Wattpad - by httpsbelladonna

Afterglo

May 2026. The country is burning. With the government locked in a systemic war and the economy crumbling under the weight of historic corruption, twenty-three-year-old Liwayway spends her days on the streets. As a volunteer street medic and activist, her goal is simple but impossible: to fight for a country she refuses to give up on. Her boyfriend, Cielo, has a different plan. Exhausted by the endless cycle of poverty and political circuses, his only goal is to leave. To him, patriotism is a trap, and Liwayway's activism is just useless noise drowning out their future. As the political climate reaches a violent boiling point, their condo becomes a battleground of two opposing survival instincts. Liwayway is willing to bleed for the country; Cielo is willing to abandon it. But when the violence of the streets finally shatters the pristine silence of their home, Cielo will have to face the devastating reality of his apathy. What is the cost of looking away? And what happens when you finally understand the fight, but the person who fought for it is already gone? Content Warning: This story contains themes of political violence, systemic corruption, grief, and death. It reflects the intense societal stress of a country in crisis, including scenes of violent protest dispersals. Please read with care. If you require support regarding navigating intense societal stress, please reach out to local mental health resources.

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Afterglo

The Riverbank Killer

Mash spent six months hunting the notorious Riverbank Killer, meticulously tracking his patterns and profiling his twisted mind. She thought she was one step ahead of the police. She didn't realize she was walking directly into his trap. Waking up in a heavily fortified, inescapable mountain cabin, Mash discovers the monster she's been hunting is none other than Svien-the quiet, angelic-faced architecture student from her university. But Svien didn't kidnap her to silence a witness. He kidnapped her because he's obsessed with her brilliance. Viewing his murders as "art" and Mash as the only "profiler" who truly understands him, Svien wants a partner. Now, trapped in a deadly game of domestic bliss with a psychopath, Mash must play along to survive. How far will she have to bend her own morality to outsmart a mastermind who has been watching her for years?

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The Riverbank Killer

The Black Card Rule

Lily Vance has lived a charmed university life. Four years ago, when she packed up for college, her protective older brother tucked a sleek, heavy titanium black card into her planner with a sticky note: For unli-use. Don't starve. - N And Lily didn't starve. She bought lattes, textbooks, plane tickets, and exactly four dozen Sephora hauls. She thought her brother's tech startup was just doing incredibly well. But when Lily comes home for graduation and marches into the billiards room to properly thank her brother for funding her college survival, the truth comes crashing down. Her brother never had a black card. The card belongs to his best friend. Declan Rhodes is the newly minted, two-hundred-million-dollar franchise quarterback for the Seattle Sea-Hawks. He is arrogant, massive, notoriously private, and has spent the last four years quietly funding the life of the only girl he's never been allowed to touch. Now, Lily owes the most dangerous man she knows exactly $142,000. Declan doesn't want her money. He wants her. And he's finally calling in the debt.

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The Black Card Rule

The Cut That Always Bleeds

"I don't love you anymore." Those were the five words Silas told Maeve two months ago. It was a pretty line she's heard before. For the past two years, Silas has kept her on a leash-leaving when he pleases, loving somebody new, and coming right back to Maeve the second his heart gets beaten black and blue. Maeve is determined to make her junior year of college different. She has a new apartment, a new focus on her art major, and a fierce resolution to never be the kiss that Silas doesn't need again. But when a frantic 2:00 AM knock at her door reveals a shattered Silas begging for her to kiss his bruises until they're gone, Maeve's carefully constructed walls begin to crack. With her heart on the line and a golden-retriever classmate named Hayes offering her a glimpse of what healthy love actually looks like, Maeve is forced into a corner. She must decide if she is willing to endure another heart attack for the boy she needs like the air she breathes, or if she can finally stop being the cut that always bleeds.

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The Cut That Always Bleeds

Oceans & Engines

My mother always said the younger me was a pretending prodigy. She was right. When Elias boarded a plane to London a year ago, taking my entire heart with him, I didn't break down. I stuck to the screenplay. I smiled, I waved, and I told him we would be fine. Since then, I've plunged into all kinds of diversions. I fill my nights with blush wine, sonorous soirées, and the surging adrenaline of playing my music for crowded rooms in Los Angeles. I am the picture of a girl who has moved on. I tell everyone I'm okay, even as my soul gets sicker. Because the truth is, my pillar crumbled down the second his airplane took off. But I'm finally ready to let go. I'm ready to give up his ghost, write my last song about him, and start up my own engine. Until I walk into a crowded industry party, and my eyes lock onto a pair of beguiling sepia eyes I haven't seen in 365 days. Oceans and engines couldn't keep him away forever. Elias is back. And the boy who was mine just yesterday is staring at me like a complete stranger.

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Oceans & Engines

Two Augusts Ago

Two Augusts ago, Harper told Julian a harsh truth that shattered them. He drove away in his Benz; she slammed the gate and pushed away the best thing that ever happened to her. Now, they're both twenty-one and back in their hometown for one last summer. Harper has a habit of laughing when she's sad, making everything about herself, and staring at the crash of her own life. Julian is guarded, successful, and seemingly completely over her chaos. When a late-night, impulsive joyride down his street leads to an unexpected face-to-face encounter, Harper realizes she hasn't kicked the age-old curse of wanting him. With the end of summer looming-he's catching a plane to a new life, and she's staying behind-Harper must fight her own selfish instincts to prove she's no longer the girl who ruins everything. But when old sparks reignite and the lines blur, is a simple apology enough to heal the damage?

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Two Augusts Ago