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A World Without Him

Finding Him (BxB+)

Kalypso "Kali" Brunn was searching. He was trying to find someone he once knew well, someone he'd lost without even realizing. Kali needed the man who could wholeheartedly love himself and the company of others yet live happily, even alone. That someone wouldn't need another leading their life, completely shaping every thought he had, each action he performed, and the emotions he'd felt. He simply had to see that man's lost smile once more, a smile so true and pure, and he believed the Black Manor was the best place to look. It was the perfect home for Kali to find himself again. A peaceful, private, and honest(deceptively so) abode for him to relax and heal in. It seemingly had the most perfect conditions. The only downside of the new arrangement would be that he's yet to shake off his loneliness. He's determined to get along with his new housemates, but it's proven to be hard, especially as half of them blatantly ignore him and the other half downright hate his mere presence. But who's to say the future won't change? Perhaps his clumsy, self-deprecating ways will finally garner him some much-needed attention. Maybe they'll see just how much he needs someone to stand by him, even if he happens to claim otherwise for pride's sake... Or suppose they could continue to ignore him until he stays forever stuck in his regrettable past. Kali doesn't want to think about the 'scumbag' he ran away from or the friends that hurt him. They didn't deserve his tears any more than he deserved the emotional turmoil he'd suffered through.
Shady_Sunflower · 3.1K Views

A Woman Without a Mask

At 28, Clara Hayes has mastered the art of wearing masks. To her colleagues, she’s the perpetually cheerful graphic designer who never misses a deadline. To her overbearing mother, she’s the dutiful daughter hiding her anxiety behind polished smiles. To the world, she’s a woman who “has it all together”—except she’s crumbling inside. Clara’s life unravels during a corporate presentation where a panic attack strips her façade raw. Humiliated and exhausted, she flees to a quiet coastal town, renting a cottage owned by an eccentric, free-spirited potter named Marisol. There, Clara stumbles upon a dusty journal in the attic, its pages filled with haunting sketches and anonymous confessions from a woman who once lived there decades earlier. The entries mirror Clara’s own suffocating duality: “I paint myself in colors the world approves of, but my soul is a grayscale.” As Clara tentatively befriends Marisol and a reclusive widower, Eli, who runs the town’s crumbling bookstore, she begins confronting the lies she’s told herself for years. Through their unconventional guidance—and the journal’s cryptic wisdom—she starts shedding her masks one by one. But vulnerability comes at a cost: her corporate career teeters, her mother’s disapproval intensifies, and a buried trauma from her teenage years resurfaces, threatening to drown her newfound courage. When Clara’s raw, unfiltered artwork—created in secret—goes viral, she faces a choice: return to the safety of her old illusions or step into the terrifying freedom of living unapologetically. But the journal hides a final secret, linking Clara’s journey to the cottage’s mysterious past, forcing her to question whether true authenticity is a rebellion… or a homecoming.
Daoist5CDTxH · 1.7K Views
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