The Food Lab Novels & Stories

By year four of our marriage, Scott had picked up a college girl—Gigi. Bright, beautiful, full of life. She had him, a billionaire, eating street food and chasing after her favorite esports player. Scott called. "Not coming home. Watching Joel Arnoult's match." Beside him, Gigi scoffed. "That boring old woman—does she even know who Joel Arnoult is?" They had no clue. The second the call ended, Joel had me pinned in the back of a dimly lit car. His teeth grazed my neck—sharp, teasing, a little painful. "Leila, if I win, how are you gonna reward me?"

When my young sister, Sharon, did something wrong for the first time, my mother downloaded an AI child education app. The AI said, "I think that punishing Sharon isn't effective. Why not punish her older sister, Sherry, whom she is close to? That way, Sharon will be disciplined because of her love for Sherry." Since then, I was used as a tool to discipline Sharon. Sharon loved ordering delivery, and my mother followed the AI's advice to dose my food delivery with ten packets of laxatives, which landed me in the emergency room. She used this opportunity to teach Sharon a lesson about food safety. When Sharon stayed out all night and did not come home, my mother followed the AI's advice to get five homeless men to drag me into the alleyway and rape me after I came home late from school to teach Sharon to protect herself. Sharon wanted to adopt a dog, so my mother took the AI's advice to release a mongrel with rabies into my room. I was bitten because I could not evade the dog's attack, as my mother locked me in the room with it. "Once your sister comes back from school, I'll show her the consequences of adopting a dog! "The AI told me that there is a one-month incubation period for rabies. When Sharon finally admits her mistake, I'll take you to the hospital for a vaccination." However, she had no idea that I had been bitten in the head. By the time Sharon returned, I had contracted rabies. My mother used my life as the price to pay for disciplining my sister.

Lillian Carter's life did not follow the path it was meant to. She was supposed to be normal and just like any other human, completely oblivious to the supernatural world. Yet in a cruel twist of fate she was snatched from her mother's side just a few hours after birth and experiment on like a lab rat. She grew up in a world she was not suppose to know about experienced pain no one person could endure and done things more horrifying than you could ever imagined. Always battered and abused only being regarded as a tool in service of someone else's selfish desires, been used, experimented on and sold. Then one day Lillian was finally free or so she thought. Now in a world where danger lurked at every corner and monsters dwelling in the shadows young lily has to be constantly running and fighting for her life especially with a curse coursing through her veins that seems to be attracting everyone she runs into. Trying to find a place for herself in this world lilly wants to live the life she should have, she wants to be the one thing she never felt like she was in all her years of life the thing she was meant to be, she wanted to be Human.

"Some things are meant to be ruined, Stranger. I'd like to ruin your innocence"..... Becca is a "Good Girl" with a clear plan: finish her Home Science degree, keep her head down, and live by the Word. Her life is a collection of modest skirts, silent prayers, and the steady hum of her sewing machine. But when Josh—the untouchable "King of NUAT"—stumbles into her textile lab bleeding and hunted, Becca’s carefully stitched world begins to unravel. Josh is ambitious, dangerous, and hiding a secret that could burn the entire campus to the ground. He didn’t mean to drag the quiet "Church Girl" into his war, but after one desperate, stolen kiss in a dark closet, the damage is done. To the campus, she’s his new obsession. To his enemies, she’s the perfect leverage. Now, Becca is no longer a ghost in the halls. She’s a target. With a sinister voice from the shadows claiming that "Stitches don't hide secrets," Becca must decide if she can trust the man who used her to survive—or if the boy she saved is the one who will ultimately destroy her. In a jungle like NUAT, even the purest soul can get caught in the thorns.

After my dad's first love moved into our house and became my tutor, my mom never raised her voice at her again. She just coughed worse and worse, until one day I found the lab report she'd thrown out. Stage IV lung cancer. That afternoon, Dad came home with his arm around her, and walked right into Mom sitting on the couch. There was a flicker of guilt on his face. "Helena, if you've got something to say, just say it. Don't make a scene in front of the kid." Mom was eerily calm. She pointed at the woman and said, "She gets on her knees and apologizes to me three times. And you sign over half the company. Then we're done." Dad thought she'd lost it. But in the end he signed the share transfer. After that, Mom's pills kept multiplying and her appetite kept shrinking. But she hired the best lawyer in town, and over and over she taught me how to manage those shares once I was old enough. Dad never figured out the one thing that mattered. Mom was already on her way out.

