He Qiaoyan

Ariana Cooper stood by Caleb Miller through his rise to success, enduring every hardship life could throw at them. With the wedding just around the corner, she was on the verge of becoming his wife—only to be discarded once she'd outlived her usefulness. To make matters worse, Caleb even handed over the wedding funds as "compensation" to his long-lost first love, who returned with a son in tow. Watching the picture-perfect family of three bask in their happiness, Ariana made a clean break. She returned to her wealthy roots and got engaged to the heir of a trillion-dollar empire in Horghen City. Then the story flips. Ariana reemerges on the global stage as a top-tier designer, dazzling at the world's most prestigious fashion shows—now with a trillion-dollar tycoon husband by her side, the envy of all. Caleb was convinced Ariana—an orphan, hopelessly devoted—was only throwing a tantrum and would come crawling back in time. But as days turned into months, he began to lose it. … Ethan Skye was infamous in elite circles for his icy detachment, a man rumored to harbor a secret love he could never reveal. Ariana understood the rules and never pushed her luck, falling seamlessly into their role as a flawless, if hollow, society couple. One lazy afternoon, Ariana found a sketchbook tucked away in Ethan's private study. She flipped it open—and her breath caught. Page after page was filled with drawings of her. Holding it up, she went to reason with him. "Ethan, and you call this 'not close'?" He bent down, effortlessly scooped her up, and carried her toward the bedroom. "It's not too late to get close now."

Ever since I tied the knot with Connor Steele, he ditched his playboy ways and cut off all his side flings. Everyone thought I had him wrapped around my finger, with our perfect little family. But that all came crashing down on our ninth anniversary when I accidentally saw his group chat with his friends. [Connor, how was that Bentley ride with Ashley yesterday? Pretty wild, huh?] [We tried every spot imaginable. She's totally obsessed with me and can't get enough.] There was a steamy photo of them attached, and the group was blowing up with cheers and congrats, wishing them happiness ever after. I stared at the screen, feeling a sharp stab of pain hit me right in the chest. It turned out that all our happy moments were just a carefully staged performance. I sat there in a daze all night, waiting for him to get home. When he finally walked in with a cake, I let out a cold laugh. "I know everything now. Aren't you sick of faking it?"

In a cycle of broken plans, Elena asks Marcus, "Why another delay for her?" He insists, "Sophia's just a friend in trouble—you're my priority." Whispers of the past test their bond, while a quiet ally says, "I've cared for you longer than you know." As accusations fly—"You're imagining things!"—Elena questions her path. A final decision sparks chaos, rewriting fates.

The campus madonna told my childhood friend that she loved Jackie Chan movies. He tied my arms and legs to four gigantic drones. Monday came by. Right in front of the whole school, the drones hauled me up three hundred feet into the air. The students' laughter was so thunderous, the skies shook. The videos they took went viral. I remained in the air until the drones ran out of battery and flew back down. My childhood friend untied me, grinning like he'd just pulled a harmless prank. "Wendy loves Jackie Chan, so I thought you should give her a little Police Story show. We've been friends our whole lives. You don't mind, do you?" I crumpled to the ground. Wendy Wood was leaning against my childhood friend's chest, and she was laughing so much, tears rolled down her cheeks. "You call that Jackie Chan? She just wet herself!" And she cackled further. I walked off and never came back. That drove my childhood friend mad. "We've been friends forever! You're overreacting!"

When Matteo Ricci threatens to end our engagement for the 100th time unless I take Lydia Capone's place in the famiglia's drug trial, I don't cry or make a scene. I just sign my name on the engagement termination agreement and calmly hand over the man I've loved for eight years to my twin sister. A few days later, Lydia storms the mafia summit like she owns the room, insulting the Pirelli family and daring anyone to stop her. I'm forced to step in and bear the full weight of her chaos. And now they're saying Lydia's body can't handle the trial after all, so they want me, the older sister, to take her place. The moment I agree, my parents smile at me for the first time in years. Even Matteo, who barely notices me, hovers nearby and murmurs, "Don't be afraid. The trial isn't lethal. When you get out, I'll take you for your favorite spaghetti alla Napoletana." But he has no idea that there's a late-stage stomach cancer diagnosis tucked inside my pocket. No matter what horrors the trial holds, he will never witness me walk out alive.

