Worry Antonym

My husband's first love was scalded by boiling water. To punish me, he forced me into a customized steamer half my height, turned the heat to its highest setting, and sealed me inside. "I'll make you feel the pain Jessica suffered a thousand times over!" Trapped in the suffocating space, my breath came in ragged gasps. Heat seared my skin, and my body felt as though it would melt. I sobbed, begging him for mercy. "Please! I'm going to die!" But he didn't look back. Holding his beloved in his arms, he walked away. He even locked the door after he left the room. "Don't worry, you won't die. This is the only way you'll understand Jessica's pain." Despair swallowed me whole. I screamed, my voice raw, but the boiling water beneath me splashed up, scalding my skin, stealing even the strength to cry. He left the country with Jessica that same night. A week passed before he finally remembered my existence. "That wretched woman must have learned her lesson by now. Let her out." What he didn't know was that the water had long since boiled away, the heat had faded, and inside the steamer, my corpse lay rotting—swarmed with maggots.

We were on our way to celebrate our son’s birthday when we got into a car crash. When I woke up, I looked at my family gathered around my hospital bed and cracked a joke: “Sorry, but who are you guys?” I held back a smile, curious to see how they'd humor their "amnesiac" patient. Would my mother grab my hand in a panic? Would my husband look at me with worry? Would my son rush over, crying and calling me Mom? What I didn't expect was for them to freeze for a moment—and then, almost in unison, let out sighs of relief. My mother was the first to speak, her tone unmistakably lighter, as if a huge weight had been lifted. "If you don’t remember, it’s probably for the best. This is Lindsay—your sister, she’s my daughter. You were adopted." My husband then pointed at me and said to our son, "You should call her Aunt Wendy." Before the shock could even sink in, I watched the child I'd fought so hard to protect turn and throw himself into the arms of Lindsay. "Mom! I played outside all day. I missed you so much!" So that was the truth. My amnesia was exactly what they'd been hoping for. In that case, I didn't need this made-up life anymore.

Selene's whole world ended the day she walked in on her husband and the man she gave up everything for, cheating with not just anyone but his own step sister. Filled with anger and pain, she decides to drop her usual good girl act and drown her sorrows. What she doesn't expect is that her attempt to forget leads her straight into the clutches of Aries Dimitriou, a reclusive and crazily wealthy man whose eyes were so cold, it sent goosebumps all over her skin. Before she can take a breath, he suddenly proposes a deal. Live in his home, cook and care for his three troubled children and earn a fortune. At first, she wants nothing of such a shoddy deal but the moment she finds that he is the fiancee of none other than the same woman who ruined her life, she accepts it without any hesitation. Now, trapped in a mansion so ridiculously large it seems like a maze, while also surrounded by mean little brats out for her life and an emotionless man whose gaze both scares and makes her body burn, Selene is starting to think that her little petty revenge plot might not be as easy as she thought. As if she doesn't have enough to worry about, she still has to deal with the Dimitriou crazy family members who think their all that just because they are rolling in wealth.

On the day of our engagement, my girlfriend, Jean Sullivan, is nowhere to be found until late at night. Beside myself with worry, I, Seth Lloyd, frantically reach out to our mutual friends and even consider calling the police. Suddenly, I come across a post about her from her assistant, Callum Cox. "My manager came over to discuss some plans, but the door lock suddenly broke. Does this mean we're going to be stuck in the same room tonight? I can't help feeling a little excited." When I like the post, Jean immediately calls me, furious. "Don't you have any idea how much I earn in a year? Just one day of my lost income would cover what you make in a whole week. "All I did was skip that stupid engagement party, and you start acting all snide. I don't have time to deal with your stingy relatives." My mom, Teresa Whitfield, stays silent, her eyes sweeping over the gold, eight sets of haute couture jewelry, and several property transfer deeds in the private room. With a forced smile, she asks, "Seth, have all these wedding gifts we've prepared embarrassed you?" I sneer, caressing the keys to the luxury car I'm about to give Jean. "No, it's me who's being too generous to her."

I'm seven months pregnant when my husband's close female friend, Suzy Ruffalo, invited us to a beach party. The sun is blazing, so I stay tucked under a parasol, quietly scrolling through my phone. Suddenly, Suzy wanders over and swings herself onto my husband's lap. "Hurry up and put the sunscreen on me! Don't just put it on my chest this time. I don't want to wake up tomorrow with my boobs two shades lighter." For a moment, I wonder if I've heard her wrong. My husband, Ted Cohen, casually picks up the sunscreen and starts rubbing it on her chest without hesitation. "Your boobs are tiny to begin with. I'm helping you to make it fairer so that it looks bigger." Suzy slaps his shoulder in annoyance. "How's that your business? You said my bikini area was darker the previous time." The rest of the guys started whistling. When Ted rubs the sunscreen just below her navel, he subconsciously glances at me. However, Suzy grabs his hand and shoves it lower. "Don't worry, Nina. He's touched this area so many times he's immune by now. It's just sunscreen. There's no need to get jealous over this, yeah?" I snort and look away to book a time for the divorce agreement. I will not be jealous, but they're both going to be on the receiving end of my slaps.

