Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Leda grabbed Roseanne's hand. "Let's go! I've already scoped out the best spots before we even got here. Today, we'll have a blast!"

"Ah!"

"Ah, holy shit!"

Leda's screams echoed in her ear for five minutes. Rubbing her numb ears, Roseanne glanced at her friend, who had just finished throwing up, looking pale as a ghost. She gently patted Leda on the back with amusement and sympathy. "Feeling any better after throwing up, huh?"

"I'm going to... ugh..."

Seeing Leda lean over the trash can again, Roseanne quickly grabbed some tissues and opened the water bottle. After Leda had finished, she handed over the water. She didn't sigh with relief until Leda had rinsed her mouth and stopped throwing up.

"They say the roller coaster here is a slice of heaven for thrill-seekers, but I've just had a tour of hell. Scared me to death." Looking a little queasy, Leda wiped her mouth with a tissue and patted her chest. Roseanne couldn't help but tease, "Who wanted to push her limits? You asked for it."

Despite Leda's mild fear of heights, she had insisted on going on the ride, a classic case of biting off more than she could chew.

"Wah, can't I just regret it?" She leaned on Roseanne, barely catching her breath.

After resting for a while, Leda regained some of her energy. It was also lunchtime, so Roseanne suggested they grab something to eat. On their way, they noticed other visitors stopping in their tracks, excitedly snapping photos of the sky.

"Look at all those balloons! Is this some surprise event for the park's opening?"

"Do businesses go to all this effort now? Blowing up that many balloons must've taken hours!"

Roseanne looked up to see a sky filled with balloons against the backdrop of clear blue, the colorful

ribbons attached to the o

in the wind like dancing butterflies.

A spectator scrolling through their social media feed commented, "Figured it out! Over by Grandview Plaza, some rich kid pulled off this birthday surprise for his girlfriend."

"Why do I always miss out on witnessing these romantic gestures? Always a spectator, never a participant!"

Uninterested in such grandiose displays of affection, Leda nudged Roseanne, "Come on, I'm starving."

"Okay."

...

Universal Studios was bustling that weekend, with long lines forming near Grandview Plaza's Pirate Ship ride.

Murray waited in line patiently while Millie grabbed a slushie, peering ahead at the dense crowd, "Only ten more people to go. Hang in there!"

With temperatures soaring to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, Murray had slung his jacket over his arm, idly scrolling on his phone as they waited.

Along with everyone else's, their

attention was drawn to a spectacle near the carousel where balloons filled the sky. A man holding a bunch of red roses approached a woman, and they embraced, resembling a scene from a romantic fairy tale.

"Is this a birthday surprise? It's so romantic Millie felt a twinge of expectation. It was also her birthday, and she wondered if Murray had planned any surprises aside from her gift.

Murray glanced lazily in that direction before returning to his phone, unimpressed. What others found romantic, he found tedious.

It wasn't that he didn't notice Millie's expectations, but he had never gone for such extravagance with Roseanne, and he wasn't planning to start now.