Sheena was just an ordinary housewife. Every day she was busy in the kitchen, washing, cleaning the house, and taking care of her child. Her appearance was unkempt, her body overweight, her face dull, and she always wore thick glasses—and all of that made her husband, Gevan, feel ashamed. Sheena’s life grew even more bitter when Gevan openly held hands with his beautiful secretary. What hurt even more was that their only son, Ghani, actually supported his father. The boy openly said that he was embarrassed to have a mother like Sheena. Insults kept coming, even from her own mother-in-law. But Sheena was not a weak woman. She knew she had sacrificed a lot, and she would not stay silent. When everyone underestimated her, Sheena left and divorced Gevan. “You just wait and see, Gevan! I will make you regret underestimating and mocking me!”

Due to my outstanding work performance, my boss grants me special permission to have flexible working hours. I am out until very late last night meeting a client, and I have only been asleep for a while when a call from my colleague wakes me up. "It's already 9:30 am! Why are you late again today?" I explain to her patiently that I worked overtime last night to finalize things with a client and have them sign the contract, so I won't be going into the office in the morning. My colleague snickers. "You'd better not think that you can skip work whenever you like just because you've achieved top sales in our department. "Today is our boss' son, Mr. Hammond's first day in the office. He might just tell you to pack your things and leave if you were to upset him in any way!" Despite the splitting headache I'm having, I try to recall it in my head. Alex Hammond, the man she's just mentioned, sounds very much like that fiance of mine, who desperately wants to tie the knot with me.

Kapag ang isang tahimik at mahinhing babae ay hindi inaasahang mapadpad sa mundo ng isang propesor na reserbado at malamig sa damdamin, sisiklab ang apoy na hindi nila inakala. Mula sa mga ilang at alanganing pagtatagpo at mga lihim na unti-unting nabubunyag, mamumulat ang isang ugnayang puno ng lambing at tukso. Sa gitna ng mga hindi pagkakaunawaan, halakhak, at mga sulyapang palihim, matutunaw kaya ang kanilang mga puso at mahahanap ang pag-ibig na mas higit kaysa sa kanilang inaakala?

My daughter was born with silver poisoning in her blood—passed down from me—which made it hard for her to sense her wolf, and even harder for her to shift. I worked tirelessly, taking on every job I could, to earn enough money to find a cure for her. One night during a late shift, I saw her. My daughter, dressed like a princess in an elegant, Silverlight-woven gown, sat at a table in a high-end restaurant. With her was my mate—supposedly bedridden and paralyzed—wearing a tailored haute couture suit. Across the table sat the famous she-wolf of our pack, the daughter of a respected elder. They had ordered a lavish dinner, the bill totaling over $500,000. After the meal, I overheard my mate ask our daughter, “You remember how to tell the story, right?” She nodded and replied, “Yes. I’ll tell Mom we were working as werewolf junk collectors all night, collecting waste paper crates, and in the end, we only earned enough to buy half a loaf of bread.” My mate smiled, pleased with the answer. The she-wolf then gifted my daughter an entire collection of newly released moonstone jewelry. Before they left, my mate tipped each waitress $5,000. I stood frozen, tears falling as the truth shattered my heart: my mate—and even my beloved daughter—had been lying to me. Even in dormancy, my wolf mourned. A colleague saw me crying and asked what was wrong. I forced a smile and said, “I’m just happy. I got $5,000 tonight. It would’ve been even better… if it hadn’t come from my mate, the one who’s supposed to be paralyzed and lying in bed.” No one knew what I had sacrificed to be his mate. I waited for an apology. But it never came. So I made my decision. I called my father—the one who had been waiting all these years for me to return as his heir. When I disappeared from their lives, just as they had always secretly wished... That’s when they finally began searching for me across the world.

While I try on various wedding rings, my fiance, Don Demetrio Farese, who has tagged along, suddenly snatches the ring from my fingertip. "You already lost a finger, Lucia. The ring will look ugly on you. Carlotta, on the other hand, looks beautiful with a ring on her finger." Then, Demetrio fishes out a photo featuring him sinking down on one knee while sliding a ring onto Carlotta Rini's finger. My chest tightens. "What are you trying to say?" "Let Carlotta wear the wedding ring. You've already lost a finger anyway—you don’t need it." Pain slowly spreads from my chest to the rest of my body. For a moment, I almost lose my balance. The truth is, Demetrio's mortal enemy is the one who severed my finger by shooting at it. Back then, I only got shot because I had shielded Demetrio from the bullet.