The Rain Barrel Effect

At the year-end company meeting, I was announcing the bonuses when a new employee suddenly raised her hand. "Over at the other company, they handed out two boxes of imported cherries at their annual party," she said, shaking her phone. "And we only get performance bonuses?" The video, maliciously edited, went viral online and hit the trending list the very next day. I had the finance department cancel all the year-end bonus transfers. "If cherries are what really count as a gesture of goodwill," I said, "then this year's year-end benefit will be cherries—fifty boxes per person." When they saw the mountain of cherries piling up before them, the employees who had once joined in mocking me panicked instantly. One by one, they cried and apologized, begging me to reconsider.

My husband, Dominic Moore, insists on having his first love, Irene Cobb, at our wedding ceremony. Just when it's time for the bride to enter the hall, he suddenly asks for the ceremony to be paused for three minutes. Then, he gets off stage and pulls Irene, dressed in a white gown, out of the crowd. Right in front of all the guests, he takes her by the hand and walks her down the aisle, saying, "I promised Irene I'd walk her down the aisle someday." The tearful Irene throws herself into Dominic's arms before saying to my in-laws, "Mom, Dad. Although I won't get to be your daughter-in-law, I still want to address you as Mom and Dad just once." She turns back to Dominic and kisses him passionately. The guests exclaim in shock and whisper among themselves, eager to revel in my humiliation. However, I simply open the doors with a smile. I take off my veil and place it on Irene's head. "Why do you say you won't get to be their daughter-in-law? Since you like this cheating scumbag so much, I'll give him to you."

In my final year of high school, my parents died, leaving me nothing but a crumbling brick house. And yet, I somehow got myself a younger brother. He was a second-year student at our school, at the top of his grade. But no one respected him. Even when he was bullied, the teachers turned a blind eye. Why? Because even if others didn't beat him, his drunken father did it every day, while his cowardly mother never dared to fight back. I dragged him home with all my strength, patched up his wounds, and kept him with me for several days. Later, when his mother was beaten to death, I called the police and had his father arrested. "Hey," I told him, "from now on, live with me. I don't have any family left. Call me sister, and I'll put you through school." He dreamed of getting into a prestigious university. So I dropped out, set up a street stall, sold my own blood, and even took illegal jobs just to support him. When he graduated, he said he wanted to start a business. I gave him every cent of my savings. And then one day, I watched him stand beneath the dazzling lights, a radiant girl at his side, holding a trophy for a youth entrepreneurship award. I looked down at the cancer diagnosis in my hands. A bitter smile tugged at my lips. In the end, I had raised him into someone I could no longer reach. It was time for me to leave the stage.

** "Why did your feelings suddenly change?" Xander asked me looking completely lost. There was no way I could say it was because if I stayed with him, I might die. His cold eyes were piercing through me but it didn't make me fret. I averted my eyes knowing my next reply was a big lie. "I love someone else now, and I can't stand you anymore. Since we would be together for two months, our parents' promise will be honoured." Then he froze unable to believe my words. **** Karis was in an arranged marriage to Xander, a cold-hearted billionaire who stood on the Pinnacle of the business for years. Karis's entire life revolved around Xander. She loved him for years and did her best to save their marriage, abandoning everything she loved or cared for just to please him, but Xander never reciprocated her feelings. She thought if they could finally have a child, he would love her back, but that was just her delusion. Xander never loved her and betrayed her by cheating on Karis with her step-sister Emma, leaving Karis devasted and leading to her death. Luckily, fate smiled at Karis, and she was given a second chance to redo it. This time, she wants nothing to do with her heartless husband and just wants to focus on living the best life, but why does Xander keep on pestering her life? Will Karis give Xander a second chance or end up with his rival Skyler who picked interest in her? Why does Xander keep on pestering her in this life despite ruthlessly betraying her before? Are there secrets to be unravelled? Why don't you find out in this intriguing story of love and betrayal and watch things unravel?

I had been secretly married to my CEO husband for six years, but he still would not let our son call him “Dad.” After he missed our son’s birthday again because of his secretary, I took out the divorce agreement and left with our son for good. The usually calm man lost control and stormed into the office to demand where we were. This time, neither my son nor I would come back.

On my 22nd birthday, my uncle Scott discovered my diary. After he found out about my secret love for him, he sent me overseas. He then spent hundreds of thousands, marrying the love of his life.

I've transmigrated into a world where people will die if they don't cheat on their partners. The system tells me that I need to carry out the entire plot before I can finally go home. So, I play the role of a good wife during the day and carry out my duties as a great "friend" at night. I'm a master when it comes to time management. When I finally reach the end of the plot, I break up with my side piece, Xavier Dawson, first. Xavier bursts into tears instantly. "I don't mind the fact that you have a husband, yet your husband minds you having a side piece! Can't you tell who here loves you even more?" Left without a choice, I decide to file for a divorce from my husband, Rafael Cortez. Rafael gets mad at me this time. "You cheating on me is purely business between you and your side piece! How is this related to me? Why must I be involved in your business?" Heh! If not for the fact that I know both Xavier and Rafael have a first love each, I might have believed their lies!

Valerie waited her whole life for the Goddess to mate her and when the bond finally appears, it destroys her instead… Rejected and shamed as a cursed Omega, Valerie disappears from the pack that never wanted her. One reckless night with a stranger becomes the line between who she was… and who she will be. Years later, fate drags her back into a world of she has no knowledge of. And the man she never forgot stands in her path again with secrets from the past refusing to stay buried…

Klaea Gray works at the Iverson Company, at a very young age she was forced to work and help her family. Moreover, she has a little sister who happens to have a leukemia, that's why she's doing her best to save her sister but looks like destiny is playing with Klaea. Ethan Iverson, the youngest billionaire and the perfect guy every girls would dream. Ethan was forced by his family to find a woman he would marry or else he will be left with nothing. Ethan can't do anything but grab a random woman even though it's against his will since he's waiting for his ex-girlfriend to come back. Will their marriage work even if it's a contract marriage, and with no feelings attached? Will they learn to love each other? And lastly will it work now that Ethan's ex-girlfriend is back?

[WARNING! FOR 18+ ONLY] After a fight with her stepmother, Beverley Holmes suddenly received a wedding invitation that made her face pale. Not because it was from her ex-boyfriend, who was getting married to another woman. It was because the bride's name written on it was her own! How could it be?! So, her stepmother didn't lie to her? The woman had actually sold her to pay off a multi-million dollar debt? Then who is her future husband? *** The first time Brent Oliver saw his future wife on the wedding altar, he vowed never to be seduced by her beauty and sexiness. However, he didn't expect that the more time he spent with her, her innocent, virtuous, and hard-to-get demeanor would be so seductive that it drove him crazy. Can he continue to maintain his relationship with his secret lover? Or is he stuck with his alluring wife instead?