The Eye Of The Beholder

He was the boy that no one noticed. He was quiet, bland to the naked eye, a total wallflower who sat on the sidelines and lacked in eye contact with those around him though he had the type of eyes that made you feel like you could drown. He tried his best to blend into the background, but what he didn't know was that he was the only one that caught my eye. He was the most intriguing person I had ever laid eyes on even though he couldn't see me. He couldn't see anything.

HE SPENT FOUR MONTHS FIGURING OUT EXACTLY HOW TO TAKE ME APART. TURNS OUT BLIND MEN DON’T NEED EYES TO RUIN YOU COMPLETELY. Noah Carter is twenty-three, broke, and desperate. His seventeen-year-old brother’s lung condition is getting worse, his eight-year-old brother has stopped asking for things they can’t afford, and Noah has exactly $43 left in his bank account. When an $8,400 hospital bill lands on his doorstep, he knows he’s out of options. Then he finds a job posting at 2 a.m. Live-in Personal Assistant. The employer is Damien Cole. Thirty-four. Billionaire. Blind since a car accident three years ago. Cold, ruthless, and so impossible to work for that seven assistants have quit in the last three years. Noah walks into the interview with a coffee stain on his cuff and desperation written all over him. Somehow, he gets the job. Living with Damien is supposed to be simple. Do the work, collect the paycheck, and save his brother’s life. Instead, Noah finds himself drawn into the world of a man who notices everything despite seeing nothing. Because Damien Cole has secrets. And once Damien becomes interested in something, he doesn’t let it go. Unfortunately for Noah, that something might be him.

Due to the tumultuous event happened in the 2nd District, a young thief with an extrasensory perception got lost in the Palace. A palace where the Monarchs, the phenomenal Prince, and the great echelons live. The place where elites are loved, and homeless people like her are not welcomed. Status is important in the kingdom of Eufrata. Paupers can't even step into the palace. Bad luck or as it is, the Kingdom is looking for the precious stones. So in order to get out safely and save her fellow paupers, she needs to escape. But she only have two options; Sneak out and be killed by the sentries or join the team and look for the stones. She's stuck in a dangerous struggle and grievous mission. She needs to choose. She lives no Queen nor a princess, she doesn't belong to any royalties. She isn't great as the echelons, she ain't elite either. She doesn't live a normal life, she is not just a normal girl. Because she belongs to the lowest group in kingdom. She is a pauper. But she is extraordinary. Her perception is supernatural, and she is more than that. Will she be able to survive in a breathtaking atmosphere between elites and paupers? Is there a chance for a hopeless romantic between a pauper and an elite? How is she going to survive if she finds out that her capabilities are more than of what she expected? Will she survive when THE HUNT begins? "Watch out, they are the Hunters for the gems."

After lights-out, I make my roommates play with an Ouija board with me. Being the scaredy-cat she is, my roommate decides to ask something stupid, "Where did my earphones go?" I almost burst out laughing. I can't believe she's using it to find her earphones. To our surprise, the planchette starts to move. It spells out, "It's under your bed beside the eye." We exchange glances in confusion. What eye? I snort and get out of bed. Using my phone's flashlight, I check under the bed. Nothing is there. Before I can make fun of my roommate for being superstitious, the door slams open. The student who stays next door barges into our room, her face as pale as a sheet. Her voice trembles as she shouts, "Wake up! Everyone on campus is going wild! Someone found an eyeball in our dorm!"

"You don’t need to see the world to survive it," Lucian whispered. "You just need to belong to the right monster." Seraphina Vellaro, blind, limping, and silenced by years of cruelty, is the forgotten daughter of mafia queen Celeste Vellaro. After her mother's brutal death, she is imprisoned by her father Danta, a sadistic man desperate to seize control of Celeste’s legacy. But fate changes course when Seraphina’s loyal nanny Gloria escapes with a powerful relic—Celeste’s blood-coded journal—and places it in the hands of the most feared family in the underworld: the Morettis. Now under the protection of Lucian Moretti, a scarred mafia prince cold enough to make death shiver, Seraphina becomes the key to a buried empire—and the center of Lucian’s growing obsession. He doesn’t love her. He claims her. But in a world of velvet prisons, power-hungry enemies, and dark inheritances, Seraphina must decide: Is she still someone’s pawn—or will she rise as the queen her mother raised her to be?

My roommate branded herself as an influencer against beauty standards, vowing to free girls from appearance anxiety. Strangely, whenever she stayed up late partying and broke out in pimples, they would appear on my face instead. When she fooled around and caught an infection, the rashes spread across my body. The more radiant she became, the more monstrous I looked. People recoiled from me. Friends cut me off. My own boyfriend, before a crowd, told me I should just die. Then my roommate got pregnant, yet it was my stomach that swelled like I was eight months along, scarred with terrifying stretch marks. She, meanwhile, looked more flawless than ever, appearing barefaced on camera to encourage girls not to fear their looks. I knew something was not right. When I tried to dig for answers, my roommate and boyfriend trapped me in a basement. They tortured me until I died. Only then did I learn the truth. He owned a cursed amulet that shifted all her pain onto me. The moment I opened my eyes, I was back on our first day of college together. This time, the game is mine. I'll make sure they pay.