Only Familiar Face in a Strange World

Maya Chen and Derek Lin have been inseparable for all the wrong reasons.Same kindergarten. Same college. Same nonprofit organization they co-founded. Everywhere Maya goes, Derek follows. And everywhere they go, they fight.She hates his smug smile. He loves pushing her buttons. Fifteen years of rivalry. Fifteen years of wanting to strangle each other.Then a charity gala changes everything.One argument on a balcony. One shove. One ancient jade pendant that wasn't supposed to work.Maya wakes up in a strange world. Ancient robes. A queen with ice in her veins. A prophecy calling her and Derek "e;the Twin Balances"e;—outsiders who will break the existing order.The bad news? The Merchant Alliance wants them dead. The Council wants to use them. The Queen wants to see what happens.The worse news? Derek is here too. Of course he is.Sent to inspect the southern trade route, they share a cramped carriage, bicker about everything, and barely escape an ambush from Merchant Alliance bandits. Tied up in an abandoned mine, Maya discovers the truth: the south is starving. Children die in the streets. The Queen knows. No one helps.But Maya and Derek aren't from this world. They don't play by its rules. Derek can negotiate with bandits in their own dialect. Maya can spot a lie from a thousand pages of accounts.And together? Together, they might just be crazy enough to start a revolution.The Only Familiar Face in a Strange World is a complete 8-chapter isekai romance novel (approximately 15,000 words). Perfect for readers who love:Slow-burn rivals-to-lovers tensionCompetent heroines who lead with their brainsHeroes who pretend not to care (and care too much)Magic systems that feel real (no video game menus)Political intrigue with heartEmotional payoffs that hit hardFor fans of isekai, portal fantasy, and anyone who's ever fought with someone so much they forgot when the fighting turned into something else.One year later, the famine in the south was gone. But Maya and Derek's story? That's just beginning.