The Glass Is Half Empty

I worked for a restaurant, and our boss loved making empty promises about giving us restaurant shares. The boss said we would start with zero shares, but we could earn 0.01% for every two hours of overtime, covering someone else’s work or saving the restaurant 1,000 bucks. I suggested she write this down in an official document and have someone track it properly. She just smiled and told everyone to work harder. She never actually put it in writing. The experienced staff did not believe her, but one prep cook took it seriously. At the end of the year, he went to the boss to claim his shares. The boss said, “Sorry, the head chef told me there’s no official document, so it doesn’t count. You can’t claim any shares.” The prep cook worked hard all year and got nothing for it, so he took his anger out on me. The day before I was going home for the New Year, he killed me with a knife. “If you hadn’t said it doesn’t count without an official document, this whole restaurant would’ve been mine!” I lay in a pool of blood. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day the boss first made those empty promises.

"Dad, Mom, I've decided—I'll go through with the marriage arrangement with the Kingston family. I'll be back by the end of the month." Daphne Wharton made the decision in the middle of a camping trip with Luke Hardy. She curled into herself, pulling her scarf higher against the chill. For a moment, there was only silence on the other end of the line. Then, her mother's voice came through, thick with tears. "Daphne, we know this isn't fair to you. Our company is struggling, and the Kingston family is willing to help—but only if you marry their son. We've failed you as parents…" Her father let out a heavy sigh beside her mother. Daphne listened, her gaze unfocused. A faint, bitter smile tugged at her lips. "It's okay, Mom, Dad. This is what I should do. I'll be back in fifteen days—when their son returns to the country."

Ava is on the run for a crime punishable by death: killing a dragon. As a human-dragon hybrid, Ava has never doubted the godlike dragons’ dominance. Her life has been sheltered beneath their stained-glass wings in the city in the sky—until she murders one. Hunted, she flees to the human desert below the floating city. Yet she’s not alone. Though he doesn’t know the crime she’s running from, Vito, the dragon Ava serves, refuses to abandon her to the harsh world of humans. Paired to be her master and she his caretaker, their friendship has always meant more than titles. The desert holds no sanctuary for them. The long-suffering ground dwellers are tired of having their water supply monopolized by the dragons above and want all dragon-kind dead—including Ava and Vito. Surrendering to the dragons isn’t an option with Vito by her side, and the rebellion has offered a tempting deal. They will keep Ava alive and hide her crime, but only if she reveals the weaknesses of dragon-kind and the secrets of her city. Ava must choose between her life and everything she once called home—including Vito, the closest thing to family she has left.

"Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of your own fear, under the sea of your limitation and behind the zone of your comfort. All you need is to obliterate the invisible streak with courage. "Hilary Damien goes with the flow. Although she already has everything---popularity, friends, beauty, and wits, a tragic loss from the past contributed issues to go against her heart's desire. And she doesn't have the bravery to fight for what she truly needs.Khloe Summer goes against the flow. Although she has all the nerve to get what her heart's ambition- --a high-paying career, a modernized treehouse, an imperfection and error from the past concealed the truth about herself. And she fears that they will influence the momentum of her determination.However, because of art, they happened to be in the same flow. As they collide, will they be able to find strength from each other? Or meeting halfway and getting closer is going to be a heartbreak?...*some events are related to Raindrops and Kiss & Tease series so it's going to be more convenient to read them first*»This is an LGBT-themed story. Read at your own risk«

Isang malusog na sperm. Ito lang ang kailangan ni Virgou sa lalaking nakitaan niya ng katangian para maging ama ng kanyang anak. Si Zerriko Gray. Estudyante sa paaralang itinayo ng kanyang yumaong ina. Hindi siya nagdalawang-isip na alukin ang binata at nagtagumpay na mapapayag ito. Ngunit, hindi pera ang hiniling kapalit kundi ang kanyang puso. Paano niya ibibigay ang hinihingi nitong kabayaran kung ang puso niya ay tumitibok hindi sa lalaki kung hindi sa katulad niya ng kasarian? Magagawa ba nitong basagin ang baluti niya at ilabas ang marupok niyang katauhan? *** Para kay Zek, si Virgou ay isang bituin. Isang bituin na mahirap abutin ngunit kusang kumalas sa daan nito at nahulog sa kanyang kandungan. He knew her depths and darkness. Her light, because she was like a transparent glass. She is smooth and hard. Beautiful and clear. Can resist the heat. Endured pressure and breakage. But more than a mere glass, she is his queen. Always and forever. His glass queen.

