Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"Professor, are we good to go?"

Roseanne's voice jolted Owen back to reality.

"... Yes, we're all set."

"Thank you."

Owen couldn't help but glance at her waist again.

It wasn't anything inappropriate; it was just...She was so thin!

Was she even eating properly?

...

Murray sat in front of the vanity from sunrise to sunset, and then till the sun rose again the next day.

It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep; he simply couldn't.

His mind tirelessly and uncontrollably wandered through memories.

There were moments of pure bliss and love shared between them, and then there were the times he'd been an absolute jerk.

Only when the first light of dawn crept in did Murray manage to break free from the mire of his reminiscences.

At 8 AM, right during rush hour, he changed into clean clothes and drove to the most popular bakery on Bluebell Path.

What usually took a half-hour drive took him a whole hour today.

like a

for a sec, then asked, "You want

"The whole thing."

and were about to slice it. If you were two

made small talk: "Buying a cake this early,

ex-girlfriend loved

sentence, seven words, yet the young clerk conjured up an entire

who knows, who's the protagonist, and who

in the mood for chatting, took the cake,

clerk stood at the counter, watching him through the glass door: "Wow... a sports car, huh..." Even more like a novel

...

Mamie and Scales

building, Mamie couldn't help but smack

to his silence,

and continued, "How about we grab something to drink from the coffee shop outside before heading to the

Scales: "..." As expected!

stop her; she could keep the conversation going all

"I'm not thirsty."

you're such a buzzkill!

but I'm not

fun drinking alone; you've got

"...But I..."

you're all about that gym life! Can't have

recite his diet in

could get something with zero sugar and