Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Roseanne was jerked awake by the persistent knocking at her door. She shot up, her heart racing, sure someone was at her doorstep.

"Who's there?" she called out, caution heavy in her voice.

With Owen burning the midnight oil at the lab, she was on her own. If a burglar was at her door, she had no one to back her up.

The knocking paused for a moment, but the visitor remained silent.

Seeing that Roseanne wasn't budging, they resumed their knocking.

"If you won't speak, I'm not opening up."

"...Anne." Murray's voice came through, laced with a weary chuckle.

She was as stubborn as ever.

"...What do you want?" At the sound of his voice, Roseanne couldn't help but frown.

"Let me in. We need to talk. I promise I won't do anything. If it makes you feel better, leave the door ajar..."

"There's nothing between us worth discussing." Roseanne cut him off, clearly unwilling to open the door.

Despite his repeated knocks and pleas, she ignored him completely.

even as Roseanne, fresh from her shower, picked up her phone in frustration. "Hello, officer? There's someone incessantly knocking on my door..." And so, Murray was eventually led away, half coaxed, half dragged by the friendly

Peace at last...

lay down to

got up, prepared a hearty breakfast of pancakes and

there for the next couple of days, avoiding home

Murray's potential knocks, and partly to

the grad school semester kicked

two birds with

as she stepped out, darting out from the nearby alley to block her

at her, his face a

sleepless night

station had etched faint blue shadows under his once handsome features, giving him

mix of love, resentment, frustration, and

the whole night getting a lecture on civic duty. Happy

give the illusion he was

his gaze, her eyes calm, betraying no emotion: "First off, I wasn't playing a game; you truly were bothering me. Secondly, your 'education' was because

you open the

open my

three words hit a nerve, stirring Murray's temper. "Stranger? You don't know me, or is it I who don't know you?! What about the past six years?" "You said it yourself, that's the past. Since it has