Carmen Anderson is an orphan, broken and suffering on the streets doing whatever she has to in order to feed and take care of her little brother Cody.After finding out that he has a deadly disease, the life she used to know just doesn't feel the same. Her tricks to put food on the table wont work anymore and she's going to have to stand on her own two feet and face the world from a whole new viewpoint.Adrian Romano is an Italian actor who's famous for his mysterious ways, and he has his eyes set on Carmen when she wanders onto his path. Like a bloodhound, he's determined to learn her big secret.

Faraiah Villegas; a woman with a simple life. Since losing her parents at the age of eighteen, she has learned to work for herself. She provided her own food, daily expenses, et cetera. As she grows, the cost of living she has to maintain also increased. Because of that, she had to find a job that can provide an income that would meet her needs. Luckily, Zarelli's mansion—owned by the richest family in town—was looking for a maid. Without an ado, Faraiah grabbed the opportunity not knowing that it would be the beginning of her chaotic life. After meeting and finding the dark secret of the master of the house—Cleon Reve Zarelli—her world turned upside-down. "The alpha . . . has been chasing me."

"Shut down for rectification, fined $500,000, plus $300 compensation per customer. That’s the penalty from the Food Safety Bureau. Let’s see if you dare serve us gutter oil again!” Yves Larson, a part-timer at a construction site, sends me a provocative text purposefully, as though he's worried that I don't know what's going on. I just stare at the sign that says "closed for renovation", which is hung on the front door of my eatery. Never would I expect that the budget eatery that I've opened for the sake of the workers will be transformed into a blade that's aimed at me, thanks to the very same workers. That night, I sit in the apartment that my dad has left to me before his death. There, I spend the whole night smoking. Early the next morning, I head over to the bank and withdraw the money left behind by my dad, which is 260 million dollars. Half a month later, my eatery is open for business again. Work resumes at the construction site as well. Yves leads the construction workers to the restaurant at lunch. "I've taught him a good lesson last time. This time, I'm very sure that he won't have the guts to serve us cheap food made of shitty ingredients!" What he doesn't know is that the original eatery is already demolished. In its place stands a luxurious five-star restaurant. I stand in front of the main entrance as I perform a welcoming gesture to the workers. "This is a five-star restaurant that offers a private dining experience to you. The minimum bill for each table is 4000 dollars. You're welcome to dine here."

I'd been married to Joshua Merck for five years, but we still didn't have kids. To stay healthy, I took those pricey custom vitamins he ordered from overseas—never missed a dose. Then my cousin came back from studying abroad, took one look at the bottle, and was like, "That brand doesn't even make custom vitamins." I sent them to the hospital for testing. The lab report hit me like a truck—birth control pills. Powerful ones. Suddenly, all those mornings with Joshua hovering over me, acting so concerned while I took my "vitamins," made sense. The whole thing had been a lie. Five years of lies. Just as I was gearing up to confront him, my phone buzzed—a group chat notification. Shirley Hoare had tagged Joshua. [Honey, I had a prenatal checkup today, and the doctor said I'm carrying twins! Your family's about to get two grandchildren at once—excited?] My heart turned to ash. Everything clicked. Fine. We were done. I pulled out my phone and replied to my childhood sweetheart's message from three days ago: [After watching the northern lights, I still wanted to see penguins in Antarctica.]

In the split second when the research lab explodes, my boyfriend, Thomas Bastion, dashes to Melody Harper, who is standing furthest from the blast zone. He shields her from the impact with his own body. When the sounds of the explosion stop, the first thing he does is carry Melody to the hospital. I'm lying on the floor. My body is covered in fresh blood, but he doesn't spare a single glance at me. Thomas has taken care of Melody for the past 18 years. His heart is filled with nothing but her. There's no space for anyone else. I only survived because my colleagues rushed me to the hospital. When I am discharged from the ICU, I call my teacher, Louis Carpenter. Both my eyes are swollen from how much I've been crying. "Mr. Carpenter, I've made up my mind. I'm willing to join you for the confidential research. It's fine if we have to leave in one month. I don't care that I'll be unable to contact anyone for the next five years." The wedding ceremony that I have been dreaming of is supposed to take place in a month's time. However, I no longer want to get married.