Adulting Stories

[POETRY #2] A collection of poems about growing up before feeling ready. twenty-something explores the realities of adulthood, the exhaustion hidden behind independence, the loneliness of becoming, and the pressure to keep moving even when life feels uncertain. Through soft and reflective poetry, this collection captures the in-between phase of navigating dreams, responsibilities, changing relationships, and the version of yourself you are still learning to become. For anyone who has ever felt lost, left behind, or overwhelmed by the weight of growing up: this book is a reminder that you are not navigating life alone. twenty-something written by: syrynah © All Rights Reserved

Anja Serafin is stuck at being 17. After almost four years of full-time confinement at home due to pandemic. Now that the lockdown is no longer enforced in their community she is having trouble reconnecting and continuing her life outside the four corners of her comfort zone. Her last role she remembers is being a twelfth grader applying for multiple university admissions. Without doubt, the world did not ever stop revolving, and her present-time return is supposedly the beginning of her fourth year in college. Anja know she cannot simply take up where she left off. When she feels like her life has an obvious time jump from pre-pandemic to post-pandemic. She is still adjusting to what is in front of her and preparing for whatever lies ahead. While also trying to understand what happened during the years her timeline seems to have skipped. She must take steps to live her life, and the only allowable direction is forward. The first step for Anja to make things happen is acceptance. Truly easier said than done, as it also gets her tangled up in being a mother to a five-year-old boy.

Aadhya did everything right-studied, tried, waited. But two years later, she's still stuck. Not because she has no choices... But because every choice feels too heavy to make. While everyone else moves forward, she's left questioning herself, her path, and her pace. This isn't a story about having it all figured out. It's about feeling lost, overthinking everything... and learning to move forward anyway. Sometimes, you're not behind. You're just still becoming.

This is not a romance story, a horror story, or any genre people usually think of when they hear the word "story." This is my life story. And no, I'm not successful. These pages are filled with my daily thoughts, realizations, untold stories, regrets, and the endless scenarios created by my own overthinking mind. Some moments were my fault, some were lessons, and some are still things I'm trying to understand. You can think of this as a public diary - a collection of thoughts I was never sure I should share, yet somehow ended up writing anyway. I don't know where my thoughts will lead me. I simply let them run wild.

Nika thought life would be simple. She imagined she would graduate, get a job, fall in love, and live happily ever after. Pero hindi pala ganoon. Instead, she learned what heartbreak feels like, what burnout feels like, and what it means to start over. At twenty-six, she's still trying to figure things out. Maybe life isn't about knowing all the answers. Maybe it's about discovering what everything feels like.

Maraiah Jecelle Guzman and Kael Dela Vega have been inseparable ever since they were kids. They always got each other back. Their bond deepened as they grew up, blossoming into something more than just friendships. MJ is in denial about her feelings. Kael, on the other hand, was scared to confess his feelings, thinking that it would ruin their perfect friendships. A tragedy happens that changes MJ. Seeing those changes, Kael couldn't stand by and watch. He knew he had to help her clean up the stain in her heart left by her parents sudden deaths. But how could he do that? How could he save her without revealing the secret he'd kept hidden for so long?

Ava Kingston didn't move to Seoul to be anyone's prize-she came to build a life in her own silhouette. On day one, two very different boys notice: Seo Jihoon, a composed model‑actor with a smile that quiets rooms, and Park Minjae, an idol rapper whose baritone can set a stage on fire. What starts in school hallways refuses to fade; it grows up with them through late‑night rehearsals, movie sets, fashion runways, and the messy, beautiful ordinary moments that make a life. Hearts tangle. Ambition tests loyalty. And desire keeps asking for one more chance. A slow‑burn AMBW/KMBW Korean romance about timing, boundaries, found family, and choosing yourself while your heart is choosing too. ©️ _RelleLebby_// R. L.

Aastha's first job lands her in Ahmedabad - smack in the middle of adulting chaos. Dry chapatis for lunch, rushed mornings, and somehow still late to work despite waking up on time. All she wants? To survive the grind of office hours, burnt dinners, and crushing expectations. Karjun Shah runs Shah Enterprises like clockwork - sleeves rolled up, silver wristwatch gleaming, and not a hair out of place. Stern, composed, the perfect CEO... until he's home. There, he's just Kaju -the steady heart of a noisy, loving Gujarati household that refuses to let him be anything but human. Neither planned this. But Aastha keeps catching glimpses of his silhouette and falling a little harder each time. Karjun can't ignore the new drafter with too many things in her tote and an uncanny way of softening his world. Love doesn't always arrive with fireworks. Sometimes, it tiptoes in - slow, steady, and unstoppable. All images/pictures belong to their rightful owners. I do not own any. Thank you. Have fun reading! Started: 30/05/2025 Word count: 90,000

Sarah Suarez was doing her best to survive adulthood, which was hard when life kept acting like a full-time hater. After discovering her fiancé's affair with her former friend, publicly humiliating half the people at a reunion party, and losing the carefully crafted version of herself in one disastrous night, Sarah is forced to start over from scratch. Again. With a sick mother to care for, bills piling up, and a future hanging by a thread, the last thing she needs is Henry Salva: a dangerously handsome CEO with too much money, too many secrets, and a habit of appearing whenever her life falls apart. Henry is calm, composed, and emotionally impossible to read. A man who terrifies boardrooms without raising his voice, and should have nothing in common with someone like Sarah, yet somehow, their paths keep crossing. From drunken disasters and emotional breakdowns to late-night conversations and dangerously blurred boundaries, Sarah finds herself drawn to the one man she knows she should avoid. But healing is never simple, especially when old wounds, buried truths, jealous exes, and the ghosts of Henry's past threaten to destroy whatever is growing between them. *trigger warning: has minor PTSD episodes. [word count: 95, 000 - 100,000 words] ||Edited to the best of my ability|| ||One year later, 'the best of my ability' has improved, so I will be editing again (more like a rewrite, actually).|| Edited chapters will have a ✔

This are several pieces of poetry I have written over the years, and it is just a diary, a digital record of my poetry. Do let me know in the comments if you find anything relatable as well!

