The Coldest Winter Ever

An existence that wished to cease… A being bordering between reality and fantasy… Asher E. Ildian is just your average, athletic student of Maplewood High School. His principles are easy; avoid troublesome people at all cost and befriend someone worthy of his time. Not until he met the nobody, Elaine Ozark, which not only change his life, but change his life… Repeatedly. Like a cycle of clockwork. Asher had to make choices to maintain Elaine’s life, and his own sanity to escape this endless loop of time.

Three years later—they came back. Alpha Marcus knelt before me, his voice trembling. “Come home with us… please?” Liam knelt through the night. “Nina, I regret it. Forgive your brother…” Cole came straight from the battle field, soaked in blood, his eyes red and wet. “Look at me. Just pity me one more time, will you?” I said nothing. Because my heart had already died during those three years. Later, another Alpha stood at my side. I was the only one in his eyes. I smiled. Those people I used to know only dared to watch from afar. They didn’t even dare to come close.

.... Mali ba na mag mahal? Lalo na kung parehas kayo ng kasarian? Mali nga siguro, dahil nagmahal tayo ng hindi naman dapat at hindi nakaayon sa batas. Ngunit mas mali sigurong mag mahal kung panay panghuhusga lang ang natatanggap. Dahil kailan man hindi naging mali ang pagmamahal kahit na sa iba... ito ay kasalanan? Kasalanan na wala namang may kagustuhan. Pero hindi naman natin kasalanan na sa maling kasarian tayo nagmahal. Dahil kailan man hindi naging mali ang pagmamahal...

I found the lie on a Tuesday. Five thousand dollars. Every month. Going to a woman with my husband's last name. When Flynn came home and saw me sitting on the office floor surrounded by bank statements, he didn't even try to deny it. He just stood there and told me he couldn't explain. Three years of marriage and all I got was “I can't”. So I left. Three months later I met Dominic. Flynn's biggest business rival. Charming, warm, patient in all the ways Flynn never was. He made me laugh for the first time in months. He made me feel like myself again. He felt like the right choice. Except he wasn't. Now I'm pregnant, furious, and standing in the middle of two men who both claim they love me. They're both asking me to trust them. But they both already broke that trust.

On the day my body gets blasted into pieces, Amanda Stone, my wife and a police captain, is busy riding the merry-go-round with her childhood sweetheart, Mark Horton, and his son, Keith Horton. Three days later, she finally remembers our son, Evan Johnson, and me. "It's been three days! Is he still mad that I used him and Evan to exchange for Mark and Keith? He's even trying to get the entire police squad to play along with this fake disappearing act of his, huh?" "Captain Stone, Caleb has died in the line of duty. Evan was also injur—" "That's impossible! What I did was only a temporary measure. I set up three layers of defense. There was no way anything would've happened to Evan or him!" Lara Chase, Amanda's colleague, turns away. She can no longer bear to look at Amanda. "Mark did it. He lied about the situation and used your authorization to move everyone away. We've already identified the kidnappers. They're the remnants of MW Syndicate. This was all part of their attempt to get revenge against you. "We also found out that, when you were trapped at the border three years ago, it was Caleb who led the rescue attempt and risked his life to bring you to safety, not Mark's deceased wife…"

Naiinis si Shaun Dale kay Dahlia. Hayagan kasi ang pagkagusto nito sa kanya at kulang na lang ay haranahin siya. Para kay Dahlia ay hindi niya dapat ikahiya ang kung anumang nararamdaman niya para kay Shaun Dale. She’s in love kaya ano’ng magagawa niya kundi iparamdam at ipakita iyon. Kahit na palagi siya nitong sungitan hindi niya talaga mapigilan ang nararamdaman. Mas mabuti ng masabi kaysa manahimik siya sa isang tabi. Mas lalong nadagdagan ang inis ni Shaun Dale nang itakda silang dalawa para magpakasal. Tuwang-tuwa naman si Dahlia. At dahil pursigido si Dahlia sa ‘panliligaw’ ay hindi na rin napigilan ni Shaun ang tablan sa taglay nitong kapilyahan. Kung kailan naman tila nahulog na siya, saka siya tinakbuhan ni Dahlia sa araw ng kasal nila at hindi na nagpakita pa. After a couple of years muli silang nagtagpo. Is he still longing for her? Iyon ang tanong niya sa sarili. Hindi dapat. Dahil kung totoo ang ipinaramdam nitong pagmamahal bakit siya nito tinakbuhan sa kasal?

He was the man who owned my heart, but he was also the man who took everything from me. My parents, my pack, my heart. He thought he succeeded in killing me, but five years later, we crossed paths again, and I’m ready to collect what he stole from me. I had a spotless revenge plan, but one truth came off the left field, leaving me torn about what to do next. The man whom I promised to prosecute for all the pain he caused me was my fated mate, and ending him will also mean suicide. A choice must be made, and he was ready to fight for the truth to his last breath. The question was, "Am I ready for the truth to unfold?"

"All the beautiful memories, just turned into a beautiful nightmares." Breaking up with the guy you love the most is the hardest part of being in love. Letting go as if it’s only the choice you need to choose. Letting go even though you want to hold that person as tightly as you can just to make that person stay besides you. I really want to hold back, I want to fight for us, but how can I do that? Kung ang taong inaasahan mong lalaban din para sa iyo ay sumuko na nang tuluyan? Paano mo pa siya hahawakan kung siya na mismo ang kusang bumibitaw? Sometimes, when you love someone, you want and wishes them the best and happiness, but then sometimes, what's best for them is not you — you're not part of it. We love each other, but we choose to let go each other, it's not because we're coward and afraid to face it, but because that's the only thing we can do to save 'us'. WHERE YOU CAN'T STAY FOREVER.

Four years of marriage. One signature—his own—that set me free, though he never realized what he was signing. I was Sophia Moretti, the invisible wife of James Moretti, heir to the city’s most powerful mafia family. But when his childhood sweetheart, the dazzling and privileged Vicky, returned, I finally understood: I had always been temporary. So I played my final move. I slid the papers across his desk—divorce disguised as routine university forms. James signed without a second glance, his fountain pen scratching across the page as carelessly as he'd treated our vows, without noticing he was ending our marriage. But I walked away with more than my freedom. Beneath my coat, I carried his unborn heir—a secret that could destroy him when he finally realized what he'd lost. Now, the man who never noticed me is tearing the world apart trying to find me. From his penthouse to the underworld's gutters, he's turning over every stone. But I'm not some trembling prey waiting to be found. I rebuilt myself beyond his reach—where not even a Moretti can follow. This time, I won't be begging for his love. He'll be begging for mine.

My boyfriend was a therapist. On the day I got diagnosed with ALS, he was busy celebrating his friend's birthday. He said, "Sophie's got depression. Without me, she could break down, hurt herself, or do worse things." To look after her, he broke up with me and moved into her place. I blocked him on everything, agreeing we'd go our separate ways. Strangely, he lost his nuts when he found out I was dying.