Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Roseanne beamed, defending her choice playfully, "Come on, it does look like you if you squint a bit." She shook the little figurine, and Owen couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, maybe not so much now."

In the end, Owen accepted the gift and thanked her.

Roseanne said, "No worries. The light's green..."

...

When she got home, it was the early hours of the morning. Before leaving, Roseanne had ensured her apartment was spotless and arranged for a cleaning service to come by while she was away. It was as if she had never left.

After taking a shower, she lay in her soft, large bed, inhaling the scent of her body wash, blissfully closing her eyes. Indeed, no matter where you go, there's no place like home. Meanwhile, Owen was still awake. He was at the final stages of the experiment's first phase, recently swamped with work, barely squeezing in the time to make it to the airport. Thus, he planned to shower, change clothes, and return to the lab. As he put on his shoes in the entryway, he saw the figurine Roseanne had given him.

Upon entering his apartment, he had placed the little figure on a shelf above his shoe cabinet, surrounded by books. He suddenly smiled, admitting that it did indeed resemble him.

In winter Lumina City was blanketed in a heavy snowfall, turning the world outside Roseanne's window into a pristine white wonderland. Past eight in the morning, neighborhood kids had formed groups to build snowmen. The playful shouts and the cries of street vendors filled the air with a vibrant community spirit.

While heading out for grocery shopping, Roseanne noticed a line of snowmen of varying heights and designs neatly arranged. The largest one looked dazed, with two nutshells for eyes and a pink plastic pinwheel on its head, somewhat reminiscent of a cartoon character.

Roseanne had walked past it but doubled back, embedding a cherry from her basket as its nose. Stepping back to admire her work, she nodded in satisfaction.

At the market, she found some fresh, affordable beef ribs, perfect for making spicy beef strips, with the rest ideal for a stew, complementing it with some sweet, crunchy carrots. en.swhovels.net

Knock.

Roseanne heard someone knocking. She whipped off her apron and went to check it out.

It was the neighbor from the third floor. All smiles, her eyes crinkling at the corners... "Hey, Anne, you in? My daughter-in-law gave birth to a baby girl a few days ago. We'll have the baby baptized in the church at the end of the month. Here, this is the invitation for you."

The neighbor had always looked out for Roseanne, seeing her living alone.

Hearing the good news, Roseanne felt genuinely happy for her. She thanked the neighbor and fetched some of her homemade oat cookies and beef jerky to give in return.

The neighbor was surprised and delighted, and she protested, "Oh, it's very kind of you. I didn't expect anything back."

Roseanne replied, "It's just something I whipped up myself, hardly a return gift. I just wanted you to try them and see if they taste good."

Seeing her insistence, the neighbor didn't argue further.

"Oh, by the way, your next-door neighbor, Mr. Reynolds, he's always out early and back late. I've tried a few times but never caught him in. Could you give him the invitation for me?"

Remembering she still had to take chicken soup to her daughter-in-law in the hospital, the neighbor hurried off.

Roseanne looked down at the invitation in her hand, puzzled. If she remembered correctly, Owen wasn't exactly fond of those occasions, was he?