"Elizabeth loves singing too. In fact she lives, eats and sleeps on music," Alice, her mother's excited voice boomed across the living room as 23 year old Elizabeth Wakefield entered her house.

The look of surprise in Elizabeth's face immediately changed into a look of disgust. She shook her head and hit her forehead in irritation.

"Mom and Jess are at it again," she thought to herself.

He was the seventh guy this month. Her mother and sister were really going to get it this time.

She softly closed the door and tiptoed inside slowly trying to get to her room without anyone's notice.

"Your sister has really outdone herself this time," a teasing voice told her from behind.

She turned around to see her brother, Steven and Jeremy Aames, her sister's husband standing and smirking at her.

"Yup!" Jeremy agreed with Steven. He came over and put an arm around her shoulder. "This guy isn't like others, you see," he said imitating Jessica's way of explaining such things to me.

"He is smart, can sing well, is into computers aaaannnd" Steven exaggerated "and he is surprisingly handsome"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and freed herself from Jeremy's arms.

"Shut up" she hissed at the laughing duo. "Just tell them I am sick and I don't want to meet him."

This really tempted Steven and he simply couldn't let go of this opportunity.

"Mom, Elizabeth is home," Steven shouted as Elizabeth whacked him hard.

"Watch it sis," he warned as he rubbed where she had hit him. "Your future husband won't like it if your are so violent."

She was about to charge on him when she heard her mother's voice calling her.

"You are going to pay for this Steve," she shouted as she walked into the living room pasting a smile on her face to see the new "Match" for her.

She stepped in to see a guy clad in formal shirt and pants, chatting with her mother and sister.

She immediately noticed his blond hair, muscled features and his smart looks as he talked animatedly. Her first impression of him was good unlike the others who had stopped by in the last few weeks. She saw the smile that played on his luscious red lips and the twinkle present in his gorgeous brown eyes.

She stood mesmerized for a second till she felt all the eyes on her. She snapped back into reality. She knew however handsome or nice he was, it was not going to work out. She wasn't ready. She would never be ready. She didn't want another man in her life. It would almost be like betraying…

She closed her eyes shut immediately. She couldn't let those thoughts take over her. She didn't want to break down in front of this stranger.

"Elizabeth. Come on. Sit with us," she called.

Elizabeth walked over employing her irritated look once more and sat next to her.

Jessica nudged the guy encouraging him to speak up and Elizabeth stifled a giggle. The guy seemed hopeless, no matter how handsome he was.

"H…h…hey" he stammered.

"Hey," Elizabeth said nonchalantly.

"Well…" her mother started and she knew what was coming "I have some work in the kitchen. Why don't you both talk. Jess will you help me?"

She watched both of them disappear into the kitchen and turned to face this guy to speak all that she had spoken to the last six guys. Elizabeth almost had it by-heart.

"Listen…ummm…"

"Tom" he offered "Tom watts"

"Yes Tom. I know my mother and my sister would have fed you with a lot of information, raising your hope about a lot of things, but seriously I am not interested."

He opened his mouth to speak but Elizabeth stopped him.

"Let me finish" she said and he nodded.

"Look, I maybe single but I am not yet interested in getting involved with someone."

"Yeah your mother told me about what happened and I am really sorry about it. But we can't keep thinking about…"

"Get up." She interrupted him, standing up herself.

"Whoa" he looked at her surprised.

"I repeat myself. Please get up. The door is that way," she pointed towards the door, her temper rising.

He looked annoyed, clearly annoyed because of her sudden tantrum. He glared at her mother who was standing on the kitchen doorway witnessing the scene, a look of surprise on her face too. But she didn't dare to open her mouth.

He got up and stomped away without looking back. Elizabeth couldn't blame him. After all, she had insulted him.

She still had another unfinished job to be done. She still couldn't digest the fact that her mother had told a complete stranger her life history. Her life was not a joke that could be told to every passerby, especially some dumbass from the dating agency, who was ready to laugh at her.

She walked over to her mother who was trying hard to avoid her gaze.

"This is the limit. If you call anyone else in this house without asking my permission then… then… you will find me dead" She screamed frustrated.

Jessica gasped and so did everyone else. Jeremy and Steven's usually jovial faces, looked serious and pained.

