Stay Close Novels & Stories

While taking the high-speed train home, I came across a post online. “My brother-in-law is pushing thirty, but no wedding bells so far. Would it bother you if he came back to visit all the time?” The comments were all over the place. With the post blowing up, the poster started arguing with commenters. “It’s bad enough that he doesn’t start his own family, but he took one of my yogurts. I can’t stand him. “Geez. Does he know nothing about keeping boundaries? I’ve been dying to put him in his place. “I converted his room into my walk-in closet. Well, that should show him for staying here.” At that point, I stopped reading. Since I paid for the family home back then, one room would always be reserved for me. As I stepped off the train, my mother texted me. “I booked you a room at the hotel, Miles. “You might want to skip staying home this time.”

Kieran Sterling and Arabella Bishop were neighbors fourteen years ago. The gap between them could not allow them to be friends. Their parents were comfortable with each other and often had each other over for dinner. When Arabella's father dies her mom moves all the way across the globe to hide her pain. Fourteen years later Arabella is back in the city and sees Kieran. Although they were never friends they start a new friendship. Kieran begins to fall for Arabella and vice versa. They keep getting into situations that put them together and every time Arabella is distressed and in need, Kieran shows up like a knight in shining armor. The reason why they both hide their feelings and stay away from each other is because of the ten-year gap between them. Can they transcend through their love? Follow the thrilling story of Kieran and Arabella as they face family, society, and the truth of Love.

I turned my head and looked at the Alpha, trying to ask him why Kristen was dead. Did they come late? Or, did they just rescue me in time? However, the Alpha’s face was cold as ice. I even felt that he hated me to the core in that instant. He had never looked at me that way. He was always kind to me as far as I could remember. “Lindsay Blackwood, Gamma Jen’s daughter, brutally murdered my sister, Kristen. Is there anything else you want to say before the judgment is served?”

After five years in a marriage without intimacy, I finally called my wife, Suzanna Jones, the youngest commander in the military, and asked her to spend the night with me. Five hundred and twenty times. That was how many times we had been interrupted over the years. Every time we came close to being together, an urgent call from her widowed brother‑in‑law, Eric Gibson, pulled her away before anything could happen. Then, on our wedding anniversary, Suzanna promised she would finally give me the perfect wedding night we never had. I held her by the waist and was about to cross the final line between us when Eric’s ringtone shattered the moment. “Suzanna… I was injured in an explosion down there. What if I am crippled for life…?” Panic filled her face. She pushed me aside and rushed for the door. I grabbed her wrist and tried to stop her. “Send him to the military hospital first.” She turned on me with anger and slapped me across the face. “Shane! Eric is seriously hurt! How can you be this heartless?” She pulled on her dress and ran out. When I caught up with her, the sight in front of me stopped me cold. The woman who once promised to give me her first night was wrapped around Eric in a position far more intimate than anything she had ever shared with me. When I asked for an explanation, she looked calm and unbothered. “Eric is in critical condition. Was I supposed to stand there and do nothing? It is not that important. If it bothers you that much, I can fix it later.” Something inside me went numb. For five years, I had been the only one trying to hold our marriage together. At that moment, I realized I was exhausted from fighting for something that had ended long ago.

On the day of my birthday, I'm burning with a fever that almost hits 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of that, I've called Tristan Graham more than a dozen times. He never picks up any of them. In the end, my dad has to take me to the hospital. When we walk past a corridor, he suddenly stops in his tracks. "Mr. Graham? What are you doing here?" I raise my head to see Tristan and Madison Franklin walking from the OBGYN department. Their fingers are tightly laced together. Tristan is even carrying a bag of medication. Birth control pills as well as ointment meant to be used on private parts can be seen in that bag. My mind goes blank at that moment. All I can do is stare at Tristan. As soon as our eyes meet, Tristan frowns slightly at me, though his gaze only lingers on me for a second before he turns to look at my dad. "I'll be hosting a banquet in the garden tomorrow night. Remember to decorate the garden nicely." Dad quickly accepts the order. "Don't worry, Mr. Graham. When Luna's fever breaks out, I'll deal with this task right away." Tristan is momentarily stunned by Dad's words. When he notices my unnaturally flushed cheeks, he instinctively takes a step toward me. But that's when Madison tugs his sleeve. "Stop wasting precious time on a gardener's daughter, Tristan. Let's go. I'm still in pain, you know." Tristan stops in his tracks instantly. Then, he leaves with Madison. Later on, he pays for my hospital bills. Our seven-year underground relationship that's considered a taboo is also paid off as well.

