Contemporaryfiction Stories

THE HIDDEN DAUGHTER OF THE VANSHVARDHAN. The Vanshvardhans are more than a family. They are a dynasty. With an empire spanning politics, government, and billion-dollar businesses across Asia, the Vanshvardhan name is synonymous with power, prestige, and an unshakable legacy. For generations, they have stood at the pinnacle of influence, believing their family history is complete. Until one little girl changes everything. Seven-year-old Niharika has never known the life she was born into. Raised by her loving mother, Arundhati, she grows up surrounded by love despite a life of hardship. But when Arundhati loses her battle with blood cancer, Niharika is left in the care of her aunt, Deepthi, who vows to fulfill her sister's dying wish. All Arundhati leaves behind is a single name. Yuvraj Vanshvardhan. As Deepthi begins her search, she uncovers a truth capable of shaking one of India's most powerful families. Niharika is not an outsider. She is Yuvraj Vanshvardhan's daughter. A child whose existence has been hidden for years. A secret that could change the lives of everyone in the Vanshvardhan family. Will the family embrace the innocent little girl who shares their blood, or will the truth become a burden too heavy for even the mighty Vanshvardhans to bear? In a world ruled by power, tradition, and family honor, one forgotten daughter is about to rewrite a legacy. Because every family has secrets and some secrets have a heartbeat. Tropes - Hidden Child - Secret Daughter - Billionaire Family - Powerful Family Dynasty - Family Drama - Lost & Found Family - Emotional Reunion - Protective Brothers - Father-Daughter Bond - Grumpy Father, Sunshine Daughter - Found Family - Second Chance at Fatherhood - Slow-Burn Family Acceptance - Family Secrets - Emotional Healing -

An arranged marriage. Two strangers. One home. It should have been simple. It wasn't. Not because of betrayal. Not because of tragedy. But because some truths take years to recognize.

In a ruthless corporate empire, overlooked assistant Lisa is trapped under the control of her cold, perfectionist boss, Jennie Kim. In a world where weakness is never tolerated, can they ever truly escape the roles they've been forced into?

Lisa kept her feelings buried, until Jennie's new boyfriend hit the headlines. Finding out the same time as everyone else. Now she's left wondering... was it all lies, secrets, or something worse?

Power rules everything. Two dynasties at war. Jennie Kim lives in a cage. Lisa Manoban was raised to destroy. They were never meant to meet. They were never meant to love.

What happens when two people fall in love at the wrong time, but somehow, at the right moment? He never believed love needed a reason. She never believed love was enough. Between choices they never expected to make, moments they wish they could rewrite, and a love neither of them knows how to let go of, they slowly discover that sometimes the hardest part isn't falling in love- it's finding a way to stay. A story about love, choices, distance, mistakes, and two hearts trying to find their way back to each other. Somewhere between goodbye and forever... they found each other. - jus_us ❤️

CEMENT Ordinary material. Extraordinary problems. People get stuck. In habits. In relationships. In bad decisions. Sometimes quite literally in concrete. Cement is a collection of dry, absurd and darkly comic short stories about ordinary people caught in situations that become increasingly difficult to explain. A funeral goes wrong. A convoy rolls out like the Wild West. A meeting without purpose. A receipt becomes a record of a life. And sometimes, the best thing to do with a perfectly good piece of concrete is absolutely nothing. Standalone stories. Unexpected situations. Very little sense of escape.

Updates: Every Wednesday & Saturday Naomi has always been the reliable one, the competent one, the friend and daughter and employee who never needs checking on twice. But underneath the composure is a familiar, uninvited cold that arrives without warning, and no amount of managing it seems to make it stay away for good. When she stumbles into an unexpected new hobby, she begins, tentatively, to build a life that includes wanting things again, not just enduring them, and to let a few unexpected people a little closer than she's used to. But healing isn't linear, and the mask she's perfected doesn't come off easily, even for the people who've earned the right to see underneath it. A quiet, intimate story about the weight so many people carry invisibly, and the slow, uneven work of finally letting someone carry it with you. Content Warnings: This story contains themes of depression, emotional numbness, anxiety, isolation, burnout, and ongoing mental health struggles.

Barry believes he ruins the lives of everyone who loves him. Stella believes no one is beyond saving. When tragedy forces their beliefs to collide, only one of them can be right-but discovering the truth may cost them everything.