Ilham thought moving to Kuala Lumpur for his first corporate job would finally make him feel like a successful adult. Instead, he got placed under the COO Office despite having no idea what people there actually do, rented a service apartment that quietly destroys his salary every month, and now spends most of his time pretending to understand meetings while surviving Klang Valley traffic with a second-hand Proton Saga. Between awkward office politics, mysterious management discussions, expensive lunches, Outlook calendar invitations that feel like threats, and the terrifying realization that nobody in corporate life seems fully okay, Ilham slowly finds himself pulled deeper into a world far bigger and stranger than he expected. A Malaysian corporate slice-of-life about first jobs, impostor syndrome, accidental adulthood, and learning how to wing it professionally without getting fired.

A mature man navigating loneliness, friendship, and the quiet absurdity of ordinary Sundays. Because adulthood turns out to be less dramatic than expected. Or does it?

From the hallways of STI West Negros University to the challenges of adulting in Bacolod City, Lily and Thomas have always been side by side. What started as a one-sided crush on the school basketball star and a supportive best friend eventually evolves into something much deeper. Follow their journey through high school heartbreaks under mango trees, surviving the "real world," and learning that sometimes the person you were waiting for was there all along.

Jimmy Sotos wanted one thing once he left Ohio State: to grind. To work hard at basketball and drill until he was sweating bullets to get better. Leaving the Buckeyes was bittersweet but all he knew it was time to go somewhere new: New Jersey. He's a tall man, with big dreams and a big heart, but what happens when he runs into a black woman with big goals and an even bigger heart? (this book is kind of a jimmy book and you'll see what i mean by kinda as you read. when it starts off, it's a jimmy book) keep an open mind please!!

Asha, a writer who struggles to write her next story resorts to writing her journey with her greatest love, Theo.

A gentle walk through memories, childhood moments, growing pains, and the quiet worries of growing up. 'Pieces I Held Together' is about remembering who we were, who we are becoming, and the little pieces of ourselves we carry along the way.

In our life full of uncertainties, may mga Tao talaga Tayong makikilala na magiging kasangga at kasama Natin sa buhay. Maaaring mga magulang mo, kapatid mo, asawa mo, anak mo or for me it's my friends. Marami Tayong masasabi na mga kaibigan Natin, but not all will be with you till the end. Kaya kapag mahanap mo sya/sila, don't let the time fool you into thinking na mahaba pa ang oras. And I can talk to them whenever. As time waits for no one. Cherish each of your memories with them, and be with them sa kasiyahan at kalungkutan nang buhay. This Short Stories Collection: To Those Who Wait, is a collection of stories I've written inspired by real happenings and people around me. I hope may kapupulutan kayong aral, or maybe you can give me your own stories as I learn from your experiences. Cause I always believe, every story is worth writing for. To Those Who Wait: Love Again🌼 Jennifer had always put her family first in her priority list. But what to do, if the cause of her heartache is the very same reason of her family's happiness? She knew, knew it well enough that she already has someone waiting for her. Until when is he going to wait? Is she worth the wait? 'Cause Love is fickle, like how a fire is.

They say you never forget the people who almost loved you. Maybe that's why, even years later, his name still sat quietly in the back of my mind-like a pen I kept inside my favorite pouch, never using, never throwing away. Miguel Reyes. My almost. The boy who used to walk me home from class but never got to hold my hand. The boy who made my heart feel too loud for my chest. The boy I pushed away because I swore I had to focus on school. The boy who didn't wait. And now, I'm twenty-two. Employed. Exhausted. Still awkward. Still in love with purple. Still hoarding pens. Still listening to old playlists like they're some kind of emotional CPR. I've moved on. Or so I thought. Until that Saturday morning at an outreach program I didn't even want to attend, when I saw him again. And everything I locked away came rushing back like a forgotten song on shuffle.

Hiatus~ In the peaceful, yet somewhat bizarre, city of England lies the house of Gintoki, Shinpachi and Otsuu. After Gintoki's workplace is closed for weeks, he finds himself forced to spend time with his housemates. Shinpachi, a NEET who wears glasses and the straight man of the group. Otsuu, a singer but now a university student, watches anime all day. Gintoki's run-in with the police sparks an old mystery and as Gintoki adapts to his new lifestyle, a bigger plot is slowly unravelled and he is the centre of it. Filled with tongue-in-cheek comedy and shameless references, Gintaman follows Gintoki and the gang as they just try to live their normal adult lives!

'is this benefiting me and my higherself?' It wasn't. Step 1: identifying. Q: what was she doing or going to do? A: Not focus on my degree and back on my toxic ex and whatever he needed Step 2: Recollection/ Call to action. Q: How can we take the situation and make it about bettering you in someway? A: Putting Mila stuff down for a second and calling my school back. Nodding semi hard because Devin liked that idea a whole bunch "see I gotta keep it real with the realest person I know.. Accountability baby accountability" she chanted to herself switching back to her call log and pressing on her advisor name 'That degree' Is twenty five still too young?