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I CAN'T HELP IT
Last Updated:
2025-03-22 00:29:27
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PRETEND PRINCESS TRAPPED WITH YOU
Yuki's pov Listen! It was a heat of the moment thing, okay?! And now I don't know what the fuck to do!"Lily was wheezing for real. "Oh my—oh, this is gold. This is better than any of my dramas!""Lils, I called you for help, not to be a laughingstock!""Oh honey, you were already a laughingstock."I groaned. "You're useless.""Oh please, you love me. Now, aside from your terribly messy sex life—""I don't have a sex life.""—How's the trip? And before you say anything, Grandpa and Suzu are doing great. Roman actually remembered me today. Whole two minutes before he asked where you were."My heart constricted. "He did?""Yeah. Said he had a dream about you running around in a dress or something."I paused. "Uh. weird.""Mmmhmm. And Suzu? He peed in my shoes. Again."I snorted. "Atta boy."Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. But seriously, Yuyu, what's your plan?"I sighed. "I don't know, Lils. I really don't.""Well, whatever you do, don't fall for him.""…Yeah. Of course not.""Yuyu.""Goodnig
Last Updated : 2025-03-22PRETEND PRINCESS FREEDOM
Warm fingers touched mine.A shiver ran up my spine as Creed’s grip tightened, pulling me up slowly, carefully, as if afraid I’d slip. His hand lingered, his thumb ghosting over my wrist before letting go.The air between us felt charged, the darkness making everything more intense.I took a cautious step back, only to bump into a table. His chuckle was quiet but there, curling in the air between us.“You okay?” he asked."Peachy." My heart wasn't, but my voice was firm enough.The room was smaller. The blackness dragged time out, each second lasting forever. I could hear him move, feel his movements in the air.Then—his voice.Lower this time."What's freedom to you?"The question made me stumble. "What?""Freedom." Pause. "What does it mean to you?"I furrowed my brow, the conversation more intense than I'd expected."I don't know…"I dangled there. "Being able to do what I want, I suppose. Without fear."He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice sounded reflective. "I use
Last Updated : 2025-03-22PRETEND PRINCESS BACK TO REALITY
Yuki’s POVIt was Sunday.Which meant—thank fucking God—the resort was over.No more Creed. No more Steve. No more running around trying to avoid my boss while simultaneously losing my mind over him.I should’ve felt relieved.I wasn’t.It was two days since I last saw him. Two days of acting like I didn't wait for the unfortunate coincidence of running into him. Two days of trying not to recall the taste of his lips, the way his hands wrapped around me, the way his voice softened when he said my name.I missed him.The realization curdled my stomach because—what was wrong with me?I was being put under some kind of spell. That was the only rational explanation. Because no rational human being would be pining for the presence of a man who was probably sleeping with his fiancée and playing with me simultaneously.I swept up my things and followed my teammates to the car we waited for, relieved for the distraction. Time to go back to the real world. Time to remember whatever stupidity h
Last Updated : 2025-03-23PRETEND PRINCESS BE BETTER
Creed's POVI held onto Zara and dragged her into her house. She was obviously on something—I just had no idea what.The entire drive back, she had been acting off, like she was drunk. The answer was staring me in the face, hovering on the edge of my mind, but I didn't want to believe it. There was no way she hid something from Chicago to the resort.Someone had to have given it to her.And I was positive sure it was that stupid surfer guy, Steve. He was the type of guy who drank anything he could get.When we got to the door, I looked down the driveway. No car.Her mom wasn't home.I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't want her to worry. Hell, I didn't even want her to know I was home.This was when I was going to inform Zara that I was calling off the wedding.But it seemed like that was not going to happen tonight.She clung to me, rambling incoherently—words tumbling together, spilling apart, not coherent.I had to grip her, because if I released her, she'd get herself killed or s
Last Updated : 2025-03-23PRETEND PRINCESS BIRTHDAY MELTDOWN
