A month had passed since Ellen and I started dating.
Everything between us had been going smoothly.
The only difference was that this timeline had begun three months earlier than the one in the Room of Choices, making this past month something I had never experienced before.
That didn’t mean the investment opportunities I’d seen while I was with Naomi had changed.
The same stocks rose exactly when they were supposed to.
It was as if the Room of Choices was running two parallel scenarios at once.
The investments followed the same path.
Only Ellen’s story had changed.
Then something else happened.
Ellen’s father disappeared.
Hans Handmade Burgers closed its doors, and Ellen shut herself inside her room.
She wouldn’t answer her phone.
This wasn’t part of anything I’d experienced before.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
Even the Room of Choices remained silent.
Apparently…
This wasn’t a moment where a choice had to be made.
On the fifteenth day without hearing from her, my phone finally rang.
It was Ellen.
“Luke, can we meet today?”
“Sure.
Where?”
“Hans Burger.
Come here.”
“Okay.
I’ll be there right away.”
“No.
Come in two hours.
That’s when we’ll reopen the restaurant.”
“…Reopen the restaurant?”
“Yeah.”
“All right.
Do you need me to bring anything?”
“No.
Just come.”
“Okay.
See you then.”
I’d always been good at waiting.
But not today.
I arrived at Hans Burger an hour earlier than she’d asked.
Hans Handmade Burgers.
The door was already open.
The moment I stepped inside, my whole body froze.
Ellen was wearing her waitress uniform…
Just like the day we first met.
“Ellen!
I’m here.
I know, I came a little early.
Is that okay?
Aren’t you busy?”
“I’m working right now.
Sit down and wait.
That’s why I told you to come in two hours.”
“I can wait an hour.
I’ll be fine.”
I sat at a table, quietly watching her move around the restaurant.
Only then did everything begin to make sense.
Why I had met Ellen here.
Why she hadn’t been working at The Pink Door when I was dating Naomi.
The scattered puzzle pieces were finally starting to fit together.
After flipping the sign on the door to Break Time, Ellen walked over and sat across from me.
“Sorry I couldn’t answer your calls.”
“It’s okay.
what happened?”
“It’s a long story.
And honestly…
My mom and I are both furious.
I’ll tell you everything tonight after work.
I just wanted to see you first.
I’ve really missed you.”
“You could’ve called.
I would’ve come right away.”
“I wanted to.
But I couldn’t.
The situation made it impossible.
It’s a little better now.
Today is the first day we’ve reopened after being closed for fifteen days.
I can’t just shut the restaurant again.
Meet me at The Pink Door at eight.
I’ll explain everything there.”
“Okay.
I’ll be waiting at the usual table.
The one by the window.”
That evening, we met again at our usual table by the window in The Pink Door.
“Luke…
My dad disappeared.
He emptied every bank account.
He even took the money I’d been saving for college.”
She lowered her head.
“And what makes me even angrier…
He ran away with another woman.
He abandoned both my mom…
…and me.”