Las Vegas. Now I know why it is named the city of sins. While on a business trip, I drunk-married my boss. Drowning in tequila and the lust for the hots for my boss seemed like the best idea on my week off. There was no undoing except that my boss didn't do soulmates, fate, and marriage. Especially an impromptu one. Very well I didn't do it either. I had a list to tick it all. Many more cities to still visit. Although I never got to know why one would name their hotel REVERIE but joining as their art curator was such a daydream. And no fool would risk it all. Love or lust. Doesn't top the race. Nothing much changed until his ex thought it was the right time to claim a fine man back. Making things difficult in extravagance was her memo. The only hitch in my perfectly webbed play to not acknowledge this marriage was when she tipped it off to the enemy. With those damn wedding photos. Which I thought didn't exist until now. That is when our undone becomes the only lie that can save the Reverie in Venice. [MONDAY & THURSDAY Updates!] #ONC2023 Prompt Number 39: On a blind date with a complete mismatch, you're increasingly uncomfortable but too polite to leave. Then an attractive stranger comes over and gives you an out.

ONC Prompt #45: You call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest. - Taylor Swift, All Too Well. Elise is in love with Andy. She is. As time passes and they grow closer and closer, she starts to wonder if maybe, just maybe, this is the right thing. Something feels off, but she's too scared to pick at the corner and peel off the facade to find out if she's right. What once was light-hearted laughter and a magnetic attraction that made the world around her glitter like magic, is beginning to turn into something else - something she's terrified of.

Harley had a bright future ahead of her, but that dream died a long time ago. ***** Harley vowed she would never return to the city that broke her heart, but old wounds never stop hurting if you keep poking at them. When the phone rings, the city stops, and she's summoned back, she discovers some doors are better left closed. Those you open might never be locked again. ***** WARM HANDS #0.5 Open Novella Contest 2023 -- prompts 42, 45, & 69 [[OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2023 ROUND 2 WINNER]] © 2023 caterina george // all rights reserved