The Storied Life Of Aj Fikry Novels & Stories

“They interviewed Marcus and your father and Hana Mori and David and three of your regular guests. Nobody told me they were doing that. I would have told you.” “I wouldn’t have wanted to know.” “I know. That’s why I didn’t push.” Alyssa slid the second copy across the counter. “That one’s yours to keep. The other one goes on the wall.” Kira picked up her copy and opened it. The feature started with a photograph of the Brooklyn exterior, the sign above the door, and then the writing, and she stood at the prep counter and read it. She read about a woman who left culinary school at twenty and spent nine years in a life that didn’t have room for the one she was supposed to be living.

On the eve of our engagement party, my fiancé, Andrew Graham, dies. According to the police, his car crashed through the guardrail and plunged into the river. The only thing they managed to find was a bloodstained watch. The Graham family pins all the blame on me. "If Andrew hadn't gone out to buy you a ring, would he have gotten into this accident?" "You're nothing but a jinx! As if it weren't bad enough that you cursed your parents to death, but now, you've even cursed your fiancé!" Andrew's best female friend, Katherine Yangley, has tears spilling down her cheeks as she plays the last voice recording he made. "Don't end your life for me. Live on well." I kneel before his coffin, hu

The day I found out we had only $2,200 left in savings, I spent $2,000 on a ticket to a piano recital. When my friend found out, he asked if I'd lost my mind. I said without expression, "I just want to see what kind of man is worth her draining all our savings just to buy him a high-end piano. That money was supposed to save our daughter's life. Annie was waiting for it so she could have surgery." The recital lasted two full hours. Everyone around me marveled at the beautiful music. But all I could think about was the man onstage, and—Audrey McMillan, my wife, seated directly in front of him in an expensive evening gown, looking so elegant and privileged that I barely recognized her. Af

Everyone on the terrace laughed when Mara Brennan slipped her room key into my fiancé’s jacket pocket. “Does she honestly think a room key will make Adrian overlook that face? The Morettis don’t take in damaged goods.” A second later, someone dumped a glass of wine over her head. Mara went still. I stepped in front of the cameras and offered her a handkerchief, but she shook me off. “Drop the saint act, Vivian. You just got luckier with your parents.” The next morning, I woke above an auto restoration shop, unable to lift my left shoulder. Raised scars ran along my neck. An old tablet lit up beside the bed. In the video, Mara kissed an emerald brooch, wearing my face. [That woman in New Orle

"Rebecca, stop playing around. I've already unlocked the door. You're pulling on the door now because you don't want to come out, am I right?" I smiled bitterly as I looked at the inside of the door, which was distorted. While I was suffocating inside the cellar, I tried ramming into the door over and over again out of a strong will to live. However, the door was exceptionally sturdy. I could not even make the door open for just a small crack. In the end, I died of suffocation inside. My dear brothers, when you found my body, could you show me just a tiny bit of your love and bury me next to our mom and dad?

' August: 'First parent-teacher conference—Daddy looked so handsome in a suit. May: 'Baby got sick—Daddy stayed up with him all night…' The earliest photo dated back five years. It was a close-up of a newborn's tiny feet, captioned, 'Our little prince is here. Six pounds, eight ounces. Daddy cried.' So, it wasn't that he didn't want to be a dad because he already was one. And to think I believed his bullshit, his claims that a life with just the two of us was enough for him. What did that make me?

I said. My face was pale as death, and a nagging ache twisted in my stomach. It was an old pain that had been with me ever since I spent those three years in that cellar. Every day, I ate stale bread and lumpy mashed potatoes that had been sitting out forever. The bread was so thick and dry that it was almost impossible to swallow. Panic flashed across Henry's face. It was something I hadn't seen in ages. "Sabrina, I swear I didn't know! Do you think I'm lying?" he asked.

The Shaw residence wasn't far from here, as it was investments from Jeffrey and my fiancé, Ivor Rhett, that funded the research institute. To be closer to me, they even built two villas nearby, adjacent to each other. These were my two homes. But now, there was no place for me in either villa. When I arrived, the household staff were openly hostile, too. "Mr. Shaw has said that you are no longer part of the Shaw family. How do you still have the gall to show up here?" "Someone steals 20 years of someone else's life and still has the audacity to stick around."

Alas, the one thing I feared most happened regardless of my wish. I followed my dad and Sylvan to a small restaurant near campus. I had been the one to suggest it. This place had been around for years. It was located right by the school gates, and the food was cheap but delicious. So, a lot of students loved the establishment. I had only been given 1,500 for living expenses last month. I had been living as frugally as possible to save up to rent a place, barely daring to spend money on food. That was how I had stumbled across this hidden gem.

I was supposed to be nothing more than a doomed side character in someone else's story. After I woke up to the truth, though, I became the male lead's best friend instead—and ended up with the wealthy girl who had always loved him, leaving him free to live happily ever after with the school's golden girl. Ten years later, though, he made a very public announcement that he was single and back in town. Then, in the old class group chat that had been inactive for a long time, he sent two messages. [I'm back. We should all get together sometime.] [@Whitney Charlton, you'll be there, right?] The group chat exploded instantly. After all, everyone still remembered the golden boy we had known b