Starting Over [Elejah]

Chapter 1 - Moving

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, onto the storyline. Elejah would be canon if it was up to me.

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Elena grabbed the last box labelled kitchen and opened it with some scissors. Inside was the last evidence of her life before this apartment. The single brunette no longer resided in Boston, Massachusetts but in The big Apple...New York City, where you can get Chinese food at 3am and the benefit of her best friends at her door step in under 10 minutes. She was starting over.

It didn't take long for Elena to make the decision to move. Kai never showing up put things into perspective. He wasn't the man for her, if he was...they would have compromised so much more where Elena didn't have to sacrifice so much of her life, her family and friends. She realised that she'd changed and not for the better either. Those rose coloured glasses had been removed and she could finally see everything crystal clear, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

She had spent the last 5 years with just one guy, practically living in each other's pockets and now the empty apartment suffocated her all the more. This was her life now.

Caroline, Bonnie and a few of her friends had gone to her shared apartment and helped pack her things. He wasn't there at the time, and by the state of things it looked like he wouldn't be returning either. She'd heard nothing from him, only apologises from his family. She loved him and the ache in her heart was a constant reminder. What was wrong with her? Why didn't he want to marry her? She had questions and no answers, just promises that he didn't keep.

Elena looked at the finished apartment. All of her belongings were in their rightful places. She finally had a place that she could call hers, it was her home. Although she was exhausted from moving and the emotional turmoil one would have after a break up, Elena felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Sitting down on the couch and turning on the tv for a little bit of Netflix while she filled her stomach with some pizza, the brunette relaxed to a night on her own.

~E&E~

Elena had been living in New York for a month now and although things were starting to look up, she still flashed back to the moment that Caroline told her that Kai wasn't coming. She wouldn't admit it to her friends but she cried herself to sleep when the loneliness became too much.

Caroline and Bonnie did their best to keep her company, but they had lives of their own. Bonnie had a boyfriend of her own, his name was Damon and he owns a bar with his brother Stefan. She couldn't ask her best friend to spend more time with her because she already had limited time with him as it was. Her job as a teacher meant they shared different hours most of the time.

Her blonde best friend Caroline was running her own business as a wedding planner. Elena took full advantage with her own wedding and Caroline did offer anyway. And even though they were both single, Elena didn't want to burden her friends with it all. She knew what they would say...

You deserve better anyway

He wasn't good enough for you

I never liked that guy

You'll meet someone else

Plenty of guys out there

While her friends and family would mean well, it definitely wouldn't make her feel better. She just wanted to wallow for a while and eventually she would stand tall with her head held high and move on, but today wasn't that day.

Things had become routine, she would see Caroline and Bonnie at the weekend. One night would be spent at Damon's bar called Lily's, and the other was spent having girl night at one of their apartments. Working as a nurse at the local hospital, her shifts varied but so far she hadn't had to work the weekend just yet. That would probably change once she'd had worked their longer, she was still trying to find her way around the hospital, everyday she would find a new route to the same place.

She had yet to meet all the doctors, each shift she was with a different attending and resident and it was a learning curve for her to learn their names. Just last night she had worked a shift with Dr. Mikaelson, he had dark brown hair and really nice brown eyes. He was nothing but polite and kind to her, even bordering on flirting, but Elena didn't think anything of it. Plus it looked like he was dating a fellow doctor. Either way Elena wasn't ready just yet, but she was a little disappointed with this revelation. She couldn't put her finger on it, but looking at him made her heart do strange things, it was almost like she was drawn to him.

Elena didn't mean to but over the course of a few weeks, she had found herself searching for him. Any room she walked into drew her curiosity, she wanted to just see him and she'd only been successful a couple of time out of a dozen shifts. She barely managed to function when she worked alongside him.

It was strange but she supposed she would have to analyse it with her friends. She had only met him once, so what the hell was wrong with her body. It seemed to have a mind of its own. Maybe the Kai debacle had destroyed her mental state to be able to work with hot guys or hot doctors.

The more she searched for those brown eyes each shift, the less her heart ached for what would have been. She was slowly realising how demanding being with Kai was. She moved away from everyone she knew to follow his life plan and she could still hear herself laugh at the stupidity realising that she was barely part to it.

They had been going through the motions, yes she loved him. But he placated her thinking it was what they should do, not what they wanted. They moved in together because they had been together a few years and it was the next step, especially if they didn't want to do long distance. Kai got to be closer to his family, but Elena didn't. And finally looking back, the proposal was something out of a horror story. Who looks up at the girl he loves, and shrugs in response to his parents talking about their future. The Parkers had said it would be great if they got married, and Elena could do nothing but be embarrassed about it all. Kai just looked at her and shrugged a why not. Then finally saying 'I think we should get married' and everyone who heard him cheered. From then it was a rollercoaster of dress fittings, booking a venue and cake tastings.

She had been steamrolled and she hadn't even realised it. Like before her rose coloured glasses were off now and it disturbed her how much she just went along with it, but not any more. Her compassionate and kind nature were taken advantage of and she realised she was starting new in more ways than one.