Yuki’s POVI had never planned a party this hard before.Actually, scratch that—I had never planned anything this hard before.I sprinted across the community center's event hall, dodging a tray of drinks, repairing the banner that was slipping off the wall, and then rushing towards the old record player we'd borrowed to make sure it was working. The music had to be perfect. The food had to be perfect. The decorations had to be perfect.Because tonight wasn't just any night.Tonight was Grandpa Roman's birthday.And I was going to make sure it was going to be awesome.Lily was already on the job, floating around the room in the prettiest dress I'd ever seen her wear—a light lilac-colored thing that made her look forebodingly dateable. She had a tray of drinks in hand, smiling at the older visitors, making sure they were alright. An angel.And of course, because she looked like an angel, some dude had already started circling around her.I side-eyed the dude—a tall, broad-shouldered du
Last Updated : 2025-03-24PRETEND PRINCESS IT'S NOT OK
Yuki's POV"It's okay, Grandpa! Everything will be okay," I pleaded, clutched his trembling hands as he struggled, his eyes desperate with something besides rage—despair.It wasn't.Roman's face twisted, veins bulging on his temples as he tugged on the tablecloth, plates shattering to the ground. Short, rasping gasps were his breathing. "Lori! Come home now! Come home!" His voice cracked, raw and pleading, as if he believed he could call my mother back from the dead by yelling her name."Grandpa, please!" My voice cracked too, but for an entirely different reason. Pain. The kind that wrapped around your ribcage and refused to let you catch your breath. He didn't recognize me. I wasn't his Yuki then. I was just another name in a cloud of remembered nothing.Lily hurried swiftly, herding the guests. "Everyone, outside." Her warm smile was never there tonight, instead being usurped by one of urgency as she ushered out the flabbergasted elderly guests.Gym Bro, or the guy who'd been flirt
Last Updated : 2025-03-24PRETEND PRINCESS EVERYTHING HURTS
Zara's pov"Creed, no, it's not alright." I shook my head, gripping my fork a little more tightly. "I don't like it when everything feels so tight between us. The way we aren't close anymore like we used to be. I don't like it when you put me on this 'you might break' pedestal."He stiffened but said nothing.I breathed in deeply and cut my pancake, bringing the chunk to my mouth. As soon as it hit my tongue, I softly moaned, closing my eyes for an instant. "God, why are these so good?"Creed snorted a little laugh, but I knew it was fake.I opened my eyes and gazed into his. "I don't want you to worry about me that way, Creed. Not like I'm some delicate thing you have to tiptoe around. I know I screw up. I know I do crazy things sometimes, but I don't want it to be this—this burden between us."I put my fork down."We're going to get married soon."Creed's jaw tightened."And I don't enjoy the thought of us not being on the same page," I continued. "I don't want to be with someone wh
Last Updated : 2025-03-25PRETEND PRINCESS MEMORIES BOUND TO ME
Creed's POVZara's lips trembled, her breath catching as she shook her head."You're a precious gem," I whispered. "And gems are supposed to be adored, not neglected by someone who doesn't know their value."For a second, I thought she'd break. That she'd cry. That she'd say she knew.Instead, she laughed. A cold, empty sound."It's you, isn't it?" she whispered, her voice biting and accusing.I frowned. "Zara—""Don't fucking lie to me, Creed," she spat, fists knotting at her sides. "It's him, isn't it?!"My brows furrowed. "No, this is about us—""It's him! Roman!" Her voice rose, shrill and cracking with emotion. "I knew that bitch was going to get in my way!""Zara, stop." I reached out to catch her, but she shoved me off, eyes blazing with hurt."All this time," she seethed. "You never loved me, did you? You never wanted this! After everything we've been through, I—" Her voice broke, and she swallowed. "We deserve to be together! You deserve to be with me!""Zara—"She slapped me
Last Updated : 2025-03-25
Latest chapter
PRETEND PRINCESS ALL ALONE
