Thoughtful Poems Novels & Stories

We had agreed to spend the New Year with our own families, but at the last minute, my husband, Drake Murrell, changed his mind and insisted I go back with him this year. I agreed, planning to take this opportunity to finally tell him the truth about who I really was. When we first got married, my parents told me to keep a low profile so that Drake, who came from a single-parent household, wouldn’t feel pressured. So I hid the fact that I was the daughter of the richest family in the capital, the Thorntons. When we returned to his hometown, I specifically bought my mother-in-law, Diana Murrell, a pair of gold bangles. She accepted them with a beaming smile, praising me again and again for being such a thoughtful daughter-in-law. However, the next day, as I passed by the old oak tree at the edge of Willow Creek, I overheard her talking about me with a group of people. "Oh, you have no idea. My daughter-in-law is absolutely ridiculous!" My hand froze midair, still holding my phone, as I instinctively ducked behind a haystack. I heard her continue loudly, "She bought me a pair of gold bangles this year. The moment I touched them, I knew they were fake! I’m telling you, they’re probably those cheap online knockoffs, like the kind that cost next to nothing and start fading the moment you wear them!" I was stunned with anger. She called pure gold fake? Looks like the million-dollar New Year gift I had prepared for her wasn’t necessary anymore.

“Marry me!” he said, seriously. She chuckled “Is that an order?” “It's a request.” “You know, you have this habit of not giving me other options when you give your ‘requests’” She said with a teasing smile. “There are other options. You either marry me, or I marry you or we get married. Your choice.” Angela, a twenty-three-year-old, is trying to make ends meet. She meets a stranger in a store and slapped him due to an argument not knowing he's her future boss. But when her future boss Tristan, enraged by her action, finds out about her past, he uses it as leverage to make her work for him as his personal assistant. At first, Angela resents Tristan for using her past against her, and the two clash constantly. Tristan is demanding and expects nothing but the best and perfection from Angela, who finds herself struggling to keep up with his high standards. As they work together day after day, Angela begins to see a different side to Tristan. He may be demanding and harsh but he is also kind and thoughtful, and Angela finds herself slowly falling for him. Tristan, too, begins to see Angela in a new light. He admires her hard work and determination, and he can't help but be drawn to her fiery personality. As they spend more time together, their feelings for each other grow stronger, but Angela is still haunted by her past, and she worries that Tristan will never be able to look past it. In the end, Angela must decide whether to let her past define her or whether to trust Tristan and let herself be vulnerable to love. Tristan, too, must decide whether to let go of his past and embrace the future with Angela.

Katelyn Grey, an 18-year-old girl with a feisty spirit and an iron will, finds herself caught up in a destiny she never desired. After being thrown out of her Colorado home, where she lived under her sister’s shadow and was a constant source of disappointment and irritation for her parents, she ends up in Oregon at the River Gorge Pack. This was supposed to be a new start for her, a chance to spread her wings and be herself without constantly feeling like a failure to her family, but life has other plans in store for her. She arrives just in time for the Annual Mating Celebration, but Katelyn refuses to attend, viewing the practice as outdated and a violation of one's freewill. Fate has other plans in store for her though. While nursing a broken heart, she unintentionally meets her mate, Tyler, causing Katelyn to question her preconceived notions and wonder whether she was the one who had been naive. Tyler Valentine is the future Alpha of the River Gorge Pack, which would make Katelyn the future Luna, a title she isn't eager to accept. But as if that wasn't enough, fate has a cruel twist in store for Katelyn, and she discovers that she is also mated to Tyler's twin brother, Ryder. Ryder is the chaos that cuts through the calm. While Tyler is thoughtful and composed, Ryder is reckless and impulsive, leaving Katelyn to navigate the complexities of these two very different men. While trying to come to terms with this new reality, Katelyn discovers her own hidden strengths, but this only adds another layer of complication to an already complicated situation. Then, just as she feels like she's starting to get some kind of control of her life once more, her past comes calling.