Caps Lock Daily is an original story about the cast and crew behind a beloved daily gaming and technology variety show as they navigate creativity, nostalgia, and an ever-changing gaming media landscape. While the story draws inspiration from shows like G4's Attack of the Show! and the personalities that made that era so memorable, it ultimately became its own deconstruction and reconstruction of the format, exploring what made these shows special, the challenges they faced, and what it means to let something you love evolve. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it. ❤️

Some loves ask you to change your life. Others ask whether you are brave enough to let someone into it. Miles Suez has spent his life learning the rules of a world that insists it has none. He knows how to belong in the right rooms, say the right things, and make himself indispensable to people who will never quite forget that his family arrived later than theirs. After loss, divorce, and years of carefully rebuilding his life, Miles has become very good at being steady. Controlled. Fine. When he reconnects with Ally Hernandez, neither of them expects how natural it will feel. They have known each other for most of their lives, but this is different. Conversation becomes friendship, friendship becomes intimacy, and before long they are building something neither of them intended to find - something private, tender, and increasingly difficult to imagine losing. For a while, secrecy gives them a world of their own, protected from family expectations, old histories, and the social rules waiting outside it. But the greatest distance between Miles and Ally is not created by the people around them. When fear, grief, or uncertainty become too difficult to control, Miles retreats into himself, convinced that surviving pain means containing it. Ally believes intimacy means something else entirely: not fixing another person's pain, but being allowed to stand beside them while they carry it. As their lives become more intertwined, Miles is forced to confront a question more frightening than whether he loves her: Can you truly share a life with someone if you cannot let them see the parts of you that hurt? The Gravity of Grace is a contemporary love story about intimacy and vulnerability, love and duty, family and inheritance, private truth and public life - and the difference between loving someone completely and allowing yourself to be fully known by them. NEW CHAPTER EVERY SATURDAY.

There was a time Ethan dreamed of an ordinary life. Then, little by little, life took those dreams away. After an accident leaves him recovering far from home, Ethan tries to put himself back together, carrying the weight of heartbreak, unanswered questions, and a silence he can no longer explain. To everyone else, he is simply a quiet boy learning to move forward. But inside him, something has begun. And some silences are not empty at all. Author's Note Thank you for giving The Silence a chance. This is my first book, and sharing this story with you means a lot to me. It is a journey I have created with care, and I hope you enjoy discovering it as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to life. This story unfolds slowly. Every conversation, every silence, every small detail has its place. I only ask for one thing-be patient with Ethan. I hope you enjoy the journey. - Midnight

Six months ago, Josie Buncar survived the unthinkable. Now she's determined to reclaim her life-one painful therapy session, one class, and one cautious step at a time. With Beth steadfastly at her side and a fiercely loyal circle of friends refusing to let her fall, healing finally seems possible. But the past isn't finished with her. Postcards from the woman who nearly killed her begin arriving without explanation. A quiet social worker finds herself drawn into Josie's remarkable circle while fighting battles of her own. Peyton, the friend who hides everything behind a joke, discovers that even the strongest people can't outrun loneliness forever. As old wounds reopen and new relationships begin, each of them must decide whether healing means simply surviving-or learning to live without fear. A heartfelt story of friendship, found family, first love, recovery, and the courage to choose hope, even when the future is uncertain.

Cleo's life ended the night Matthew died. For seven years, he was her best friend, her home, and the future she thought she was guaranteed. They were days away from a trip to Hawaii-where Matthew planned to finally ask her the questions she'd been waiting years to hear. Then he died. Nearly a year later, Cleo is still trapped in the life they were supposed to have. Until a letter Matthew left behind forces her to remember the man he was, not just the way she lost him. With the help of Carol, Matthew's fiercely loving mother, and Kyle, the brother she has spent months shutting out, Cleo begins to discover that grief isn't about forgetting. It's about learning how to live with what remains. But as Cleo slowly finds her way back to herself, the past refuses to stay buried. Because the story everyone believes about Matthew's death isn't the whole story. And sometimes, the truth isn't what saves you. Sometimes, it's what finally sets you free.

She felt it happen. She just didn't know what it was yet. Ten days later she woke up on a train with no destination, a faded Canucks blanket pulled up to her chin, and no memory of how she got there. The train was always moving. The passengers never spoke. The staff had no faces. And then a boy sat down across from her in the dining car and said one word. Finally. UNBOUND is the fourth standalone novel in The Grief Effect Series. Five people. Five worlds. One truth about grief.

