Writing Contest Money

After my husband's brother died, he took Miranda, his widowed sister-in-law in. He claimed that he would give me his love—but gave all his money to her. He said that since she had no official status, being with him would make her the subject of gossip, so he took her with him and left me behind in the countryside. Every month, he wrote me three love letters, yet sent all his allowance to her. During the famine, she and her two children sat in a warm little house eating well, while my two children died before I could return from selling my blood. One froze to death, the other starved to death. Later, my husband finally came back, but he didn’t shed a single tear for the children. Instead, he told me he wanted a divorce. "Nathalie, to apply for housing, we need a marriage certificate. It hasn’t been easy for Miranda all these years. I want to give her a home. Don’t worry, even if I marry her, I’ll still divorce her afterward—because you’re the only one I love." In the end, I was devastated and threw myself into the icy river. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my children were about to die. This time, I shook them awake, ready to go reclaim everything that was rightfully mine.

My husband's childhood sweetheart took the Cullinan I gave him for a midnight joyride. One person ended up critically injured. He wired half a million euros from the family account to hire a fall guy, then flew her to Switzerland for a ski trip. I called him from outside the operating room, desperate. "Your father is dying. Authorize the surgery, now!" He laughed, her head on his shoulder in the video call. "Using my father's health to lie? Sofia, you've crossed a line." The line went dead. The heart monitor flatlined. Later, at his father's funeral, he raged, swearing to find the killer and make them pay. I looked at the gathered family elders, then pointed at the trembling woman behind him. "The killer is right there. The one you paid to protect."

Bruce Styles has a thriving career as a field agent in the FBI, a list of women at his beck and call, and great family and friends. His life is perfect until he sets his sights on Margo St. John. After Bruce had ghosted Margo's best friend and stiffed her with an exuberate dinner bill last year, she wanted nothing to do with the playboy. Thinking that if she gives him what he wants he would go away, Margo agrees to go out on a date with him. After dinner – and a one night stand, Margo resumes her life. However, Bruce has other ideas. Margo has a strange effect on him and he can't let it – or her go. When she disappears after Christmas Day, Bruce exploits every resource to locate her. What he finds is more than he bargained for.

I turned out not to be the biological daughter of a wealthy family. In my previous life, I had believed my best friend Vicky’s words and had stormed out on the day the real daughter, Lydia, returned. I never expected my biological father to fall ill with a chronic ailment that drained every bit of the family’s savings. I had nowhere to turn, and I worked day and night until I collapsed while delivering food in the middle of the night. Vicky became close to Lydia, and she used the chance to approach Peter, her brother, so that she could marry into a wealthy family. When I opened my eyes again, I returned to the day I had run away. My foster parents looked at me with worry, and Peter stood with his arms crossed. “You know your biological parents are so broke they can’t even afford food, so are you sure you want to go back and suffer?” In my previous life, they had pleaded with me, and all I had in my head had been Vicky’s manipulation. I had thrown out the words, “I don’t need your filthy money,” and walked away. I set my suitcase down without hesitation this time. I would never leave before I saved enough money.

On our wedding, my boyfriend of five years, Lucas Hunter, is in the middle of sliding the wedding ring onto my finger when a little boy rushes up to him and hugs his leg. "Daddy, please don't ditch me and Mommy!" At that moment, his first love, Isabella Welch, walks over and shows the paternity test report in front of all the guests. "On the night Lucas and I broke up six years ago, I was already pregnant with his child." Lucas' expression changes drastically. He subconsciously glances at me afterward. "I didn't know about this, Vivian!" "Well, you do now," Isabella cuts him off. "By the way, not only am I your son's biological mother, but I'm also the sole daughter of the richest woman in Andaysia." She then shows Lucas something on her phone. The next moment, his gaze becomes passionate immediately. "I've given up on my marriage alliance just to seek you out, Lucas. I am the woman you should be marrying instead of that…" Isabella eyes me up and down. "Instead of that regular corporate slave." Lucas stays silent only for a moment before retracting the ring that has touched my fingertip. Then, he slides it onto Isabella's finger. I can't believe it. Is this really the man I've loved for the past five years?" "Have you thought this through, Lucas?" Lucas leans in to murmur into my ear, "Vivian, once I've secured the major project in the company with Isabella's help and get custody over my son, I'll give you an even grander wedding." I just chuckle icily in return before leaving the altar without even sparing him a glance. After that, I call Alexander Shaw, an admirer who has loved me for ten years, on the phone. "Are you busy? If not, come here and marry me." Then, I turn back to look at the new couple, who are in the middle of making their vows. Isabelle calls herself the daughter of the richest woman in Andaysia, she says. But how is it possible for me to not know that my mom has swapped me out for another daughter?