On the day we finalized our college applications, I chose Cromwell University. The moment my brother saw it, his expression turned icy. Before I even understood what was happening, everything went black. When I woke up, I was trapped inside a glass box. All because our cousin Wendy had failed to get into Cromwell. To make it up to her, he ordered his men to carry me to an underground auction, putting me on display for a hundred strangers to gawk at for entertainment. I pounded on the glass, crying and begging for someone, anyone, to let me out. No one came. Men gathered around, their gazes shameless and invasive, murmuring to each other as if I were an object, something to be assessed and priced. My brother stood among them, watching. Then he smiled. "You brought this on yourself," he said lightly. "You had everything, our parents' support and my protection, and still you went after Wendy. You even had someone threaten her. "Because of you, she missed her exams. Because of you, she lost Cromwell." He took a step closer, his voice turning colder. "Your life's been too easy. It's time you learned what it feels like to be humiliated." I sank to the floor of the glass box, my body trembling, my mind going blank. While I was being reduced to nothing, he booked an entire resort in Wendy's honor, hosting a grand celebration for her acceptance to Halvard University. Later, when our parents called and asked him to bring me along, his assistant interrupted with a message. "Mr. Lawson… the police have confirmed Miss Kelly's death."

Rachel had always envisioned herself rising to the coveted position of the next beta in the prestigious Sandstone Pack. However, her dreams took an unexpected turn when her mother orchestrated a marriage between her and James Nighthawk, the future Alpha. Despite her mother's insistence that this union would elevate their pack's status, Rachel saw it as an intrusion on her personal ambitions. Reluctantly, she went along with the wedding, but fate had a surprise in store. On her wedding day, a mysterious stranger appeared out of nowhere, revealing himself to be Rachel's fated mate and throwing her carefully laid plans into disarray.

THE HALF SIBLINGS “Hindi ka magiging masaya! Mawawala ang lahat sa iyo!” Galit na galit si Lyria sa kakambal niyang si Lyrie at lalong lalo na sa asawa niya na si Draken dahil sa ginawang panloloko ng dalawa sa kaniya. Bilang isang asawa at kapatid, sobrang sakit para kay Lyria na nagawa siyang lokohin ng kaniyang asawa at sariling niya pang kakambal ang umahas sa asawa niya, pero wala nang mas sasakit pa nang malaman niyang nabuntis din Ng asawa niya ang kakambal niyang si Lyrie.

Two young boys were split apart by tragic circumstances. Morbius kidnaps and tortures his twin for the life that he has had to live. Jefferson mourns the brother he has lost while fighting to keep his own dragon sane. On orders to bring in more of his kind, Morbius takes an unknown human woman whose scent was disguised. Once she gets to the facility, where he works as the head assassin, he realizes that she is his mate. The only one that he and his brother will ever get. He’s under orders to be apart of her pain while he keeps his brother as his own self torture. When Jefferson realizes how far his brother will go to break him, he plots his own chance to get his revenge on the brother he once loved so much. In the end blood will not be thicker than water. They both must come to terms with there past to stop themselves from losing the only future they will ever have.

After a devastating fire ends her career and fractures her memory, famed concert pianist Mila Renard retreats to the Halden Institute, a luxurious psychiatric clinic hidden in the Swiss Alps. Her goal is simple: disappear into silence, avoid the past, and never ask questions. But Halden is not the safe haven it pretends to be. Files vanish. Patients whisper. And her assigned psychiatrist, Dr. Adrien Kael, is as enigmatic as he is unorthodox. Drawn to Mila’s haunting music and unreadable silence, Adrien begins to suspect her amnesia is no accident. When strange accidents start to occur and fragments of that lost night resurface, Mila realizes she didn’t come to Halden by chance—she was brought here. Now, every answer uncovers a new danger. Because some memories were buried for a reason. And someone is watching, waiting, and willing to do anything to make sure the truth stays dead.