I was on my way to my cabin when some of the employees wished me good morning and I wished them back.

Turning the knob, I entered the room only to be surprised.

On my desk was a bouquet of Irises Stalking near , I picked it up and inhaled the woody smell. I looked for a note in it but found none attached. Only one name came to my mind of who could have done it.

"Come in." I kept the flowers down waiting for the person to enter.

"Good morning." Brae walked in with a smile.

"Good morning."

"Nice flowers!" She exclaimed, putting down the cup of coffee on my desk. I could directly see through her act.

"Ah ! Yes. I was wondering if you know who sent them. " I asked , playing along.

"Depends." She shrugged .

"On?"

"Whether you like them or not." My brow automatically raised at her words.

"Is it so ?" I bit back the smile that was threatening to fall

"Huh huh." She nodded.

"Interesting!" I thrusted my hands in my pockets.

"Let's say I don't like these flowers." I said looking straight at her.

"Then I don't know who sent them." She pouted feigning ignorance.

"Of course you don't." I nodded my head .

"I don't but I can tell what the person must be thinking while sending them." I went around and sat down in my chair before speaking.

"Really? What is it ?" She came forward and picked up the flowers ,walked to stand beside me. I turned my chair to look at her.

"Do you know what Irises represent?" She asked, looking at the flowers and then at me. I shook my head , genuinely not knowing the answer.

"Hope. It signifies hope. The person who sent you this must be hoping for something." She said.

"Hope ?" I raised my brow.

"Yes, hope. To get something from you, forgiveness maybe." Her eyes gazed intently into mine. I felt like I was losing myself in her beautiful blue eyes.

"I'll take your leave." She said, still looking into my eyes and I nodded. Breaking the eye contact, she put the flowers down and moved out of the cabin.

……………….

"Ah Ryan! What would I have done without you?" I said keeping the bags down on the sofa.

"Nothing?" He raised his invisible collars. I playfully rolled my eyes at him.

"If you want I can stay and help you set up everything."

"No, I want to do everything by myself." I joined my hands and glanced once at the whole place.

"So you don't need any other help ?" He raised a brow at me.

"Nope." I said popping the p.

"Okay, I'll see you then."

"Thank you, Ry." I said after him.

"Not needed." He shouted back, not turning around.

It had been a week since we had the talk in Evan's house. In the last week I had made many small gestures for him to melt his heart from dressing up for him, baking cookies for him , sending his favourite meals at his lunch break to sending flowers.

Finally I wanted to arrange a surprise for him. It was Monday and I was again absent from the office. Anyone in my place would have been fired long back for being absent this frequently.

Ryan had helped me to get into Evan's house with the spare key he had. Keeping every supply down , I looked about planning everything in my mind. Putting the apron on, I got into the kitchen.

The music blaring through the bluetooth speaker was keeping me company while I cooked. I prepared some of his favourite dishes like steak with a side of potato au gratin, spaghetti with spinach cheese stuffed chicken, caramel pudding and chocolate mousse for dessert. After finishing up, I set the table up, the flowers and scented candles enhancing the feel.

Once I made sure that everything was just as I wanted, I went to take a shower.

……………..

And she was again absent from work today. Wonder what she was up to this time! A smile touched my lips thinking back to all the sweet things she had done over the past week. I would lie if I say that I didn't like it. I was honestly happy that she wanted to save this thing, whatever there was between us and was putting in so much effort.

The car was finally parked in front of the house.

As I pressed the bell, Amy opened the door. She had been working as a cook in my house for some five years now. The old lady was always concerned for me and didn't treat me any differently than a son.

"Are you leaving?" I asked to see her all dressed up.

"Yes, son. I need to go somewhere. "

"Do you want any help?" Her eyes widened slightly.

"No , absolutely not." She blurted out almost immediately.

"Oh okay." I wasn't sure why she was being so strange but I let it pass. Maybe she was stressed for some reason.

After she left, I walked in and closed the door behind me. On coming to the living room, a sweet fragrance hit my nostrils, most probably of roses. That's when I looked around and saw that the whole place was romantically decorated.

Would Brae have done it? It felt too much to believe my thoughts.

A small piece of folded paper attached to the string of a balloon caught my eyes. Keeping my coat on the sofa, I strode closer to it and untied the note.

"I am wrong - you are right." It read, just confirming my suspicions. That explained the reason behind Ammy's emergency.

My eyes immediately darted to another piece of paper that was hanging just in front of it.

"I was being an stupid ass to push you away. Please come back."

"I muffed it. I am sorry." Another one read.

"I bet 'forgiving you' will be hotter than 'angry you'. Forgive me?" The side of my lips curved into a smile.

Next string had two things attached. First one was a pic of her where she had made a puppy face, her lips pulled in a cute pout. Under that was a note .

"You probably can't stay angry at this face. Can you?" I chuckled at this. It's true that I couldn't stay angry at this face anymore.

As I looked in front I realised that these notes had led me to the dining place where the rose fragrance was even stronger. I walked up to the table which was beautifully decorated. It had scented candles and red and pink roses kept in vases along with all of my favourite dishes.

I was smiling to myself looking at all these when some footsteps were heard behind me. I slowly turned around and only when I thought I couldn't get any more surprise I was proved wrong.