All Chapters of Ends and Beginnings: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

7 Chapters

Chapter 1

When I woke up, I was already in the hospital. My best friend Charlotte Hayes had blown up my phone, but Cyrus did not call even once. When I checked his Instagram, I saw he had posted a new story — A collage of his date photos with Serena Claire.The caption read, “My darling wants to keep a record of our love, so here it is.”I thought my heart had stopped beating, but it still hurt when I saw the picture. My breathing caught in my chest, threatening to suffocate me.I wanted to reply to the story and demand what he was doing, but I accidentally liked it instead.Cyrus called almost instantly. “Do you spend every waking moment stalking me? Weren’t you on death’s door or something? Why are you checking my stories now?“Serena just wanted to take some photos together. Don’t overreact again.”I suppressed the hurt and pain. “Sure, you can go ahead and take all the photos you want.”“Are you mad at me, Marilyn?” Serena interrupted right on time. “I was just joking. I didn’t thin

Chapter 2

Ends and Beginnings/Elaine Ainsworth

He did not come back for three days. On the morning of the fourth day, he sent me a location for the wedding ceremony.[Have you reflected on your mistakes yet? I arranged the wedding ceremony this afternoon, especially for you. It's the same place, so don't be late.]Every time we fought, I would be the first to offer him an olive branch. This was the first time he reached out instead, though his tone sounded like he was doing this out of pity.I reacted with an OK emoji and nothing else. Cyrus must think I would be in tears with gratitude because he agreed to make up for the wedding. However, I was leaving that noon, and I did not want to see him even once before then, so I did not want him to come home and confront me.On the other hand, Serena would not let me so easily. She purposely used his phone to send me a voice message.In the audio clip, I could hear that Cyrus was buying her a new necklace. His soft and tender tone sounded so far away to me. He used to speak to me

Chapter 3

Ends and Beginnings/Elaine Ainsworth

“Not today, not ever. I'm leaving the country.”Cyrus thought I was just bluffing, so he raged, “Would you stop that? I apologized to you, didn't I? Why are you still picking a fight with me?“Serena isn't as immature as you.”I hung up on him before he could continue. Looking at the clouds outside the window, my heart felt lighter. I had spent all my energy on Cyrus over the past six years, to the point where he forgot I had my boundaries too. If he could cancel our wedding on me twice in a row, it just showed that Serena was right. He really did not take me seriously at all.I sighed away my sorrows and took a nap on the plane. When I woke up, it was already nighttime. Turning on my phone, I saw that Charlotte had sent me multiple texts.[When are you arriving? My friend and I will welcome you at the airport.][He's from your branch company too. It would be good for you guys to get to know each other.]To my surprise, Cyrus had sent me a few apologetic messages too. Howe

Chapter 4

Ends and Beginnings/Elaine Ainsworth

“That sounds good.” Charlotte nodded. “But you can just tell me if you ever want to switch jobs. I'll keep a lookout for you.”“That won't be necessary for now.” I smiled. “I'm pretty confident in my current position.”Charlotte patted my shoulder. “Then you gotta tell me if you get into any trouble. Don't keep it to yourself.”My heart felt warm inside. “Anthony, keep an eye on my sister at work, you hear me?” Charlotte turned to Anthony.“Don't worry, I'll take good care of her.” His tone was sincere, and his gaze friendly. My face heated up a bit at his promise. After a while, the car arrived at a restaurant. Charlotte ordered a table full of food and kept putting more into my plate. Meanwhile, Anthony sat across from me and looked up at me every so often.After dinner, we exchanged contacts. Charlotte said she had something to take care of, so she asked Anthony to send me home.Upon arriving at my new quarters, I was utterly exhausted. I threw my luggage into a corner and

Chapter 5

Ends and Beginnings/Elaine Ainsworth

After resting for a few days, I was finally ready to start my new life and job. Anthony had helped arrange my position at the branch company, so I went straight to HR and got my new credentials. In the end, they assigned me to his team.When I arrived at his office, Anthony was reading some documents at his desk. He raised his head and smiled when he saw me.He then put down the files and said, “Let’s have lunch together today. I’ll show you around the office.”I readily agreed. That noon, we went to a restaurant nearby.“The specialties here are pretty good. You should give them a try.” Anthony handed me the menu, and I ordered some dishes. As we ate, he discussed some work matters and introduced me to the other members of the team.“Marilyn, are you confident with your new job?” Anthony asked me with a smile.“Yes. I’ll do my best,” I replied determinedly.Anthony nodded. “I trust you will.”After lunch, we returned to the office. For the next few days after that, I tried

Chapter 6

Ends and Beginnings/Elaine Ainsworth

Many people approached Anthony for some small talk. I quietly waited in a corner.As I expected, it was not long before Cyrus walked up to me. “Why are you here? I looked everywhere for you.”I took a step back and said coolly, “Why were you looking for me? We broke up.”My resolute attitude gave him pause. For once, Cyrus put on a pitiful look. “Marilyn, don't be mad at me. I can explain my relationship with Serena. Do you remember the time I went out of town for work?“I got into some trouble back then, and Serena was the one who bailed me out. Since then, I swore to repay her…”I looked at him silently. “I'm no longer interested in your relationship with Serena. I don't care to know your reasons, either.“I'll say it again: We broke up. We're through.”After that, I turned to Anthony, who was looking at me through the crowd. His smile was encouraging. At that moment, I felt fully relaxed. See? Breaking up was not that difficult, after all.I walked toward Anthony, but

Chapter 7

Ends and Beginnings/Elaine Ainsworth

Cyrus borrowed someone’s phone to text me, saying he and Serena were both being deported back home.“Can you come back and take care of me?” His voice sounded extremely weak in the voice message.However, I did not feel a shred of pity, retorting mercilessly to cut his last strand of hope. “Face it, I don’t love you anymore. Now you’re like a turd in the latrine to me, dirty and foul.“Perhaps you were important to me once, but now I’m too disgusted to even look at you. Do you understand me now?”After that, Cyrus never contacted me again.Thinking back, I could have died if Serena had not suddenly shown up. He should have considered that before he pulled something so reckless. The next day, I called a mutual friend of ours. The day after that, he told me that Cyrus’ condition had stabilized. His life was no longer in danger.I finally let out a breath of relied. This sort of distance would be the best for both of us.Meanwhile, Serena was arrested and charged accordingly.I

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