, disheveled and red-eyed. He fell to his knees and begged me not to leave. I stood beside my new husband, hand in hand, and smiled faintly as I chuckled. “Didn’t you say people like us were born for arranged marriages? I’m simply doing what you always wanted me to do. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

“A human who kisses a wolf will be granted one wish. Now you have no choice, Alpha. I kissed you. You need to grant my wish,” she said sweetly, but he knew she was anything but sweet. She tricked him so he’d be forced to do what she wants. “I will kill you,” he mumbled. Steele, a celestial alpha who had lived more than a thousand years, is on the search for his brother’s mate, Anna’s reincarnation, to fulfill a promise. Then there’s Amber, a homicide detective who’s determined to find the truth behind his parents’ death. As their fates collide, truth starts to unfold, mysteries are unveiled, and love blooms in the midst of chaos and death… But will their love survive if it’s meant to be cursed from the beginning? Amber, a homicide detective, seeks for the truth behind a mysterious plane crash which she survived but killed her family, and the only clue she has: the man who saved her that night. It was Steele, a celestial alpha who had lived more than a thousand years, and is searching for Anna’s reincarnation, his brother’s mate, to fulfill his brother’s last wish by watching over her. But when Steele looked into Amber’s past life, he saw nothing and concluded that she’s not Anna. However, Amber managed to trap him in a deal so he’d help her solve her parents’ case. But what if along the way, Steele would discover that she’s actually Anna’s reincarnation, but in this lifetime, she is his mate?

Zarfa was just a simple person who tried her best to help her family. Born and raised in the province of Aether, kasama niyang lumaki ang mga kambing at palayan ng kanyang mga magulang. She was content with the life she had despite the few problems here and there. After all, wala namang problemang hindi malalagpasan basta’t magkakasama, hindi ba? Meanwhile, Vanraj was the crown prince of the kingdom of Terabestia. Palapit na nang palapit ang araw na siya na ang maghahari sa buong lugar. He may have the innate desire to help people but he was uncertain and terrified of what would happen to the people once a man like him inherits the throne. When a series of problems stitched their paths together, they soon become each other’s refuge and solace. But in this universe where deities can interfere with their lives, sa dinami-rami ng mga tao, silang dalawa pa ang napili ng tadhana. As secrets get revealed, so do the deep-seated emotions of love, hatred, suffering, pain and betrayal. Zarfa’s fate to doom seemed to be predetermined before she was even born. If Vanraj wants to save her, he has to give up something. He has to fall from grace. Love runs deep. But there are times— many of them— when it’s not worth fighting for. Lalo na kung marami na ang nadamay at nasaktan, lalo na kung sa tingin mo, wala ng patutunguhan.

The day my mom was beaten up for being a mistress, I slammed the family crest into my dad’s face. I had been studying abroad, and on my return flight, I came across a video. The title read, [Richest Family’s Heirs Defend Their Mom and Beat Up Mistress.] In the video, my mother was wearing coarse linen clothes while my brothers surrounded her. They were punching and kicking her. They even tore her clothes and cussed her out as a shameless mistress. Her eyes were teary as she desperately tried to explain. However, she was only met with mocking laughter. A stranger in haute couture stood shielded behind them, and she sweetly said, “Alright, I know you’re doing this for me, but we don’t need to waste our time on ungrateful people.” The surrounding guests showered her with birthday wishes and praised her for her graciousness. “This is the grace befitting Mrs. Roth! Do some people really not own a mirror at home?” “A mistress dares to call herself Mrs. Roth? Doesn’t she know the entire Roth family was built on her assets? Which part of her looks like a lady?” Hearing them call her “Mrs. Roth,” I clenched my phone, and the screen reflected my icy expression. I had only been away from home for three years. How did I not know that I had acquired such a despicable “mother”?

My father suffered a heart attack and collapsed. Emergency treatment required the installation of a cardiac stent. I asked my husband to approve an expense of 10 thousand dollars for the surgery. Cameron Lister, the CEO, refused coldly, "The company and family accounts have been frozen recently because of a major project. Your father has medical insurance, so just use a cost-effective domestic stent for now." He was the sole administrator of all the bank cards in my family. His reply made me sorrowfully realize something. Even though I was a genius architectural designer with an annual income of 600 thousand dollars, I was still not worthy of choosing a better life-saving device for my own father. It was a Twitter post forwarded by a colleague, freshly and gleefully posted by the company intern Wendy. [Cameron is so nice. I just said I liked painting, and he gave me a million dollars to organize an art exhibition. I love him so much!] I looked at my father lying on an extra bed in the hospital corridor, groaning in pain, and then looked at the photo of them sweetly embracing each other. I finally understood that Cameron had perhaps never truly loved me. He had only treated me as a stepping stone for his soaring career, and as a tool for him to exploit without limits. 'If this is what you want, Cameron, then don't blame me for being ruthless,' I said inwardly.

