Tone Indicators

My five-year marriage with Alexander was like a couture gown, ripped to shreds. "I want Victoria to show your collection for the New York Fashion Week spring preview." My husband Alexander's voice cut through the sketch I was working on. I stopped drawing. I must have heard him wrong. "What did you say?" "Victoria is new. She needs a platform. Your new spring collection is the perfect springboard for her." "You're a showstopper every year. What's the harm in giving her one shot?" he asked, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather. "Besides, the brand needs new blood." I stared at the man I'd spent five years with. Suddenly, his face looked sharp, unfamiliar. "Do you have any idea how many nights I've stayed up working on this collection? And you want to give it to some new assistant?" "Evelyn, don't be so petty. It's just a preview." His expression turned cold. "I've already decided." I clenched my fists, a thousand emotions churning inside me. Fine. If you're going to treat me like this, don't blame me for leaving you.

"What if I tell you that you can actually, live that dream?" Ethan said softly, his voice taking on a gentler tone as he swept his hand on her shoulder. She tensed, everything in her body responding to him in ways she had always dreamed of. But it was so wrong for her to even dare to dream about her boss like that. "You crave for your boss? Wish Granted. You can have me," his words resonated with so much assurance that shook Sofia to her bones. Her breath caught in her throat, the wave of Ethan's unbelievable words shaking her. The tension thickened as he sealed the tiny gap that was separating them. "The question is, Sofia," He lifted his hand to tuck her loose hair behind her ear while she shivered under his touch. "Can you handle your boss?" A cold boss with the darkest insatiable desires that a naive and inexperienced girl like Sofia could never match- what could they possibly have in common? Love? However, even love needs a common ground, and these two are different in all ways, and everything stands in their way. With a possessive fiance who is a perfect match for Ethan in all aspects, perfect even for his darkest desires, is there anything that can make Ethan choose Sofia against all odds?

Our bodies tangled in the car. My husband moved inside me, lips claiming my chest, when the sudden ring of a phone ripped me out of our intoxicating haze. Gabriel answered without hesitation. It was one of his closest friends from the medical world, speaking in German. “Don,” the voice said casually, “your mistress is two months pregnant. What are you going to do?” Gabriel didn’t pause. His tone was calm. “Grace can’t have children,” he replied. “I’ll let her carry the baby to term, then adopt it as my own. That secures the heir. This stays between us.” Something inside me froze. The one thing he had forgotten— I majored in German. And he learned it just to win me. I didn’t scream. I didn’t confront him. Instead, I smiled, stayed quiet, and kept playing the perfect wife. Later, I slipped the divorce papers into a real estate contract and watched him sign without reading. Then I quietly registered a new identity. For the next three days, his absence—and her taunting messages—erased the last illusions I had about love. When my new identity finally went live, I walked away without looking back. Carrying his child. And disappearing from his world forever.

Rebecca touched the door's handle to open it but before she could push the door, the man grabbed her waist from behind and came closer to her ears, and said in a husky tone "Times Up! You are too late." Hearing him, her heart skipped a bit because his touch didn't make her feel disgusted but it just felt like a romantic touch. She becomes rigid for a moment in her place and does not understand what happened all of a sudden. And before she could understand anything. The man took her in his arms and shortly pressed her lips with his lips. He kissed her wildly until she felt suffocated. Her head becomes dizzier. She was forced by a stranger to spend a romantic night with him. But when she wakes up the next morning, she is alone in bed and only left with his diamond ring which he left for her as compensation. Seeing herself in this horrible situation, She's broken mentally and physically. And when she is hardly trying to forget the incident as a nightmare, she learns that she is about to become a mother. On hearing that, her whole world becomes in turmoil. What will she do now? Will she give birth to this child or will she kill her/him in her womb?

I slipped into a vegetative state because of an accident. For the next five years, my wife, Ella York, remains devoted to me. She turns down all of her admirers and has chosen to raise our child on her own. At the same time, she exhausts herself from taking care of me to the point that she suffers from stomach bleeding. Everyone advises her to find a new man to settle down with. But Ella exclaims in a choked-up tone, "I'll always be Zack's wife for as long as he lives!" When I miraculously wake up from my comatose state, the first thing I do is file for a divorce under the condition that Ella leaves this marriage without a cent to her name. All of my family, friends, and relatives are pissed off at me, to say the least. "You bastard! Ella has stayed by your side for the past five years! How dare you cast her out the moment you wake up!" As I gaze at Ella's tear-streaked face coldly, I say to everyone else, "Go ahead and check the security footage at my son's kindergarten. Then, you'll understand how Ella has taken care of me over the past five years."

