Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"Look at you, Roseanne, moving up in the world," the man sneered, his tone dripping with venom. "Jumping from one guy to another, quite the party girl, aren't you?"

His voice suddenly turned icy. "Who was that guy? What were you two doing upstairs?"

Roseanne's smile vanished as her hand throbbed in his tight grip. She tried to pull away, but he was using brute force.

The more she struggled, the tighter his grip became.

Roseanne shouted, "Murray, let go!"

Murray refused to let go. "Answer me first!"

Roseanne frowned, enduring the pain. "What's it to you?"

"As an ex-boyfriend, I think it's only fair I take an interest in my former girlfriend's love life, huh?"

A laugh escaped Roseanne, a hint of sarcasm in her gaze. "Oh, so you admit you're the ex-boyfriend. What brings you here, then?"

Murray got momentarily choked up. "Can't I just be passing by?"

parked the car here, blocking the alley? Didn't you see the road is narrow enough without your car clogging it up? Driving a fancy

Murray was silent.

instantly realized the car that caused the commotion was Murray's

disposing of her trash, she turned to him. "Whether I see someone new, one

and I'd prefer it if you stayed out of my present and future. Let's just be strangers from here on out. And don't come to my place anymore. I wouldn't want your girlfriend getting the wrong idea. After all, since you chose to be

wounds, so she didn't wish the same for Millie. Life in its prime should be about blossoming freely, not being

made their choices. Murray chose Millie, and she decided to break up. It was time for each to be responsible for

frozen, unable to comprehend what

felt panic for the first time. It seemed something he owned was slipping away, and he couldn't grasp it back. "Are you

didn't even look

"You've said that before..."

but Murray had

up" calmly as

breakup was his idea. He was the one who

her

on the