I'd spent six months saving every penny for prenatal care, but the money vanished overnight. Panicking, I called my fiancé, only to see him on another woman's social media. The man's busy silhouette radiated excitement, with a luxury handbag sitting at the edge of the photo. The caption read: "Mr. Wellington is such a gentleman! Today's happiness starts with snagging the last designer bag at the boutique~" When I came out of surgery, my furious fiancé finally showed up. His first words were an accusation. "Can you stop treating me like I'm on a leash?" "My friend was feeling down, so I bought her a bag and kept her company. What's wrong with that? Why are you so petty!"

On the day of my wedding, I immediately recognized that the masked man before me, Wyatt Sterling, was an impostor. I said nothing. I smiled and went through with the ceremony. This was because, in my previous life, I had exposed the fake groom publicly, forcing Wyatt to return and marry me against his will. That very night, his childhood sweetheart and cousin swallowed gold and took her own life. When Wyatt heard the news, he showed no grief. He cursed her for dying. After our marriage, he treated me with devotion, or so it seemed. I poured money from my family into the failing Sterling family, helping him rise bit by bit. However, on the day I was seven months pregnant, he personally had me dragged to the top of Astraeus Tower, the tallest building in the capital. There was no warmth left in his gaze. "If you hadn't forced me to come back to that wedding, Becky wouldn't have died. "Anna, why should you get to live in peace and happiness? I want you to feel the same despair she felt when she died." Then he pushed me. From that towering height, I fell. My body shattered on impact. Two lives were lost. When I opened my eyes again, I was back there on my wedding day. This time, I pretended not to know and married the impostor. I wanted to see, without the Larson family's wealth behind him, how he planned to save a house already on the brink of collapse.

Kila's world falls apart when she catches her boyfriend, Zane, in a moment of betrayal at a friend's wedding. Heartbroken and furious, she drives away in a haze of emotions, only to crash her car and wake up in the hospital with no memory of the man she once loved. As Kila tries to rebuild her life, Zane is determined to win her back. He proposes a contract marriage, promising to help Kila focus on her art while he escapes the pressure from his family to marry someone - a total lie and a desperate move for Zane to get Kila back.  However, as they settle into a new home, Kila feels a strange connection to Zane, whose caring gestures stir emotions she can’t explain. With each passing day, their bond deepens, but the truth about their past looms over them, threatening to tear them apart. Will Kila's heart awaken to the love they once shared, or will she remain lost in a fog of forgotten memories?

My fiancé, Conrad Reese, fell in love with his secretary, Kelly Dunn, and insisted on breaking off our engagement. I tried to reason with him. "She doesn't have any power behind her; she can't help you become the heir to the Reeses' fortune. You'd be better off keeping her as your mistress." Kelly, feeling insulted, threw herself off a building in front of everyone. Five years later, after he became the heir, the first thing he did was divorce me, destroying my family in the process. "This is what you owe Kelly," he said. I woke up again, and it was my 22nd birthday. Conrad's grandfather asked me what my wish was. "I hope Conrad and Ms. Dunn… will live happily ever after." I bowed slightly and said, "Please, Mr. Jonathan. I hope you'll let me end my engagement with Conrad."

Anastasia Kain and I were childhood sweethearts, but we resented each other for a lifetime. She blamed me for making decisions without her consent. I had awakened her memories and driven her first love to jump off a building. I blamed her for breaking her promise. She once swore she would love me forever, yet after losing her memory, she fell for someone else. We were married, but we lived like strangers who happened to share a roof. However, when I was diagnosed with ALS and the whole city urged her to divorce me, Anastasia carried me on her back and climbed 3,000 steps to reach a cathedral, praying day and night just for me to live a little longer. When the end finally came, she stayed beside my hospital bed all night, her forehead pressed gently against my cheek. In a trembling whisper, she said, "Mason, I've done everything I could for you in this life. If there's a next one, please don't make me remember again. Let me be with him." Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes. Only then did I realize I should never have chained her to me with the love we shared in our youth. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I first found Anastasia. This time, I chose to let her memories stay buried so that the girl I loved could run freely toward the man she had always wanted.