"Why am I always so forgiving just to keep you mine? When you don't give me reasons to believe that you want me..." Kymm Averylle Castellanos has always believed that love is about staying, staying through the confusion, the silence, the broken promises, and the pain. She keeps convincing herself that if she loves hard enough, one day Keynne Alister Del Rosario will finally choose her the way she chooses him every single day. But love isn't supposed to make someone question their worth. As misunderstandings, secrets, and countless heartbreaks test their relationship, Kymm finds herself holding on to someone who keeps slipping away. What she doesn't know is that Keynne has been hiding the biggest secret of his life, a secret that he believes will destroy the future they dreamed of together. When the truth finally comes out, Kymm is forced to face the reality she never wanted to accept. Sometimes, loving someone doesn't mean you'll get to keep them forever. In a story filled with unconditional love, forgiveness, sacrifices, and painful goodbyes, Kymm will learn that the hardest person to convince is herself. And maybe... the day she finally stops convincing herself will also be the day she learns how to let go. Because not every love story ends with forever. Some end with a goodbye that lasts a lifetime.

Zara Rinaaz is a plus-size doctor who has spent most of her life learning how to make herself smaller. In dressing rooms. In conversations. In social interactions. And around people who looked at women like her and saw a problem before they saw a person. She has PCOD, a period that shows up roughly as often as a solar eclipse, and a very practiced smile she wears like armour. She is not the girl this kind of story happens to. She's a junior ophthalmology resident with sensible shoes, excellent diagnostic skills, and a very firm policy against complications. Alexander Malhotra is a complication. He is thirty one years old, absurdly handsome, and currently, one of the fastest rising actors in the industry. He's also, unfortunately, her patient. His face stares down at Zara from a luxury watch advertisement on the highway she takes every week to buy groceries - all expensive watches, perfectly undone dark hair, and a jawline unfair enough to deserve its own management team. The Art of Taking Up Space is a slow-burn contemporary romance about self-worth, longing, identity, and what it takes to believe you deserve love without first earning permission to exist.

Twenty-seven voicemails. A box of expired lemon cookies. And nine minutes she can never get back. Eighty-three days after her mother's death, a twenty-four-year-old daughter is still living in the house they shared, surrounded by all the ordinary things her mother left behind. Then Teresa arrives with a box of photographs, and with them, pieces of a woman her daughter never knew existed. Because before she was Mom, Marlene was a sister. A daughter. A sixteen-year-old girl forced from home. A whole person with a life her daughter had never thought to ask about. And somewhere among what remains is one final voicemail. Nine minutes can be nothing. Nine minutes can be everything.

In the sun-drenched lavender fields of Provence, Sophie Moreau has everything a young woman could want-except freedom. Tired of the quiet life on her family's historic vineyard estate, she demands her inheritance early and flees to the glittering chaos of Paris, chasing lights, love, and endless nights. What begins as liberation soon spirals into excess: lavish parties, fleeting romances, and fortunes spent on dreams that fade as quickly as they form. When the money runs dry and the city turns cold, Sophie hits rock bottom-hungry, alone, and haunted by regret. Humbled and broken, she returns home, expecting rejection. Instead, her father runs to meet her with open arms, robes her in honor, and throws a lavish celebration. "My daughter was lost and is found," he declares. But not everyone rejoices. Her dutiful older sister, Elise, who stayed behind to tend the vines and carry the family legacy, watches in quiet fury. Years of loyalty seem overshadowed by one sister's reckless return. A heartfelt tale of grace, forgiveness, family wounds, and second chances, The Prodigal Daughter explores what it means to wander far, fall hard, and discover that love-true, unconditional love-waits at home with arms wide open.

He grew up under the heavy shadow of a ticking clock. Having inherited a terminal heart condition that stole his father at a young age, he spent his childhood watching his mother work grueling double shifts just to keep them afloat. Witnessing her choose a lifetime of lonely widowhood out of pure devotion to his father's memory left a scar on his heart. He swore a solemn promise to himself: he would never be greedy. He would never curse a woman with that lifelong grief, even if it meant dying entirely alone. ​But promises are easily broken when Vanessa walks into your life. ​She makes him forget the countdown in his chest, drawing him into a love so consuming that he makes a costly, irreversible mistake. Now, with his time rapidly running out, he is forced to face the reality of his own mortality and find a way to make things straight before he goes.