Upstart Pastry Chef ~Territory Management of a Genius Pâtisserie~ - Volume 2 - Chapter 26

Elaine Monroe never meant to fall in love with him. She never meant for her heart to betray her like this. But as she watches him stand beside another, hand resting on the waist of the woman he’s meant to be with, she wonders if she was always destined to be the outsider.“You knew,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “You knew how I felt.”His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t deny it. He never does.“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he finally says.She laughs bitterly. “I know.”Loving him was always impossible. He belonged to someone else. To his family’s expectations. To a future where Elaine had no place.“Forget whatever you think you feel,” he tells her, voice firm, but there’s something unspoken in his eyes—something that makes it hurt even more. “It will never happen.”And yet, his gaze lingers, just for a second too long.Then there’s her best friend—the one who stands beside her when the world turns its back. The one who sees her pain without asking.“You don’t have to do this to yourself,” he says, handing her his jacket on a cold night. “You deserve more than waiting for someone who will never be yours.”She wants to believe him. She wants to move forward. But some loves are impossible to forget. Some wounds never truly heal. And some desires, no matter how forbidden, refuse to die._____“loving him best decision i ever made” Elaine“you are my world”

Due to an unexpected turn of events, Xia Fei consumed a Super Gene Optimization Fluid that bore no brand, expiry date, instructions or stated its place of origin.
Our story begins here…

Adventures of a reincarnated Old Man who died saving a kid who was about to get hit by a Truck. Reborn as the son of Duke DragonHeart, AshBorn being a unique individual with Dragonblood and elf blood in his veins he spends his childhood training with dragons and spirits of the world tree goes out into the world to adventure and climb the tower, traveling to different planets,learning the secrets of the universe as he fights an evil unknown enemy, in a perfect way of course

What happens when you survive seven hellish years on an alien planet in the ultimate battle of the strongest in the universe—as a human?What happens when you give everything you have and more to defeat the final boss in a battle to the death… only to wake up the next second, back at day one?Going through it all over again?But something is wrong.The game in his hands isn’t Nyxfall 6: Dark End, the world he spent over seven years surviving. It’s Nyxfall 7: The Veilbreakers—the next installment.He won? So now he’s been given another game to play?And he’s not alone. There are others like him in every alien civilization. This time, it’s not just survival—it’s about who can lead their people best.That is… if they even care about their people at all.Why bother leading at all? With everything they have learned, why not exploit the system, amass unimaginable wealth, and live like a king in a game that pays in real money?