Yuki's POVTwo weeks.That's 20,160 minutes. Twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes of pure torture.I'd texted Creed so much. Too much, really. Sorrys I couldn't phrase correctly first, things I didn't have the courage to tell him out loud before, little things I knew he didn't want to hear. I texted anyway, hoping for a crumb of a reply.But there was nothing. No dot. No word. No fucking breath.So I made up my mind. I'd made it up the day everything went wrong—the day everything went in the opposite direction of my plans, like some sick cosmic joke. I was leaving New York. Done. Finito. Finished.Lily hadn't called me for two weeks either. It was as if my world had burst wide open, and I stood in the middle of a great emptiness. Grandpa Roman… two weeks of nothing from him too. Two weeks of not hearing his shaking, bewildered voice, of not chasing after him when he got me mixed up with my mother. Two weeks alone, tearing myself apart, living on my own regrets.I was complet
PRETEND PRINCESS THIS ISN'T YOU
Creed's POVTwo weeks.Fourteen days.20,160 minutes.I knew because I counted them. Every goddamn one of them.It's ironic that you know exactly how you feel about someone after 20,160 minutes of silence. No calls. No texts. No presence. Nothing. Just a void where they used to be. The only sound was my own breathing and it had started to get under my skin. My house was worse than my head. Clothes scattered everywhere. Empty bottles. Shattered frames. A grime mountain I could barely bring myself to look at — and still, I hung around there, festering amidst it like some wounded beast.I hadn't left for the office in two weeks. Fourteen days. No one had tried calling anymore. No one knocked. Not since the third day when I ripped the doorbell off of the wall and hurled it out of the window. My stubble was heavy. I barely recognized the face staring back at me in the mirror the occasional time I made the mistake of looking.I flopped onto the bed, blankets that smelled like sweat and guil
PRETEND PRINCESS EVERYTHING HURTS
Yuki's POVI did not know what to do with this. With him. With this. miserable life. Grandpa Roman was bleeding — his hand was slashed open, red spreading onto the floor and Lily's voice disintegrating in horror as she ran left and right. Everything appeared to be unfolding too fast and too slow all at once. The glass, the blood, Suzu's frantic barking, the aching in my chest. My head was an absolute, overwhelming void."Yuki! Grab the first aid kit, now!" Lily screamed.My legs barely worked. I was stuck there, agape, like my brain couldn't wrap around it. Like I couldn't wrap my head around how fast everything disintegrated. One second he was just standing there, screaming at my mother, the next glass was shrouding everything, blood on his wrist, and the fragile reality I was pretending to hold together had broken completely."Yuki!"I jumped and ran for the kit.Lily was pressing a towel over his palm, speaking reassuringly to him but he wouldn't stop struggling, calling out for la
PRETEND PRINCESS REMIND HIM
Zara's POVI was furious. No — furious didn’t even begin to cover it. I was livid, seething, burning so hot I thought my skin might melt off my bones.After everything I did, after everything I exposed… Creed didn’t even react.I expected rage. I expected him to throw that lying, pathetic excuse of a human being out of the building. I expected him to grab me by the arm, pull me aside, demand to know how I found out, maybe even slap me, shake me, fire me, break something — anything.But nothing happened.He stood there, looking like a statue, his eyes void of any of the fire I’d always loved seeing in him. There was no anger, no betrayal, no disgust, not even pain. Just a flat, hollow emptiness.It made me sick.He should’ve done something.I stormed into my mother’s office, slamming the door so hard a frame rattled against the wall.“Mom,” I snapped, pacing the floor like a caged animal. “He didn’t even react.”My mother barely lifted her gaze from her tablet, calm as always. “What a
PRETEND PRINCESS END IT WITH TEARS
Yuki’s POVI felt heavy. So heavy.Like my whole chest had been filled with cement, and someone left me sinking at the bottom of some endless, dark ocean. I laid there, my back flat against my tiny mattress, staring up at the ceiling like it could explain why everything had gone so wrong. My mind was… nothing. A complete abyss. Blank.I couldn’t think.I couldn’t feel.I couldn’t even see properly — everything looked foggy, like my eyes had turned into glass.It felt like a dream.A dream I’d spent years carefully stacking, one fragile piece at a time, and today it just… cracked.Shattered.And in the fallout, I couldn’t even tell where my heart used to be.Why?Why did it have to go down like this?Why did I let it happen?I planned to run, to leave before anyone really got hurt.I never wanted to break anyone.Not him.But it hurt… it hurt so much because I saw it in his eyes — Creed, that mixture of confusion and betrayal and something way worse — like I wasn’t even human to him an
