What's Done In The Shadows

Jen Salas has always kept her head down, working hard to support her struggling family in the bustling town of Cebu. When she meets Jacques Almerino, a young billionaire who catches her eye, she's swept off her feet. Jacques is drawn to Jen's down-to-earth charm, but as he returns to Cebu for a vacation, he knows he can't let himself fall in love - he's too busy managing his family's vast business empire. Despite their differences, Jen and Jacques can't stay away from each other, and their romance seems perfect. But when Jacques' esoteric secret is revealed, it threatens to tear them apart. As Jen and Jacques struggle to find a way to be together, they must confront their deepest fears and desires. Will their love be lost forever, or can they find a way to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way? Disclaimer: This story is written in Taglish

The world is indeed cruel; the Beckett family was bankrupt and in debt as a result of their father's early death. Poppy, as the eldest daughter, decided to look for work due to the remaining responsibilities. She persisted and was hired as a secretary at the well-known Westbridge Company, led by CEO Caden West. Caden is known for being grumpy, egoistic and being a woman hater. Unbeknownst to Poppy, Caden has a hidden grudge against her and will do anything to make her suffer. What is Caden's hidden grudge against Poppy? Will Poppy be able to work with her boss who despises her? Or give up right away due to its poor treatment?

Niyi Omobowale has everything a teenager could ever want. She's beautiful, intelligent, and has extremely loving parents that would do anything for their first daughter. In addition, she attends Achievers High School, the most elite school in Lagos, where she is admired by all the students. However, she has a crippling insecurity, one that overshadows her interaction with other people and makes her wonder if she would find love when she's older: she is blind. Handsome and aloof, Bolaji Akinwande draws the attention of every girl in the school by simply existing. When his friends dare him to date Niyi as a prank, Bolaji obliges. Niyi now has to decide between dating Bolaji or facing the wrath of Amanda, Bolaji's queen bee ex girlfriend.

"If I were to have one more chance, I would waste no time and stand by your side" Siberia is just barely getting by; struggling with almost everything including her health. Things however take a turn when she encounters Bak Ganghan Yeong. A chemical bonding flares up between them, but can the two chemicals successfully react together? Engross yourselves to find out how the chemicals reacts.

At the banquet to welcome her home from her studies abroad, my fiancee, Sienna Vaughn, shows up hand-in-hand with her foreign boyfriend, Jacques Castillo. She announces that she is calling off our engagement. Her parents, Harold Vaughn and Marissa Jenning, beg desperately for me to try to win her back, for the sake of all those years we spent together during our childhood. But this time, I refuse. "Let's end the engagement. From today onward, we'll go our separate ways," I say. … In my previous life, I had taken pity on Harold and Marissa and sincerely tried to keep Sienna by my side. In the end, she agreed to marry me. But three years later, my shares were siphoned away, my company went bankrupt, and I was left with massive debts. Unable to handle the burden, my parents, Ralph Hale and Emily Pierce, passed away. Sienna, nestled in Jacques' arms, spat, "You owe me this!" … Now that I am given a second chance at life, I return to the very day she returned from abroad. This time, she can marry whoever she wants. She thinks that I'm marrying her to save my company from ruin. But little does she know that the one really headed for bankruptcy is her family.

When I find out that Joe Herring—the man I've loved for ten years—is planning a grand proposal, I'm so thrilled I can't sleep a wink that night. But the next day, everyone in the pack is buzzing about how Alpha Joe just proposed to my stepsister, Nora Safford. He comes to me afterward, trying to explain. "It's not even real, Anna. Nora doesn't have anyone in the pack. I'm just doing her a favor. "Don't worry. I'll break it off before the mate-bonding ceremony next week. Then we'll have our ceremony, just like we planned." But over and over, he keeps asking me to compromise for Nora. And when the mate-bonding ceremony finally arrives, he's still with her. So in the end, I let her have him and walk away without a word.

Reborn as the long-lost Rogers heir, missing for fifteen years, I avoided every chance to bond with my two brothers in this family. When they tossed me Vivi’s discarded, ill-fitting gown for the family gala, I smiled and put it on. When they sent Vivi to get an elite education while ordering me to scrub the utility room, I picked up the mop without a word. When they let Vivi chase love and dumped her rejected suitor on me, I didn’t fight. I accepted her leftovers with a calm nod. This was all because in my past life, I had spent my entire life desperate for my brothers' approval, only to end up despised by everyone for it. When I died in the crossfire of a gangland shootout, my own son pushed my body away in disgust. "Mom, did you really waste your whole life on such a petty fight with Aunt Vivi? Dying for the family would have been a more dignified end. At least then you wouldn't have disgraced our name." I left this world filled with resentment, only to open my eyes and find myself back at the moment I first set foot in the Rogers estate. This time, I'm done fighting. The power, the name, the honor. I'm letting them have it all. I’ve already been accepted into a closed-door medical project. Soon they will never see me again.

My husband, Don Reginald, and my parents threw me in prison on the very night I gave him his heir. All because my sister, Felicia, set me up. She claimed I gave her a wild horse at the family races—a horse she knew she couldn't handle. It went crazy. It trampled a senator to death. With the FBI breathing down our necks, the whole family made me take the fall. Three years. Reginald didn't care that I'd just had our son. He pushed me. Over and over. "It was your horse. If you hadn't given it to her, the Feds wouldn't be after Felicia. Just do the time. When you get out, you'll still be my Donna." Three years later, I came back. Nothing had changed. They still chose her. Even the son I bled for now calls Felicia "Mama." He looks right through me, his own mother. I didn't fight. Not like the old me. I just walked away. But when I finally vanished for good, Reginald lost his mind. He tore the world apart, begging me to come back. To be his Donna again.

I've stood before a priest and sworn my vows to the same man seven times. And for the seventh time, I've signed divorce papers in front of the family lawyer. At our first wedding, the youngest Capo of the Throne family held my hand and promised, "From this day forward, my life is yours and yours alone." But whenever his childhood sweetheart stirred up trouble and needed his protection, Carter's vow to me would conveniently become a sanctuary for her. "Tessa's in trouble again, Maeve. For your own safety, we have to get a divorce for now." The first time I was forced to divorce, I threatened him with the honor of our families' alliance, even vowing to expose his betrayal at a family gathering. His men dragged me out of the manor. The third time I signed the papers, I humbled myself, sneaking into the family's private club just to catch a glimpse of him from afar. By the sixth time, I had learned to quietly pack my few belongings in this house of lies, without putting up a fight. My breakdowns and desperate, undignified attempts to save us were only ever met with Carter's reliable promise to remarry me, just before another round of the divorce game he played for Tessa's sake. Until this time. After hearing Tessa was returning to New York from Italy, I didn't wait for Carter to speak. I placed the signed divorce papers in his study myself. Just like always, he casually set a date for our remarriage. But he didn't know that day was the day I would disappear from his world forever.

On a rainy day, I gave my pregnant neighbor a ride home since it was on my way. As a result, she became clingy and started insisting I drive her home every day. When I refused, she teared up and accused me of lacking compassion. Her husband even showed up at my door, demanding, "Why won't you take my wife to and from work? Are you looking down on us?" In the end, I sold my car and moved to a new place. If I couldn’t afford to offend them, at least I could avoid them!