The Wrong One (Short Romance Story)

Happy Ending

Life was hard. Everyone says that. Absolutely nothing could just be handed to you easily —maybe except for bad fortune, death, and illness — and Ely knew it. But maybe it wasn't the life that was making it so hard; maybe it was the ones living it. Life could be easy if you wanted it to, but it always came with a price no one could ever pay.

For example, Ely lost nearly everything that night. She understood why it had been taken away from her. Because she wasn't doing the right thing and it felt like Karma getting back at her. Ever since the night her twin sister rebelled against her, Ely finally understood the saying, 'Karma's a bitch'.

Yes, she understood what Karma was. But she never experienced what it was like to have a miserable life Karma gave her. Now she knew.

While her twin had the glory of her fabulous life, Ely was alone with no one but her mother. Lucia had forgiven her, but she didn't trust her. Ely knew it, no matter how hard her mother tried to hide her distrust.

Ely felt like she was disappearing from her life. She was facing the reality. And in reality, she had no one. She liked to think that that fact wasn't true. In the story she was a villain. A villain always loses. But her father always said that villains were also trying to reach their happy end just like the heroes, but they used ways that were bad and looked down upon. Ely liked to think that as well. She was just trying to reach her happy end. But looking at the distrust and disgust everyone gave her these days she wondered if happiness really achievable.

***

The humid air around home was one of the few things she hated and missed. She had nearly forgotten how the morning cold breeze felt against her face as she jogged around the neighborhood at around five thirty in the morning. She had put on a sweatshirt and shorts with sneakers this morning and grabbed her iPod and earphones carefully. So she wouldn't wake up her mother.

Her friends would've laughed at her if they heard that she didn't want her mother to wake up. The old Ely Grey would've made the loudest noise as she could. But the old Ely Grey had died and was replaced with the loner Ely Grey. She used to hate mornings, but now she find it as her only time to rewind and relax.

While the morning was cold like the South Pole, the midday was hotter than the Sahara Desert. The heat came around nine, so she picked the earliest time of the morning that had the sun if she was going to run. And she ran every day.

Ely stopped for a minute before raising her wrist to see her watch. Her eyes widened when she saw that it was almost nine. She'd been running that long? If it was nearly nine, then the shop would be open. Her mother was the one who picked up the groceries, but Ely had been doing it every day. The owner of the store, Mrs. Teresa, had been nice to her and was one of the few people who'd given her a second chance.

"You judge people from what they do today, not what they do in the past." Mrs. Teresa had said to her with a smile the first day Ely had picked up the groceries.

Ely had smiled back and believed her. She'd been ignoring the hatred stares ever since. They didn't bother her anymore. She would show them that she could be a great person.

Mrs. Teresa's shop was an old building that had been in town for centuries. Mrs. Teresa turned it into a supermarket and everyone's been buying their groceries there ever since it opened. Mrs. Teresa ran the shop herself since her husband had passed away and her kids had moved. She was strong for a woman in her fifties.

When the building was in her line of sight, Ely smiled and ran a hand through her chocolate brown hair that had grown to reach her shoulders now. Sweat had gathered on her forehead, sticking her hair to her head.