PRETEND PRINCESS YOU DON'T ALWAYS KNOW
Creed’s POVHow could I be so goddamn stupid?The question kept looping in my head like a song you hate but can’t stop hearing. It was there in the way my stomach twisted, the tightness in my jaw, the way my fists clenched at my sides like I could punch the thought away.YuYu Roman.What a fucking joke.Except it wasn’t a joke. It was my life. My embarrassment. My shame.He wasn’t a she.Not even close.And the worst part wasn’t the lying — it was how it made me feel. How kissing him felt good. Too good.Soft lips, warm breath, the way my heart had stumbled in my chest like it didn’t know better. Like it wasn’t supposed to feel disgusted. And when his hand had brushed against my cheek — so light, so tender — something inside me had cracked open, a small flicker of warmth I didn’t think existed anymore.And now?Now it felt like filth under my skin.A goddamn stain.I could still feel it.Still taste it.I wanted to throw up.How could you be so blind? How could you be so easy? So… des
PRETEND PRINCESS SEE YOU AGAIN
Lily's POVThe supermarket smelled of tomatoes, discount floor cleaner, and something sweet baking in the next aisle. I was supposed to be focusing — carrots, lettuce, and a little garlic for Grandpa Roman's soup — but my eyes kept drifting towards the ice cream aisle like a church sinner.I could almost feel the chill tub of chocolate fudge ripple in my hand. One. I could push it into the cart, under the pile of health food. No one would notice. No one had to know.But then my chest tightened.Grandpa.His face flashed before me — pale, confused, his eyes fogging over in those moments when he didn't even know my name. He was declining. The seven hours a day I could care for him between work, errands, and sleep were no longer enough. He needed constant care… and I was failing.I swallowed the guilt and picked up a bag of spinach when something sharp, something intimate hit my nose. A scent. New cologne, with something masculine and citrus notes. My airway stopped.It couldn't be.Not
PRETEND PRINCESS HURT LIKE HELL
Yuki's POVThe world shattered.Not figuratively. Not in some poetic, theoretical way. It shattered in hard, harsh, calculating pieces like a glass grenade primed to explode the moment I walked into that conference room.the screen kept flashing A video.My video.The one I made six years ago.Me.In a dirty little room, in front of a shattered mirror with my real voice.With my short hair.With my name.Yuki Roman.I felt my stomach cave in, my chest tightening like a vice. My heartbeat was loud — frantic, erratic, like it wanted to run out of my body without me.My secret — the one I’d carried like fine glass — was smashed wide open, spilled on the floor like blood.I couldn’t breathe.The silence in the room was a suffocating thing. Eyes. All of them. On me.Jacob’s grip on my elbow tightened. His glasses fogged up.Then a voice cut through.Creed.Cool. Commanding. Steady as steel.“Zara. You’ve done enough. Get out.”The whole room flinched.Even Zara stumbled, her confident mas
PRETEND PRINCESS EXPOSED
Creed's POVThe conference room gradually filled — a steady stream of confused, concerned, half-irked employees abandoning their workstations because of one woman's behavior. Zara's voice had echoed loudly through the intercom a few minutes prior, her voice crisp, authoritative, impossible to ignore:"Everyone, report to the conference room immediately. This concerns the integrity of the company and your future. Move."It was the kind of tone that would get your blood cold for a second — not because she was dominant, but because she sounded like she was going to burn the whole building down.I walked towards her, fighting through the growing crowd, my heart thudding against my flesh. Something made the air heavier, and tension wrapped around everyone's neck like a vine. And she was there — Zara, standing directly in front of the main presentation screen as if it belonged to her, her face pulled tight with that same self-satisfied smirk I remembered all too well."Zara," I stated my vo