James Wesley has hated me for a decade after his childhood sweetheart passed away. He requests to be transferred to the frontier the day after we get married. I write him countless letters in those ten years to win back his favor, but his response is always the same. "If you truly regret it, why don't you hurry up and die?" However, after I am abducted, James storms the bandit's hideout by himself and saves me. He suffers multiple bullet wounds, but before he succumbs to his injuries, he uses the last of his strength to slap my hands away. "The thing I regret the most… in this life… is marrying you. If we get a second chance at life… please… don't bother me anymore." His mother, Felicia Axford, sounds regretful during the funeral. "It's all my fault, James. I shouldn't have forced you to marry her…" His father, Jeremiah Wesley, stares at me, his eyes burning with contempt. "You forced Emily to take her own life, and now you also caused my son's death. You're nothing but trouble, so you should just die!" Even Xavier Bowen, our troop commander, who was responsible for facilitating our marriage in the first place, shakes his head and sighs. "I shouldn't have played matchmaker. I let you down, Mr. Wesley." Everyone feels sympathetic toward James, including me. On the night I am discharged from the troop, I swallow some pesticide and die in the middle of an abandoned field. When I open my eyes again, I realize I have returned to the day before my marriage. This time, I am determined to fulfill everyone's wishes.

Olivia Reyes has her life exactly how she likes it. Quiet mornings, no disruptions, no complications. She is a therapist — she knows better than anyone what happens when you let the wrong feelings in. Then Damien Cole moves in across the hall and ruins everything. Loud music. Late nights. An easy smile that tells her he has never once been told no. She hates him immediately. Completely. Convincingly — until one ordinary morning she opens her curtain and sees him, really sees him, and realises that hate was always covering something far more dangerous. She tells herself it means nothing. She manages it. She is very good at managing things. Until her apartment floods at three in the morning and the only door open to her is his. Three days, she tells herself. Just until maintenance sorts it out. But three days with Damien strips away every version of him she invented in her head. He is not who she decided he was. He is steady and perceptive and quietly, dangerously kind — and he has been paying attention to her long before she ever noticed him doing it. What happens between them does not feel like a mistake. It feels like something that was always coming. Then his ex walks back through the door and Olivia does the one thing she swore she never would. She runs. What follows is the question at the centre of everything — how far will Damien go for a woman who does not believe she is worth chasing? And can Olivia finally stop analysing long enough to fight for something real? She was only meant to stay three days. She stayed for him.

Maya’s world shatters when she discovers her husband, Daniel, celebrating his secret daughter, forgetting their own son’s birthday. As her child fights for his life in the hospital, Daniel’s absences speak louder than his excuses. The only person by her side is his brother, Liam, whose quiet devotion reveals a love he’s hidden for years. Now, Daniel is desperate to save his marriage, but he’s trapped by the powerful woman who controls his secret and his career. Two brothers. One devastating choice. Will Maya fight for the broken love she knows, or risk everything for a love that has waited silently in the wings?

She was the woman who prayed for his safe journey while he planned hotel meetups. The woman who fought for household bills while he footed the tab for other women. The woman who stayed up worrying while he stayed up with someone else. Adaeze never imagined that the man she chose — not was forced to choose, but willingly, lovingly chose — would become the very source of her undoing. Twelve years of marriage, three children, one family business and a thousand unanswered prayers later, she finds herself staring at a phone screen, reading a message that was never meant for her eyes. But this is not just a story about infidelity. It is a story about a woman who lost herself slowly, quietly, in the business of loving a man who had long stopped choosing her. It is about the loneliness of a marriage that looks perfect from the outside. The exhaustion of fighting to be seen by someone who looks right through you. The moment a woman stops crying and starts thinking. It is about what happens when the woman who always stayed finally decides what she's worth. And it is about the man who only realises what he had — when it is already gone.

I was getting married—but I didn't tell my parents. It was my fifth wedding. The last four? Total disasters, thanks to them. Every time, they claimed something was "wrong" with the wedding car and somehow scared the guy off. First was my college boyfriend. We were solid—four years strong. My parents pushed for marriage... then ditched the idea on the big day because his car wasn't "fancy" enough. Second groom? My boss. He pulled up in a shiny new car they actually approved—until they didn't. Yanked me right out. Third time, they set me up with someone themselves. The guy brought ten cars to play it safe. Didn't matter. They shut it down before I even stepped outside. Fourth time? Same story. I kept wondering—what was so cursed about these cars? Why push me to get married, only to destroy it every single time? This year, I was trying again. Wedding number five. This time, I was pregnant—with the son of the country's richest man. I didn't tell my parents. Thought I'd finally outsmarted them. But just as I was about to get in the car... I saw them sprinting toward me.