Los Angeles was supposed to be my home. Instead, it had always felt like a golden cage. The Smith mansion stood tall behind iron gates, glittering with wealth and silence. Servants bowed. Cameras watched every corner. And the man who called himself my uncle smiled sweetly for the world while hiding knives behind his back. I was seventeen when I heard the truth. “He will take care of the girl tonight,” my uncle said over the phone, his voice calm. “Make it look like an accident.” The girl. He meant me. Fear became the only thing that kept my legs moving. I ran from the driver who was meant to take me home, sprinting through unfamiliar streets until the bright city lights disappeared and the world turned darker. Detroit. Wrong place. Wrong time. Engines roared in the distance when I saw him. A man sitting on a black motorcycle like a shadow carved from danger. Tattoos curled up his neck. His eyes were cold enough to freeze the night. Everyone knew men like him were monsters. But monsters were sometimes the only ones who could save you. I jumped onto the back of his motorcycle and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Please,” I whispered. “Help me.” That single moment would destroy his life. And change mine forever. *******

On the night of my wedding, my fated mate cut my heart out of my chest for his lover. I should have stayed dead. Instead, the cold, crazy goddess stitched me back together and gave me a choice: I have to tempt the Alpha King during his trial, Make him fall, Or die for real this time. So I did the unthinkable. I touched him. I pushed him. I teased him. I made the most dangerous man in the world want me and when he finally kissed me- some curse struck and I swapped bodies with him. Now I’m stuck in the Alpha King’s body for the rest of the trial, trying to hold his kingdom together while he’s trapped in mine. And when we finally switch back, the scandal is worse than either of us imagined. He wants me dead so he can stop the chaos I have caused. I want to live so I can exact my revenge. The curse isn’t done with us either, because we keep switching at the worst possible times, forcing us to feel everything the other feels. The heat. The hunger. The fury. The maddening desire. We can’t stop switching. We can’t stop touching each other, and I can’t tell if we’re going to kill each other first… or burn the kingdom down in his bed. He might be my curse, I might be his downfall.But the goddess didn’t give me a second chance just to die for him.

“Aria,” He called my name so sweetly as my legs wobbled. No, no, no..I can’t fall for his charms again. “Don’t touch me!” My voice betrayed me. A moan came out as Lucas drew closer to me. “What do you think, that I will ever let you go? Never ever…” His breath fanned my face, and one more trick from him, then I’m doomed. I’m here for revenge, but he wants to ruin me. *** Aria, the girl everyone knows as the one marked under the blood moon. She was chosen by the moon goddess years ago to bear the mark, but little did she know what her destiny was. She was faced with so much torture from the people because they think that whoever bears that mark would cause nothing but destruction. Aria became a threat to the kingdom. Enemies wanting to take the one who bears the mark. And the one person she trusts betrays her. Lucas, his quest for more power made him sacrifice Aria to access the throne. Years later, war started in the kingdom, and Aria, the forbidden Luna, came back with a completely different personality, not that once sweet Aria they all knew but instead a strong and powerful Aria that no one could challenge. Lucas regretted everything he did to Aria, but Aria no longer wanted love but revenge. But with their mate bond activated and with nothing but revenge in her heart leading the kingdom to doom, Lucas must choose either to surrender to the mate he once betrayed or lose his world to the wrath of the Luna he forgot.

Sa loob ng pitong taong pagsasama nila at pagiging kasal sa asawang si Shiro fulvuente. He never treated her with warm and she just get from him was icy and indifferences, pero— Reeve Carzen, just face those indifferences with a smile dahil sobrang mahal na mahal nya si Shiro at masyado siyang naging tanga para maniwala na darating pa ang araw kung saan makakaya nyang palambutin ang puso neto. Ngunit, mukhang mapaglaro talaga ag tadhana. Sa pitong taong paghihintay, sakit lamang ang tangi niyang nakuha. Reeve just get to witness how the man she loves so much fall in love with someone, they said it was love at first sight— he shower her with all his love and care, mga bagay na di natanggap ni Reeve. Pero kahit ganun ay nanatilli pa rin sya sa kanilang kasal, nagmatigas si Reeve. Not until, it was her birthday. Lumipad sya mula Pilipinas papuntang California upang puntahan ang asawa't anak nya, only to find her husband and very own daughter laughing so sweetly accompanying his husbands mistress or should I say, her step-sister— leaving her alone in their empty villa. Watching her daughter, na halos sya na ang nagpalaki at nag-alaga, about and wished to have a new mother. mukhang namamanhid na ang buong pagkatao ni Reeve, She no longer felt any pain. She just drafted the divorce agreement, gave up custody for her daughter and left. Slowly detaching her presence to her family. After Leaving her family, What will Reeve do? Will she get her divorce and leave happily finding herself again? But what if her cold hearted man who is cold and indifferent to her suddenly clings to her? not granting the divorce she wants.

After awakening years before the demise that once destroyed me, I, Lucy Hale, swear I will never again fall for Adrian Hawthorne. In my last life, loving him earned me nothing but humiliation, betrayal, and a future broken beyond repair. Now, armed with memories I shouldn't possess, I tuck myself away inside my boutique, determined to avoid him, avoid fate, avoid everything. But the universe has never been kind to my plans. No matter how I twist the timeline, Adrian keeps slipping back into my life, closer, impossibly entangled. His eyes linger longer than they should. His questions cut deeper than I’m ready to admit. And worst of all, he seems drawn to me in ways he never was before. And then there is Elias Ward, quiet, observant with eyes sharp enough to see through any disguise. Elias is nothing like Adrian. Where Adrian gleams with cold polish and empty promises, Elias is warmth wrapped in quiet mystery. A man who shouldn’t matter to me. Yet, somehow, he does. As I try to distance myself from the Hawthornes, Elias drifts steadily closer, noticing the cracks in my composure, the ache beneath my smile, the truth I’ve fought so hard to hide. He becomes the one thread I can’t cut, no matter how much I fear being stitched into someone else’s future again. With Adrian circling me like a ghost from the life I escaped, Elias begins to draw me toward a fate I never expected, a fate where for once, I might finally choose myself. And maybe him, too. But the past doesn't release its hold so easily. And neither do the Hawthornes.