Our family road trip ended in a cliffside plunge. The Moon Goddess told us that to survive, we must enter the werewolf world and conquer the cruelest Alpha in existence. Only by obtaining the Alpha’s "Token of the Blood Oath" could our family be reborn. My cousin Chloe, brimming with confidence, chose the identity of the "Savior." She attempted to replicate the "White Moonlight"—the lost love—from the Alpha's memories. Meanwhile, the "Spectators" from this world were blowing up the chat stream: "This family is interesting. Much smarter than the last batch." "As long as one of them gets the Token, they all resurrect. I’m betting on the blonde hottie." "For sure. The way that Alpha looks at her? His favorability is already maxed out." Just when we thought victory was in the bag, the next day brought devastating news. The first batch of family members who entered the instance were wiped out. And Cousin Chloe died the most gruesome death of them all. The tone of the chat instantly shifted to mockery and ridicule: "LMAO. Did they really think this was some fluffy romance novel? That’s the Rogue King who crawled out of a pile of corpses." "Forget his 'White Moonlight.' He wouldn't hesitate to kill his own Fated Mate."

I ended up with the person who used to bully me in school. As the morning sunlight seeped into the room, I barely moved my arm when the arm wrapped around my waist tightened, pulling me closer. Ethan Chambers lowered his head to kiss my neck, his deep voice tinged with a husky tone from just waking up. "Did you fall asleep last night?" I froze for a moment before nodding obediently. In the past, I might have resisted, but three weeks with him taught me a simple lesson to be compliant. He took my hand, which rested at my side, and interlaced his fingers with mine, playing with them as if amused. Leaning close to my hair, he let out a low chuckle full of interest. "This time, you didn’t throw away the ring I gave you?" He was referring to the diamond ring on my finger. There had been two others before this one—one I hid in the freezer, and the other I threw into the fountain in the garden downstairs. I didn’t want to think about the consequences of losing the first two rings for now, but the result of the third ring was clear: I was going to marry him, the person I once feared the most.

"Get up, I'm hungry. Cook for me NOW!" The authoritative tone jolted me awake, not giving me a moment to freshen up or even change. We don't sleep side by side; he stays in the master bedroom while I occupy the guest room. He can't stand being near me. It hurts deeply when those words come from him, but it's a recurring pattern. I hurriedly made my way downstairs, still tying the robe around me. In the kitchen, I began preparing his breakfast. You see, I'm his secret wife. No one knows except our parents and a few friends. Since we got married, not a day goes by without him reminding me that he doesn't love me. Not a day goes by without him hurting me. But that's alright because, as I've mentioned, I love him so much that I'm willing to do anything just to earn his love in return. A single tear escaped and fell onto the clove of garlic I was chopping. I quickly wiped it away. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Manang watching me. I took a deep breath to regain my composure before turning to her with a forced smile. "I'm sorry; I got emotional over garlic." I lied.

“How sore are you?” His unexpected presence made me jump in fright. “Your Majesty?” I spun around to see him sitting on the bed I had been staring at earlier. “Come here.” He didn’t repeat the question. Did I mishear? “Your Grace, if you’ll just let me finish cleaning up this area—” I rushed out, suddenly confused and nervous about why he’d want me to come closer. “How about you abandon that and come sit, Cassia. Now.” His tone was firm yet soft. I almost gasped when he raised his eyebrows and patted his left thigh. I gulped hard and took tentative steps toward him…. In a world where medieval and modern collide, werewolves, vampires, and hybrids rule while humans live in fear, their lives not fully belonging to themselves. Cassia is one of the unfortunate souls sold by her aunt to the hybrid palace, a place desperately in need of new servants. Living under the roof of the infamous Hybrid King, who harbors a deep-seated hatred for humans—especially due to their role in the brutal attack that harmed his mother—her fate becomes dangerously intertwined with his. As she navigates the treacherous palace with survival on her mind, she becomes entangled with the King, who fights against an undeniable attraction to the very human he despises.

When the heatwave apocalypse hits the Earth, the ozone layer has completely dissipated, forcing mankind to move into the underground city. My husband, Rhett Calloway, and I get to stay on Level Two, seeing as we've funded the construction of the underground city. On day in the third year of the heatwave apocalypse, Rhett brings back a sickly young woman from the slums located on Level Three out of the blue. "Nora, the living conditions on Level Three are very difficult. Anna is in poor health. I can't just sit by and watch her suffer." After that, Rhett carries Anna Archer into our home. I keep my gaze lowered as I remind him, "Don't forget that there's a strict population count on Level Two. The available slots in every family are fixed." "I know that. That's why you need to head down to the slums on Level Three to replace Anna for the time being. Once she recovers from her illness, I'll bring you home." The moment I hear Rhett's response, I remain rooted to the spot for a long time. After walking out the front door, I do my best to suppress the quiver in my tone as I call a number that belongs to Level One. "I've already thought it through. I've decided to join the project to end the apocalypse on Level One."