“Ms. Ana Aguiar, I’m afraid that could be considered bribe. So, I have to decline.” The smile came back to his voice.

Her heart jumped and she could feel her face turning red hot.

“However, if you ask me out as a … possible friend, I would be free to accept.”

Teasing her, that’s what he was doing. And apparently, she was letting him. She couldn’t help but smile, her heart skipping a beat and her cheeks getting even hotter. Two could play that game.

“Very well, Hee-Joon시.” she audaciously addressed him in a more friendly way. “In that case, would tomorrow night be alright for you?”

She did not hear his reply though. Frozen by the image of a large bouquet of red roses standing in front of her door.

Her face lost all the excitement and her lips dropped the smile, as she carefully approached the flowers. The sudden silence to his reply must have shown something was wrong. Standing rigid near the bouquet she finally registered his odd voice.

“Ana시. Ana시. What wrong?”

She heard him curse and hurried to reply.

“I’m sorry. I got distracted for a second. Someone sent me roses…”

Ana reached for the roses looking for a greeting card.

“Does it have a card?” his voice suddenly tense again.

“No. But they’re outside the apartment...so, even if it was that freak it means he couldn’ get inside. Right?”

She wasn’t really talking to him, more trying to reason with herself to prevent freaking out again.

“Are you alright? Do you want me to come and check it out?”

“No. It could have been a gift from Christopher. I’ll call him and ask.”

Ana got inside the apartment, leaving the bouquet outside exactly where she had found it. The conversation had lost its charm and she excused herself promising to call him again. She was now standing at the entry of the apartment quietly looking for something out of the ordinary. She took off her shoes and made her way inside walking slowly and turning on all the lights. Through the kitchen and the living room, through the bedroom and finally the bathroom. It was empty and nothing was out of place. She drank a glass of water attempting to calm her nerves and dialed Christopher’s number on her mobile. While she waited, listening to the ring of the call, her heart was pounding so hard on her chest it hurt.

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“Yes.”

Christopher was still upset with her and it was clear on his tone but, that wasn’t something she cared about right now.

“Christopher, did you send me roses?”

She went straight to the point not concerning herself with the normal pleasantries.

“No. Why? Is there something wrong?” The pout like voice gave place to a concerning tone.

“It’s just there was a bouquet of red roses at my door and it had no card so...I thought it might have been yours”

She was trying her best not to give away feeling a nervous wreck.

“It was not me. This time. Did you want it to be?” There was his flirty tone of voice back again.

Ana wanted to hang up the call right away, she was in no mood for that but, did not want to explain what was going on either. She decided it would be best to pretend normality. It was not his fault about what was happening and she had already made a mistake with him today.

“Ahhhh, there you are. I thought you would stay mad at me forever. I’m so sorry about what happened, let me make it up to you.” Her fake lively tone sounded so bad at her ears, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Ana quickly said her goodbyes promising to schedule a proper date with him next time. She would have promised nearly anything just to get off the phone.

Roaming around her apartment she was driving herself crazy thinking about what to do and who could be behind those insane actions. Jumping at every little sound she heard she was about to have a heart attack, the second glass of white wine was not calming her down. She had always been weak to wine but tonight, the alcohol was not making any kind of effect on her. Fidgeting around the place, her thoughts were so messed up she considered packing up her things and leaving the country that night, with no care for her responsibilities. She could not do that. She knew she could not do that. Maybe she could get herself checked in to a hotel for a couple of days. But what then?! The police were not helping... could not help, at least before having something more incriminating in hand. Maybe they were waiting for her to get murdered or worse! Now she was getting pissed off. She finished the third drink in one go and fill up the glass again.

Anyway, going to a hotel was not a solution it was merely a temporary bandaid. “Bandaid” She started laughing out of nowhere. Maybe she was getting drunk after all. The doorbell made her literally jump and she dropped the glass of wine on the floor. Cursing under her breath she made her way to the door shaking like a leaf in the wind. Standing close enough to hear the sounds on the other side but, too far to peek in the peeping hole she was battling with her reason to answer the door knock. Again, the bell made her jump “Merda (shit).”