ask the storybots: season 2

Ian Brown marries Yvonne Miller out of gratitude to her family, and has spent years quietly making her comfortable, growing Miller Group into something genuinely powerful while asking little in return. Yvonne sees only a spineless live-in husband; her heart has always belonged to Sean Jones, the man she truly wants. When Ian's parents ask to meet her over the New Year holiday, she turns them away without hesitation. Then the call comes. Yvonne's own parents are in a car accident and urgently need a blood transfusion. Ian finds her immediately. Yvonne, convinced he's fabricating a crisis to manipulate her, doesn't just refuse, she actively tries to stop him from helping. By the time the truth surfaces, the damage is already done, and the weight of what she threw away settles over her all at once.

When my appendix bursts, my parents, my brother, and even my fiancé are all too busy celebrating my sister's birthday. I'm outside the operating room, frantically calling every family member I can think of to sign the consent form, but every call is either ignored or hung up on. After hanging up on me, my fiancé, Joel Graham, texts back."Sophie, stop being dramatic. It's Yvette's 18th birthday today. Whatever it is can wait until after the party." I quietly set my phone down and sign the consent form myself. It's the ninety-ninth time they've chosen Yvette Norton, my sister, over me. This time, I choose not to care. I'll stop letting their favoritism hurt me. Instead, I'll do everything they ask of me without complaint. They'll all think I've finally learned to be obedient, and they'll never realize that I'm preparing to leave them for good.

Skyler Reid spends three years being the kind of husband most people only read about. He cooks, he tends the house, he keeps the light on when his wife Ruby works late, he asks for nothing in return. She is a celebrated lawyer with a demanding career and he builds his entire life around making sure she never has to worry about coming home. It works, until it doesn't. When Ruby's first love Brandon Lowe resurfaces with a divorce case that needs handling,everything shifts. She pours herself into his affairs without question, and when Brandon frames Skyler with a flimsy accusation, she doesn't pause to ask for his side. She just turns on him. Skyler looks at the woman he has quietly loved and served for three years and realizes she has never once looked back at him the same way. He stops fighting for something that was never quite his and lets go. Only then, when the warmth is gone and the light is finally off, does Ruby understand what she had in her hands and chose not to hold.

My brother-in-law, Timmy Lynch, racks up 50 million dollars of illegal gambling debt but leaves my contact information behind. By the time the interest snowballs to 100 million dollars, the debt collectors show up at my doorstep. After I persuade them to leave, my wife, Celia Lynch, and my mother-in-law, Meryl Unwin, finally come out of the room. Celia's face is pale as she says, "Let's get divorced. I'd rather leave with nothing. Your gambling debts are your own problem, so don't even think about dragging me into this." No matter how many times I explain that it was Timmy who bet on an underdog team and lost, she refuses to believe me. Meryl even slaps me across the face and roars, "Not only are you trying to trick my daughter into paying your debt, but you're also slandering my son? Listen to me, Celia—divorce him immediately!" Then, she turns to me and says, "I might as well tell you the truth now. Celia is pregnant, and the baby's father is your buddy. Just give up already and sign the divorce papers." Wait, what? I literally just won a 100-million-dollar prize from winning a World Soccer Tournament bet last night. I was going to ask if they need help covering Timmy's debt. How did this suddenly turn into a full-on divorce? Fine, then. They can pay back his massive debt themselves.

On the fifth day after I get born into this world, my biological mother chooses to abandon me. But I'm not sure what she's thinking when she's picking out the location, for she actually abandons me at the entrance of the Bianco family. When the beautiful women of the family notice me, they are quick to frown. "Why don't we take him in?" Since then, I have 109 sisters in my family. At home, I'm the bratty ruler among my sisters. In order not to cause them any trouble, I've been leading a normal life for more than a dozen years. That is, until I've encountered bullying in high school. Giovanni Rossi, a rich student, has me cornered in the washroom with his lackeys flanking him. Not only do they dump cold water on me and tear my clothes off me, but they also use their phones to take pictures of my face. "What are you glaring at, huh? You're just a low-income student, so why are you still putting on airs around us? As if a piece of trash like you can ever get into college!" But since the beating I've received is far too brutal, so I holler at the top of my lungs as I yank Giovanni and jump off the third floor with him. When I wake up, Marcella Greco, the school's nurse, berates me angrily. "All Giovanni did is beat you up, and yet you're already planning to kill him, huh? Shouldn't you be reflecting on yourself when others scold and lay a finger on you? How dare you plot revenge against him instead! "I want you to summon your guardian here right away! If you can't do that by today, you can forget about leaving!" All of my hair stands on end as soon as I hear the command. Weakly, I ask, "Are you sure you want to meet my guardians, Ms. Greco?"