Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Roseanne slipped into her puffer jacket, grabbing the trash on her way out the door.

Owen Reynolds emerged from his apartment with two hefty bags as well.

"Professor, how long has it been since you last took out the trash?"

Owen Reynolds hesitated, "...half a month?"

Roseanne couldn't help but think, So this is the real you, Professor.

Luckily, it was mostly packaging and plastic bags, nothing perishable like leftovers or fruit peels.

"Let's go."

As they made their way downstairs, they bumped into the elderly couple from their building, hand in hand, having just disposed of their own trash.

"Owen and Roseanne heading out to dump the trash as well?"

"Yeah," Owen nodded in response.

The elderly lady then turned to Roseanne with a gleeful smile, "What delightful dish did you cook today, Roseanne? We could smell something delicious all the way downstairs!" Roseanne replied, "Mushroom stew."

"Ah! That must be the mushrooms Owen received yesterday?"

elderly lady while collecting his parcel, which happened to contain mushrooms, and asked her for some tips on keeping them

Roseanne nodded.

"You two make a great team, one provides the ingredients, and the other cooks. It's fate that you're neighbors! You're so familiar with each other,

taken aback, not fully grasping the implication until she heard Owen cough awkwardly, prompting her to quickly wave her hands in denial, "No, no,

old lady waved her off, "No need to explain, as long

at you, always stirring the pot. You've got Owen and

there to

line

lived on different floors too Back then, society was more conservative, and it took us two years to break through. Nowadays, society is much more

off as

Roseanne's cheeks were flushed.

didn't know

the rest of the stairs in silence and disposed of their

"I"

"You-"

spoke at the same time, then paused and laughed at the

remarked, "That couple is truly in love, a real-life

Academy's astrophysics department.

"Really?" Roseanne was surprised.

it was clear the couple was