After five years of marriage, the doctor told me I was pregnant. It was something I had waited for so long. Yet, along with that good news came a nightmare. My medical tests showed that I had cancer, and it had already spread. The doctor gave me less than a month to live. I froze, gripping the report so tightly my knuckles turned white. Tears streamed down my face as I thought about how my unborn child would never get to feel a mother's embrace. My grief was interrupted by the ping of an incoming text message. It was from Mom. [Since you're so selfish and refuse to donate a kidney to save Nattie's life, you should divorce Davon. Let him marry Nattie instead. At least that way, you can fulfill her dying wish.] My tears fell harder. It was not that I refused to donate a kidney to Natalie Rivera, my sister, who was in the final stages of kidney disease. In truth, I only had one kidney left. Five years ago, I had already given one to Dad. Now, with my life counting down to its final days, I decided that I would donate my remaining kidney to Natalie. I would also let my husband, Davon Parker, go with her. Before I went into surgery, my parents praised me for finally being thoughtful, saying I had finally learned to care about my sister. They said that once the surgery was over, the whole family would go on vacation together. Davon even said he was proud that I was no longer selfish and promised he would make it up to me in the future. None of them knew I did not have a future. After the surgery, what would be pushed out of the operating room would be a cold, lifeless body.

I had spent my whole life living in the shadow of my sister, Juliana, the woman everyone in the mafia's heir circle adored and protected. She had no idea that I had been reborn. Just like in my previous life, she smiled sweetly and gently, insisting that I pick my fiancé first, pretending to be thoughtful and gracious. However, this time, I refused. In my previous life, I naïvely believed she meant well. I married the man she recommended, Chester Kane, an heir who was said to have been paralyzed after an ambush. I gave up my right to inherit the family, becoming his caretaker, his crutch, the medicine he used to fight loneliness. However, no matter how much warmth I gave him, his heart remained frozen. The truth only came out during my sister's pregnancy celebration. When an assassin from a rival family raised his gun toward her belly, the man who had not stood in years suddenly rose to his feet. He shoved me toward the muzzle of the gun. All seven bullets tore into my womb. As I collapsed, I saw him pull my sister into his arms, shielding her with his own body and taking the final shot for her. Only then did I understand. He had never been paralyzed. His family had never abandoned him. He pretended to be sick because Juliana's heart belonged to another man, and he refused to be tied to me. "I'm sorry, Tania," he said. "I lied to you. However, I couldn't let Juliana lose the heir she's carrying. I'll repay what I owe you in our next life." When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my father asked us to choose our marriage partners. This time, I chose no one. Yet back then, they were the ones who begged for my love.

On Christmas Eve, my father got the man I had secretly loved for ten years drunk and sent him to my bed. When I woke up the next morning, Roy pulled away from my attempt at a good-morning kiss. His voice was cold and distant as he agreed to marry me. After the wedding, Roy wasted no time submitting a transfer request. He took an overseas post and left. He did not return for five years. I gave birth to our daughter, Eve, alone and waited for him to come back home. When I heard that Roy had finally applied to return to a domestic position, I was overjoyed. I spent days preparing, imagining our first reunion as husband and wife. But even when the clock struck midnight, he still hadn't come home. Our daughter, ever so thoughtful, placed her most treasured possession—a photograph of Roy—into my hands. "Don't cry, Mommy," she said softly. "Look, Daddy's right here." I tried to convince myself that his absence was due to a delayed flight. But later that night, while watching the news, I saw him. He was on a crowded city street, holding a young girl in his arms. Beside him stood a woman, her smile soft and warm. Facing the camera, Roy said, "Being with them is my greatest wish." At that moment, something inside me broke. I wrote up the divorce papers, packed our things, and planned to take Eve to change her identity. I didn't want him anymore. The day before we left, a man I had never met came to see me. He was Roy's father. "You could call me Dad," he said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "But I'd rather you call me Ryan." I told him everything about the past five years—how I had waited, how I had hoped. When I finished, he laughed softly, an unusual warmth in his voice. "If it was just business," he said, "perhaps your father should have tied a bow around me and sent me to your bed instead. But I hold my liquor well—if I ever end up wrapped in a bow, you can be sure it's by choice."