Ongoing editing || Airelle Ezra Rue has mastered the art of isolation to protect her heart from temporary people. But her solitude is ruined when a stubborn STEM student decides to become a constant fixture in her life-whether she likes it or not. He is the ultimate anomaly to her logic. Forced out of her comfort zone, she has to face a question she's been running from: Can a psychosocial person truly achieve self-development while shutting out the rest of the world, or does real growth require the one thing she fears most-connection?

Death was time, curse, or the credence of life. But for Amaris, it was a gift. The last of her love. Before she ended it all, she wanted at least to experience something. An open heart wished. She just tried. And like a gift returned, the man she randomly asked to marry her simply agreed to do so.

*THE WATTYS 2025 SHORTLIST* Cassandra, an engineering student, was orphaned young. Since her parents died, she supported herself and her brother. She took all kinds of jobs to pay for their studies and her brother's medical care. She's cheerful, mischievous, and loving, but she never expected her life to change when she met Zac Miguel Ortega, a professor at her university.