Toph Smiling

One side We have Julia Cameron, a bubbly, jovial and carefree girl who is always smiling and trying to make everyone around her happy. On the flip side We have Liam Black, he's always sitting at the back of the class and doesn't talk or care about anyone. He doesn't have any friends and people leave him alone. That is until Julia comes into his world and forced him to care. Liam finds that Julia is not like everyone around him, she refuses to back down and little by little the ice around his heart starts to melt. And then tragedy struck. Liam and Julia find themselves fighting a foe they can neither see nor touch. Will their love be enough? Will the pain be too much for Liam? Or will love force him to stay by Julia's side forever?

As the upcoming tour approached, the dance troupe suddenly revoked my position as the lead dancer. Anxious to get an explanation in person, I lost my footing due to my distracted state and tumbled down the stairs. While enduring the sharp pain and preparing to call for emergency services, a notification popped up on my phone screen: “Redwood Dance Troupe: Welcome our new lead dancer, Averil Wells, and our generous sponsor, Julian Ford." The accompanying photo featured two smiling faces—my husband of seven years, whom I had secretly married, and his pampered mistress. Julian had his arm wrapped around Averil's waist as he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Meanwhile, Averil clung to Julian's neck, her face radiating shyness and delight.

When I learned that Holly Jones had gone to deliver cold medicine to her young assistant, even though she knew I was trapped in the elevator and suffered from claustrophobia, I asked for a divorce. Holly signed without hesitation. Smiling at her best friend, she said, "Jim is just throwing a little tantrum. His parents are gone, so there's no way he'd really divorce me. Besides, there's a thirty-day cooling-off period before it's finalized. If he regrets it, I'll graciously forgive him and take him back." The very next day, she posted a couples' photoshoot with her assistant, captioned: [Capturing your every sexy moment.] I counted the days. Calmly, I packed my belongings and made a phone call. "Uncle, buy me a ticket to Hudson City."

Meet Usha Mehta, sitting there calmly on the wedding stage looking as beautiful as ever in that red sari. But observe clearly her face in all the chaos of the few people running here and there in a hurry to conduct a perfect wedding. Is she smiling happily looking at the wonderful arrangements? No way! Nevertheless, she is taking deep breaths so that she will not strangle the man sitting beside her. So talking about man, let’s see what he is doing. Well, he is also looking handsome but doing the same thing, and that is taking deep breaths not to strangle the girl sitting beside him. They both are looking with wide eyes, imagining the guests saying loudly “You both can’t escape this marriage.” Poor them! Or is it really? Well, we just have only one option and that is to look at their journey from starting.

It was him. The man I had just been accused of murdering in cold blood. The man whom I've been forced to consume poison because of. Or, had I seen a ghost? Why was my supposedly dead husband standing in the midst of those people, smirking in accomplishment. As the venom of the poison spread through my body and like I was going to rip apart because of the pain, I gave in to the paralysis that rushed me and then closed my eyes shut, tears finding their way out of my closed eyes regardless. “P…please, G… God,” I mumbled with the final breath in me. ~~~ And, suddenly, my eyes were opened, and I was standing in front of him. And he was smiling widely at me, asking what I thought of the wedding dress. But, this was weird because this was from three years ago. Then, my eyes dropped on the calendar. Was I hallucinating? I… I have been reborn?!

The air between them became hotter as she bit her lip, trying to stop herself from smiling so much. The closet was dark and stuffy, so small that their bodies were almost touching, her heart thumped like crazy. "D-Derek" She called out as he hummed in response, holding unto his sides for some unknown reason. "Will you be my boyfriend?" She blurted out, closing her eyes so she wouldn't see his reaction, he groaned, it almost broke her heart but when she looked down, she saw his shirt was now soaked. Blood trailing down his abdomen which made her gasp, slamming open the closet door. "Somebody call an ambulance!" She yelled as the guy she had just asked out dropped limp to the ground like a pack of soggy spaghetti. *A Nigerian themed novel* |16+

I’d been dead a month before my family even noticed. It wasn’t concern that brought them to that realization. It was my silence after the so-called “dinner” with Adam Rossi, the infamous mafia boss. My father scoffed like always,“She probably shacked up with that bastard. Too busy spreading her legs to pick up the damn phone.” My sister texted me a photo of them smiling under the Christmas tree, ornaments twinkling like nothing was wrong. Bitch, she wrote. You better talk Mr. Rossi into working with Dad, or you might as well be dead already. And my mother—once the softer one—was now colder than the frost on their windows. “I told you, we should’ve sent Gia to charm Mr. Rossi. Serena always screws things up.” They didn’t think I would die. Not until they found my body—broken, rotten, and forgotten—in Adam Rossi’s basement.

Three months after fleeing my wedding, I unexpectedly ran into my ex-fiancé at a high-society gathering in the capital. Out of the blue, someone asked me, "Teresa, I saw on social media that you're getting married again?" "Ms. Carter, when can we celebrate your big day?" Smiling confidently, I replied, "Next month." In an instant, everyone began congratulating me and Daniel. After all, everyone knew he had been my fiancé. After the party, Daniel cornered me, his tone sharp. "You're the one who ran away from the wedding, and now you're the one rushing to get married? Do you think this is funny?" I found his reaction amusing. Fixing him with an icy stare, I said with a faint smirk: "Who said my new groom is you?"

My fiancé, Owen Lockhart, came from old money. He kept a canary in a gilded cage, spoiling her rotten. Just as I was about to break off the engagement with him, a barrage of comments suddenly popped up in my mind. [What did Owen do wrong? He just wanted to get your attention.] [Don't break up with him. All you need to do is shed a few tears, and he'll give you everything.] I turned my head, and through the window, I saw the canary in her high-end jewelry, smiling brightly as she hooked her arm around Owen's. He lazily lowered his eyes, yet his expression held a hint of indifference mixed with a subtle affection. I smiled bitterly, replying to the lawyer's message: [Go on with drafting the engagement annulment agreement.]

Samantha Granger's daughter, Celine Hamley, was critically ill and urgently needed a bone marrow transplant from her biological father, Calvin Hamley. But the man Celine called Dad was busy building a castle for his first love's daughter and lighting up the entire city with fireworks for her birthday. Samantha made call after call, but when Calvin finally picked up, he said, "I'm busy." Then the phone went dead. In the end, Celine's hand went cold, and she died. Calvin didn't even see her one last time. Samantha walked out of the funeral home with an urn. Every LED screen downtown was playing a birthday celebration video. The three people who had trampled over Celine's life were smiling, singing the birthday song, and dreaming aloud of a beautiful future. Samantha had once loved Calvin with everything she had. Now, she hated him just as much.