"I can't believe you told that complete stranger what happened with me. You had no right."

"But Liz, he was the perfect match…"Alice started.

"Don't use that word." Elizabeth interrupted, my eyes burning with tears that were threatening to flow out.

"Don't ever say it. No one can be my perfect match. No one can take his position in my heart and all of you never forget that." She risked one last look around the room and then ran upstairs to her room.

Everyone flinched as they heard the door slam.

A sob escaped Jessica's mouth, breaking the silence. Jeremy walked over to her side and hugged her as she cried on his shoulders.

"I thought…I wanted… I just …" Alice sobbed.

"Mom," Steven whispered walking over to her side and comforting her. "You must understand that she is not ready. Don't blame yourself. You only wanted her happy. It is not your fault."

"She will never talk with me again. Oh god! I never wanted to see that pain again in her eyes but… but now I am the cause for it."

Steven opened his mouth to say something comforting but no words came out. He shivered as his mind wavered to what happened a year ago.

He caught Jeremy's gaze and shrugged. Then he slowly released his mother and cautiously walked over to Liz's room.

"Elizabeth," he whispered, knocking softly at her door.

"Go away" a muffled voice came from behind the door.

"Please. Let me in,"

"I said go away. Leave me alone" she screamed a little louder.

"Liz…" he started.

"Get lost," she screamed once more and he heard the sound of something being thrown at the door. Frightened he backed off and walked to his room, and slumped on his bed.

He closed his eyes in deep thought. The last time Elizabeth had been this upset after the incident, she had tried to commit suicide and he didn't want it to happen again. He shuddered thinking about the trauma she might be facing now, the memories that might flood back into her delicate mind, the pain that might travel through her vulnerable body. In the entire year he along with Jeremy had tried their best to cheer her up by cracking lame jokes, by teasing her, by just making her laugh. But he knew deep down his heart that how much ever he tried, he would be unable to totally erase the pain away from her heart. It was only possible if she would just get the courage to move on…to fall in love with someone else…
But he wasn't sure how long it was going to take.

Elizabeth slowly walked over to her dressing table and looked strangely at he face that was staring at her from inside the mirror. All she could see was a girl, who looked exactly like her except her face, which was pale, her eyes, that were swollen and red, her hair, that had lost all its shine and was now just a thick, dry mess, and her body, that looked weak and thin. A set of fresh tears formed in her eyes. She closed her eyes hoping that when she opened them, the stranger in the mirror would vanish off and her image would appear. But it didn't happen. So much had changed in just one year.

So much had happened in a year. She was no longer the same Elizabeth everyone knew and loved. She never wanted to go back to that life again. She hated it. It brought back so many bad memories.

She slowly reached for the photo that was kept on her bedside table. Her hands slightly shivered as she picked it up. She looked at it for sometime till she had another breakdown. She knew she couldn't just forget everything. Her mother, Jessica, Steven, Jeremy, everyone wanted her to move on; they wanted her to forget everything that happened. She hated seeing them upset because of her. She had seen their worried and pained faces when she had tried to kill herself. She didn't want it to return back. For sometime, she had tried to play along with her mother's and sister's plan for setting her up with a boyfriend but after today she wasn't sure she could ever handle another man in her life who would only sympathize and pity her but never love her… never love her like him…

She stared at the photo for some more time. Then she got up regained her composure and slowly opened the door. Her mother and sister were still downstairs. She caught Jessica's eye as she came down.

"Liz" she whispered as she ran towards Elizabeth and hugged her.

"I am sorry," she sobbed.

Elizabeth hugged her sister closer, tears flowing through her own eyes. Her mother looked at her and she nodded, reassuring her that she wasn't angry.

She released her hold on Jessica and met her eyes.

"Listen," she whispered slowly "Lets just forget what happened today, okay?"

Jessica nodded softly.

Elizabeth smiled at her sister and nodded back. She slowly walked over to her mother.

"I am not angry, just upset," she assured her mother as she took her hand in hers.

"I am sorry," her mother whispered as she kissed her daughter on her forehead. "I wont do it again," she promised.

"I know you wanted me to be happy but I am not yet ready. And I don't think I need a boyfriend to keep me happy."

With that Elizabeth walked back to her room.