Lydia kissed Kimberly first. It was graduation night. Eighteen. Terrified. Certain. Kimberly left anyway. For twelve years, they didn't speak. Now, a chance reunion forces them to confront everything they buried - the silence, the pride, the words they never said, and the love that never really left. Lydia has built a careful life, one that doesn't leave room for heartbreak. Kimberly has spent years convincing herself she made the right choice. But proximity has a way of undoing old defenses, and the tension between them isn't just history, it's unfinished. What begins as cautious conversation turns into stolen glances. Late-night confessions. The kind of slow, deliberate intimacy that only two people who have known each other at eighteen, and survived apart, can share. Because loving someone at eighteen is reckless. Loving them at thirty-five is a choice. And this time, neither of them is running. Words We Never Said is a sweeping, emotionally rich second-chance romance about first love, forgiveness, and choosing the person who has always felt like home.

Prompt ​21. You wake from a dream about a perfect faceless soulmate, only to meet someone in real life who feels exactly like them and somehow knows things you've never told anyone. **Still Hearts Beat Deep** Lucia Natalia and Orion "Ryan" Valentino leave Chicago for the sun-soaked promise of Fort Lauderdale - she's chasing a career in marine biology, he's on the verge of a Discovery Channel deal for his nature content. Life is perfect until Ryan vanishes during a solo trip to the Everglades. His car is found. His canoe turns up empty. His body never does. Alone in a state that was supposed to be their fresh start, Lucia is drowning in grief - until the dreams begin. A figure made of light appears to her every night, faceless and warm, asking her what's wrong. She can't remember the full conversations when she wakes, only the feeling of safety and the scent of cashmere and sea salt lingering on her skin. The figure becomes clearer each night. Hands she doesn't recognize. A voice she can almost place. A name he tries to say before she's pulled awake - "Ma-" When she meets Maverick Eris in a Fort Lauderdale restaurant, everything about him feels impossibly familiar. His voice. His hands. The way he knows her favorite dish before she says a word. He's magnetic, wealthy, and carries his own grief - a story about someone he lost, a place he visits to face his fears. He shows her a Florida she didn't know existed. Boat parties and coral reefs and sunsets over Biscayne Bay. He makes the water feel safe again. He even takes her to the Everglades, and for the first time, she doesn't flinch. But behind the penthouse walls and abalone shells and crystals he calls "spiritual," there are rooms Lucia hasn't opened. And when she finally does, the truth waiting inside will rewrite every moment she thought was love. Some hearts were never meant to beat together. Some just beat until they're told to stop.

~If Romeo and Julian had seized sweet revenge instead~ Ethan Hernandez is wrapping up his senior year with one thing waiting after graduation: a throne next to his father in the Necromancer's guild - a minor magical crime syndicate he was carefully guarded from growing up. As a self-taught mage with something to prove, Ethan's ready to get his hands dirty. Jacob Wright doesn't have anything to prove. As heir to a rival clan that doesn't take kindly to the use of death magic, he's already drowning in expectation, command, and blood. He knows how to follow the rules, he just doesn't always care to. Which is about to become a problem for both their fathers. The truce between their families was already wearing thin when Ethan and Jacob finally crossed paths. Then the line between fascination and rivalry started to blur. They were never enemies. But they know how to play the part. The more they circle each other, the more inevitable the clash becomes. They could fall for each other. They could drag their families to hell. *Maybe they won't have to choose.*

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. You can run from home,you can run from your friends and family, you can overcome poverty but you can't run from yourself. Past will hunt you in the most unexpected moment.

For Zaria Evans, Amsterdam University was supposed to be an escape. After losing her mother and watching her father slowly disappear into grief, she took the scholarship and ran, hoping distance could give her peace, or at least a new beginning. Instead, she walked straight into something far worse. What begins as a fresh start turns into a nightmare when Zaria becomes the focus of a psychopathic stalker who is willing to do anything to make her his. What happens when his charming deception masks the truth, a reality that no occupant of room 11C knows? There are three occupants... Though there's only room for two.