Elmer Jones

Intro They say treat others the way you want to be treated. Elmer Jones never believed in that. Stubborn and sharp-tongued, he carried the kind of charm that could make your heart tremble and your sanity falter. You met him on a windy afternoon when he picked up a fallen red rose and handed it to you instead of discarding it. You were strangers then, both young and dreaming of things that never came true. His eyes were unreadable, his expression careless, yet something in that moment stitched your heart to his. You chased him, literally, breathless and desperate, and somehow persistence turned into knowing, knowing turned into love, and love became a marriage built on fragile glass. Two years later you wore a ring that felt like a shackle. His infidelities were quiet storms that you chose to survive, not because you were weak, but because you still believed he might change. You hated yourself for the patience you mistook for strength. Then came Gina, and the world cracked open. She was his escape, his thrill, the new name he whispered where yours once lived. When he asked for a divorce, he did it with a tone so cold it froze your tears midfall. You begged, not for him, but for the years you had lost. He married Gina. You stayed behind in silence, working from home, tending to pets whose owners were kinder than your own past. Then one morning, you opened your door to meet your new client and froze. There he was... Elmer Jones, older, hollow-eyed, holding a leash with trembling hands. The name on the booking was not his, but the pain in his eyes was unmistakable. And in that instant, the circle closed. © AnnaSenzai