The Day I Choose Myself Novels & Stories

He reached up and wiped it away with his thumb. “My turn,” I whispered, squeezing his hand. “Davin, you didn’t save me. I need you to understand that I saved myself. But you were one of the people who reminded me that I was worth saving. You saw parts of me I wasn’t proud of. You saw me scared, angry, stubborn, and sometimes ready to run when things got too hard. You never once asked me to be smaller so you could feel bigger. You just stayed, even when I made that hard.” My voice steadied. “So today, I’m choosing you because I want this life with you. I want all of it—the big days, the ordinary ones, even the boring Tuesdays. I want them with you.”

“Not because of who I was years ago, or because of promises made in a different time. I choose you because I know you. I know your strength, your kindness, your sharp mind, and your gentle heart. I know you have seen me at my worst, and you have chosen to give me a chance. And every morning when I wake, I will choose you again. Not because I have to, but because I want to.” My eyes glistened, not with sadness, but with the deep, quiet joy of knowing I was loved truly and freely. I squeezed his hands, speaking from the very center of my heart. “And I choose you,” I replied. “I choose the man you have become—honest, humble, willing to learn. I know you are not perfect. I know there will be day

My boyfriend, Emmett Carr, and I lived less than five miles apart in the same city. However, we never met more than twice a month. Whenever I asked when he was free, he always said he was busy with a recent work project. That continued until I accidentally discovered his travel records. He had purchased flight tickets for 48 out of the 52 weekends of the past year. He was flying to the country where his childhood friend, Cherry Lewis. was studying abroad. He would leave on Saturday morning and return late Sunday night, rain or shine. He flew there like clockwork, even more disciplined than when he was going to the office. The most recent date we went on was yesterday, at a cafe below h

When I was five, the wealthy Whitmores adopted me from an orphanage so their only son, Caleb, would have someone to grow up with. The first time we met, Caleb pulled his best friend Audrey Ellis over and gave me half his candy. After that, the three of us were inseparable. That changed in the summer after our college entrance exams, when Audrey confessed her feelings to me—and I accepted. Caleb quietly chose a university a thousand miles away. The night before he was supposed to leave, he went drinking alone. Someone dragged him into the alley behind the bar and beat and humiliated him until he died. Audrey and I spent the next two decades burdened by guilt. At forty, I was diagnosed

My sister Vera and I had both mated with the Alpha candidate brothers and gotten pregnant almost at the same time. To help our respective mates fight for power, we—once inseparable—had been at each other's throats all over the pack. Five months into our pregnancies, the pack was attacked by rogues. Of all times, our mates were out hunting with the pack, leaving the camp's defenses wide open. Vera grabbed me and ran desperately toward the forest. In the endless chase, we tumbled down a cliff together. Blood poured from my lower belly, warm and relentless, staining the snow red. Trembling, I sent a mind-link to my mate, Kevin, begging for help. He cut me off five times before finally picking u

Before the deadline for college applications in the werewolf territories, everyone gathered around my twin sister to discuss where she should go. My older brother Damian, the Beta of our pack, pointed to Blackthorn Academy. “Of course you should choose Blackthorn. It’s my alma mater. Once you’re my junior, no one will dare bully you.” My boyfriend, Noah, pushed a Northstar Academy brochure toward her. “Don’t listen to your brother. Come to the capital with me. We can be classmates for another four years.” No one thought there was anything wrong with my boyfriend planning my sister’s future—not even Noah himself. My parents smiled in agreement. “With Noah and Damian looking after you, we won’

"I didn't even choose you because I needed saving, though you did save me, more than once, in more ways than I think either of us fully realized at the time. I choose you because somewhere in the middle of the worst weeks of my life, you became the best part of it. I choose you because you make me braver than I knew how to be alone." Temi felt tears rise, warm and unhurried this time, nothing like the frantic emotion of the first ceremony. "I came into this as a transaction," she said, her voice steady despite the tears. "A contract to save something I thought I couldn't survive without. I'm leaving it, today, having found something I didn't know I was looking for at all. You didn't just sav

Tomorrow, I would hate myself. Tomorrow, I would make a choice. Tomorrow, I would choose myself, but today? Today, I choose him. I dream of a black wolf.

I wiped my face with trembling hands, squaring my shoulders. Somewhere deep inside, buried under all the hurt, was a spark. A small, stubborn ember that refused to go out. He chose her. Let him have her. But me? I would choose myself. Even if it meant walking through hell to do it.

My tears blurred everything. All our sweetness from the past was nothing more than illusions. In the end, all for nothing. When dawn broke, only bitterness remained. One reckless choice—and I buried my own happiness with my own hands. I am scum. And for the rest of my life, I will not deserve happiness.