I suffered miscarriage when I protected my mate Blake, Alpha of the Storm Pack, from the rogue wolf attack. But I accidentally overheard Blake speaking to our pack healer: "When you heal Luna, find an opportunity to remove her uterus. Make sure she can never get pregnant again." Then a she-wolf took a three-year-old boy into the room and Blake lifted the boy up with pride, instructing the healer: "Create the best training and nutrition plan for my son. I want him to be strong enough to become the heir to the Storm Pack." I recognized this woman. She was Chloe, an Omega who had joined our pack four years ago. And that child—with Blake's eyes and Chloe's smile—was unmistakably their son. I listened as Blake continued to firmly remind the healer: "Also, use the best healing herb——Moonbloom herb to treat Luna. Make sure Luna recovers properly. Don't worry about the treatment costs, I will pay for it personally." The healer looked at Blake in surprise. There is only one Moonbloom herb in the whole pack, and it will cost at least 10 million US dollars. My heart trembled. I never imagined the man who claimed to love me more than life itself would betray me like this. But when I severed our mate bond make way for their love story, the Alpha went crazy.

My boyfriend found my menstruation disgusting and forced me to undergo subdermal implantation. From then on, I no longer had periods and couldn’t conceive. One day, I had a fever reaching 40°C and couldn’t contact him. I went to the hospital alone, only to stumble upon him attending a prenatal checkup with his secretary. He told her: “Baby, don’t worry about Claire. She only listens to me here, doesn’t she?” “We can postpone the wedding for another five years. She’s loyal to me like a dog anyway.” “In the meantime, keep fulfilling your end of the arrangement I’ve promised you.” “Of course, I’ll continue loving you... until I’m tired of you.” My heart shattered. I’d proposed to him 43 times in seven years, only to fail every single time. It turned out he just hadn’t gotten bored of me yet? This time, I decided not to wait any longer. I turned my back on him and agreed to the marriage my mother arranged in the countryside. On the day my ex was supposed to accompany me to try on wedding dresses, he found an empty room and a wedding invitation I left for him to celebrate my marriage to someone else. Panic consumed him as his world fell apart...

Everything is ready on the day of my wedding. But the bride, Adella Marlowe, is nowhere to be seen. That's when she texts me on my phone. Apparently, as a national shooting champion, there's a last-minute competition that she has to attend right away, all consequences be damned. But the next day, I see a social media post uploaded by Raiden Chase, the newest recruit in Adella's team. In the photo, I see Adella with one foot on a dead wild boar while propping her gun with a proud smile on her face. The caption goes, "I'm so glad to have a wife who's also a national shooting champion! Now, Grandma won't have to worry about her corn fields getting attacked by wildlife!" As I stare at the post, I just smile and leave a comment. "As expected of the champion whose heart goes out to the normal folk!" Adella quickly calls me the next moment. "Delete your comment right now! Also, stop being all passive-aggressive around me! It's just a missed wedding; must you be so snide about it?" This isn't Adella's first time leaving me at the altar. It's been two years, and every time she ditches me at the altar, she always has an excuse to do so. I just hang up on Adella without saying a word. She's right, though. This is just a wedding, isn't it? I might as well call it off once and for all.

"It's over between us, honey." I said to Clyde, flinging the divorce papers at him. You don't want to be the bad guy, am I right? Well now, you don't have to worry about who the bad guy is." He watched the papers flutter to the floor, dumfounded. They assumed she was still in a coma and so wouldn't see them. Even if she wasn't, this wouldn't be the first time her dear husband would kiss another woman in her presence. She saw nothing. But the slurps and moans woke her from the state of coma. The raptures and gasps had kept her from resting, and their shivers of pleasure caused a tear to drop from her eye. She collapsed making lunch for him. But here he was, making out with a woman she considered to be her best friend. All she could think of was revenge, and she knew who was perfect for the job. Not only was she going to get back at him, she was going to show her true identity now. She comes out of the hospital with his twins inside of her and left him alone with the realization that his life was about to change forever. Whisked away to a different world, Everleigh finds love in the arms of Clyde's arch nemesis. Love, hate, betrayal, resentment, envy and secret babies. It all started with one good kiss on the wrong lips, and a lot of lies to the wrong ears.

“What do you want, Aria?” I swallow hard, my palms sweaty. “I need to talk to you. About... us.” His look doesn’t alter, and for a second, I worry if he’s just going to walk away again. But he doesn’t. Instead, he straightens up, his gaze never leaving mine. “There is no ‘us,’ Aria,” he replies, his voice flat and cold. I feel a knot building in my throat, but I go forward. “You felt it, didn’t you? The tie between us. You can’t refute it.” He approaches closer, and for a minute, I think I see something flicker in his eyes, something that nearly seems like sorrow. But it’s gone as swiftly as it appeared. “You’re not my mate, Aria,” he replies, his voice tightening. “Don’t fool yourself.” The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I take a step back, my vision fading as the weight of his rejection slams over me. My heart feels like it’s being pulled apart, piece by piece. How can he say that? How can he deny what’s so painfully clear to me? “Damian, I...” I whispered, but he cut me off, his voice colder than ever. “I don’t want you, Aria. You mean nothing to me.” And with that, he turns and goes away, leaving me standing there, crushed.