Finding light in the darkest places—through love - Chapter 26 – Embracing the Spotlight

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

The cousin that Jing Huan has been closest to since he was a child was labelled as “the other woman” in a certain popular online game: only after devoting herself did she know that the other party was a jerk with a girlfriend.

After several days of being bullied online by people in the game, his cousin went abroad in a fit of anger and sorrow.

Jing Huan couldn’t take this lying down; he decided to take revenge for his cousin using the same method as that guy – buy a character in game and kill that slag guy thousands of times online.

With his strength and skill as the Great God when the game was first launched, wouldn’t he be able to kill that guy and force him to quit the server in minutes?!

He went online, eager to fight, but made a discovery after conducting a round of investigations — this slag guy was the number one DPS server-wide, number one on the expert ranking list, number one on the wealth ranking list, number one on the popularity ranking list, and number one on the fame ranking list.

Conclusion: Can’t screw him over.

Jing Huan felt despondent. He was just about to give up when he personally witnessed his dormmate’s online relationship end right after meeting each other in real life. The other party had sent fake photos and changed their voice, and had even cheated him of his money, triggering his dormmate so much that he was almost admitted to a hospital.

Jing Huan felt enlightened as a sudden realisation dawned on him. After comforting his roommate, he moved the high-priced voice changer back to his rented house overnight.

- Description from Novelupdates

A gigantic mouth appeared in the sky and swallowed the entire Earth, scattering the shattered fragments everywhere.“Welcome to the Myriad Heavenly Hunting Grounds, your talent is the Lord's Cottage.”Earthlings received the developmental ability called Lord's Cottage, beginning their struggle for survival in the Myriad Heavenly Hunting Grounds.Fang Jie, holding the initial item 'Faction Conversion Command', gently tapped on the undead faction. Starting with the undead fission talent, he could make his subordinate undead split and increase in value, and the talent could also be upgraded.

Xia Xiqing: I like you a lot.

Zhou Ziheng: Don’t suffer from Laozi.jpg

However, within three seconds’ appearance at a press conference, his beauty made him debut in the C-position as Zhou Ziheng’s fan, and together with his idol went trending online, on a reality show, on… Yes, it’s as you think.

But it’s not as Xia Xiqing thought.

He thought he was fishing for the alpha of the entertainment industry, only to find out after peeling off the image he displays in public that he was an innocent tsundere as naive as a primary schooler. He thought it was a script about “I slept with my idol”, but in the end it became “my idol slept with me”.

Exciting [lights a cigarette]

Xia Xiqing: Didn’t you hate me the most? Why are you hugging and not letting go?

Zhou Ziheng: You smell good.

Playboy and Alpha with the face of an angel Shou vs Aggressive but innocent Angel Gong

- Description from Novelupdates