Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

'Why bother if it hurts so bad? Now he is stuck between a rock and a hard place, huh!'

...

After Murray visited the day before, the house became a disaster zone. Once he left, Roseanne tidied up the mess from top to bottom. Noticing it was getting late, she skipped the library visit and tackled practice questions at home, wrapping up her study session for the day.

She made two pancakes for dinner but couldn't finish them, leaving quite a bit behind. When she sat down after cleaning the kitchen, it was already 8 p.m.

She planned to review another set of practice questions before calling it a night. Just as she set her alarm, her phone buzzed with a notification. She picked it up and noticed it was a friend request with the note reading Corley.

Roseanne blinked in confusion, wondering why Corley would want to add her.

Corley was Murray's close buddy, but they weren't that close themselves. They'd shared countless meals together, but their conversations were few and far between.

After a moment's hesitation, worried he might have something critical to say, she accepted the request. But half an hour passed with no word from him. It seemed like he might've sent that request by mistake. Roseanne found it odd but didn't dwell on it, setting her phone aside to focus on her questions.

...

Corley pocketed his phone at the bar, looking at Cliff, who had just returned from dropping Murray off. His gaze slightly hardened, "Got her home safe?"

Cliff nodded, taking a swig of his beer. "Lucky I got out fast, or I'd have run into Beverly. That would've been a hassle."

days. If out of

you've been hard to reach lately. How come you're free tonight?" Cliff

glass of bourbon, a faint smile

remembered something!" Cliff

"What's up?"

asked, "Did Roseanne

"The day before

day

keep

"Have I

true. A finance guy,

curled up his lips. "Appreciate the

modest at all, huh? But man, it's been almost half a year,

up. Unbelievable!" Cliff

it hard to believe.

Corley just said, "Oh."

was curious. "Aren't you

tone suddenly turned