Why We Are Reading

Leonard Burton and I are childhood sweethearts, bound by a family-arranged marriage. After we marry, we live a loving, harmonious life. In a terrible accident, he even gives up his only chance at survival to save me. After Leonard's death, we find a journal among his belongings. In it, he records the three years he was missing after falling off a cliff—years spent with another woman he deeply loved. But his parents had forcibly separated them and arranged our marriage instead. Unbeknownst to anyone, he had continued to protect that woman from afar, silently and faithfully. At the funeral, Leonard's mother, Charlotte Newman, is inconsolable. "Leonard, it's all my fault. Would you still be alive if I'd let you marry Yelena back then?" His father, Samuel Burton, glares at me with hatred. "He fell off that cliff saving you. He died in that crash shielding you. Why do you bring him nothing but harm? Why aren't you the one who's dead?" Yes, why is it not me who's dead? I look at Leonard's familiar, smiling face on his gravestone before running at it and smashing my head on it. When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to when he just returned from that small fishing village. This time, I choose to let him go and give him what he wants. Finally, I see Leonard again.

The fifth time we went to the courthouse, James Ceasar and I still weren’t officially married. We had picked a good day for it, but right before it was our turn, he got a call and rushed off in a hurry. With my eyes turning red, I pointed at the screen showing the waiting numbers, trying to stop him. “We're next. It won't take more than ten minutes. We can get it done fast. Once we’re officially married, you can go and deal with whatever’s so urgent. It won’t take long.” James was the CEO of his company, so he had full control over his schedule. That was why I said it like that, not thinking it would be a big deal. However, he just glanced at the screen, handed me the ticket with our number on it, and looked annoyed. “I can marry you anytime,” he said. “But right now, I’ve got something I need to take care of. Don’t make a fuss.”

A gas explosion kills both me and my wife, Riley Sawyer. When I open my eyes again, we have both returned to our lives before we ever got married. In our previous life, Riley and I grew up together. We were inseparable as kids, and after we married, our relationship only deepened. People envied how well we got along. But in this life, she doesn't choose me. She accepts the romantic pursuit of Benjamin Prescott, the son of the wealthiest man in the city. I quietly erase every trace of her from my life and act as if she never existed. Five years later, the two of them announce their engagement in the grandest way possible and invite all our former classmates. When I show up wearing the same custom suit Benjamin has on, a diamond ring in hand, Riley's face tightens with anger. "Jared, it's been years. Why can't you let me go?"

"We are not related by blood, there is nothing wrong in what we are doing." He assured her. "What if Dad and Mom find out?" She asked. "That's why we have to keep it a secret," he said, caressing her cheeks as their lips locked. Camilla falls in love with her stepbrother, Andrew who is one year older than her. He is twenty-one years old while she is twenty. Everything about him drives her crazy. Things seem to be perfect as their little secret is kept hidden not until Derek, Andrew's best friend, gets their shady acts on tape and threatens her with it. Is it advisable to screw two best friends? Will Andrew believe she was only doing him a favor?

I never thought a day would come when I would need to betray the person I loved the most, but here I am, biting my lip I looked over at him, and my heart ached: What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Can't I just run away with him? No, I can't I pressed the power button on my phone thrice. This is happening, this is so fucking happening. In less than a moment, the cop was standing outside the room we were in. He looked at me as he looked around. " Fuck, come we have to run," he whispered, holding my hand in his. Moving ahead, but I didn't. Raising an eyebrow, his eyes stared into mine. " I called them," I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. "Why?" He asked. " Because it's the right thing to do," "You know we are leaving, whether you agree or not," his voice was dark as I stared into his eyes. "Don't make me do this to you," he said, grabbing my throat. I didn't flinch, he could never hurt me. The pressure on my throat increased, but I tried to keep it down, trying not to show it in my face. "Don't push me," he roared. "Please..."

Will someone really go on with a life that is so miserable? A life that is full of painful and thorned paths. Why would someone continue a life so devastating that it robs a person of the happiness they deserve? Why? And with the mistakes we leave, how would you go on and continue to strive and find the person you wished to make better since yours is not? Johannes Alejandro is a man who has everything. Nathalie Taylor is a woman who has everything but is robbed of the things that make her happy. When life decides their lives be connected, will they be able to tie the knot together... or will their circumstances make that knot rot? This is the billionaire's mistake.

I broke up with love. Swore I’d never fall again. Then my boss, Xander Blackwell, walked in with his sharp suits, colder eyes, and the kind of mouth that ruins all rules. We agreed: no feelings, just touch. Just heat. Just bodies. But somewhere between late-night calls and stolen glances, the line we drew started to blur. He says I’m just his assistant. But when he whispers "mine" it doesn’t feel like a lie. This wasn’t supposed to mean anything. So why does it feel like everything?

“Natalie, you know you want me, we are married, why are you trying to resist?” He whispered grabbing her neck seductively and pulling her closer, Nicole took in a much needed breath, no he didn’t under, even in this moment, she wanted him so much even though she knew just how wrong it was, she wasn’t Natalie, she wasn’t his wife, he just didn’t know it… Nicole Evans had just one job, and that’s to help her twin sister keep her man until she gets back herself and return to her marriage, but why was this so hard for her to pull off and why can’t she keep Rafael Salvador out of her head and off her bed?

On the day I was supposed to donate my bone marrow, my mother called me. “You’re pretending to be sick again? We’re just asking you to donate some bone marrow. Why are you acting like we want you to die?” My brother agreed. “How could you be so horrible? You owe her this one! Even if she’s asking you to die, it’s because you deserve it!” Even my boyfriend could not hide his anger. “It’s just a bone marrow donation. We’re not asking you to die. How could you be so selfish?” They did not know that I would indeed die if I donated my bone marrow. Since they wanted me to die so much, so be it.

"Stop staring at me like that," nakatiim ang bagang na sabi ni Jass. "Hindi ako interesado sa 'yo at alam kong pati ikaw ay ayaw rin sa kasal na ito. So why don't we make an agreement about this fucking arranged marriage?" "No sharing of bedroom, no sex, no conversation at higit sa lahat walang pakialamanan sa isa't isa. We'll only pretend like we're sweet in front of our parents kapag nandiyan sila. Pero 'pag tayong dalawa lang, parang hindi natin kilala ang isa't isa. What about that? Hmm?" Tumango ako. "T-That's a good idea." But one time, nakita niya akong may kausap sa phone. Bakit bigla siyang nagalit sa akin?