"I love you" he whispers, his warm breath tickling my ear. I turn around and give him a long kiss on the lips.

"I love you too" I say after our lips separate. Our fingers intertwine and we just lay there for a while, looking into each others eyes. His dark eyes are sucking me in, just like they did the first time we met.

"You know what day it is today?" he ask, smiling.

"How could I ever forget?" I say jokingly. Today is our five year anniversary. We are going to go to the cinema and afterwards we will have dinner at a fancy restaurant nearby. And then he will propose.

He have tried really hard to keep it a secret but I found the ring in the closet when I was cleaning. I will try to act surprised, I don't want to disappoint him after all.

He strokes my hair before he slowly sits up on the bed.

"I'm gonna shower then go to work. Boss have me start early because I go home earlier" he says while giving me a apologetic smile. "I'm sorry we can't eat breakfast together".

"It's okay, I understand" I answer. "Just hurry home, ok?"

"Of course" he says and leans down to kiss me on the forehead. "This day is going do be the best day ever. See you later Cecil".

--------------------------------------------

I work as a florist in a tiny flower shop in the middle of New York. I love flowers. My mother worked with them, my grandmother too and so did her mother. You could say it's in my genes.

You would be surprised how many people get confused when they see me. A male florist? Weird right? It's actually not that unusual. There's a lot of male florists if you only look. But who's got time for that?

Anyway, I begged the manager to end early. I wanted to surprise him when he came home. The manager agreed and so I headed home. I rushed home in anticipation with a bouquet of white lilies i my arms.

I enter the apartment-building, up the stairs to our apartment, put the key in lock and... The door is already open. That's weird. I am sure I locked after me when I went to work. Maybe he came home earlier than anticipated.

I press down the handle and push the door open.

"Ivan? Are you there?" I ask out loud. No answer. I take of my shoes and my jacket. "Ivan?" I call out again. Again there's no answer. I walk into the apartment and look around. Somethings wrong. Did someone break in?

I start sweating. What if they stole something? Nothing seems out of place but what if... I rush into our bedroom, with the lilies still in my arms. The ring! Just let the ring still be there!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I lay down the flowers on the floor, open the closet and search for the box I know the ring is. After a few seconds I find it. Puh! That really scared me I put back the box, takes the lilies and stand up when... a noise. Heavy steps on wooden floor. I turn around.

In front of me stands a tall man, dressed in black clothes and wearing sunglasses.

A sudden pain strikes me as I am about to shout. I look down and find a knife buried into my stomach. Red blood have already started to pour from the fresh wound. The man comes closer and pushes the knife deeper. More pain.

I try to pull it out but he is stronger than me. He twists the knife and I shout in pain. This seems to startle the man as he takes a step backwards and pulls the knife out of my stomach. I fall to the ground with no strength left in my body.

"Fuck!" the man mutters. He step over me and start pulling out things from the closet. He finds the box with the ring in it and stuffs it into his pocket. He prepares to leave but I grab his leg.

"Give it... back... the ring... Give it back..." I groan, my words barely able to leave my lips. The man simply shake my hand off and leaves.

"... Goddammit... I'm sorry Ivan..." I whimper. My body feels cold and I'm getting dizzy. The whole room is spinning. Fuck it hurts... I involuntarily starts to cry. I don't want to but i can't stop it. Tears are rolling down my cheeks and my sulking causes my wound to hurt even more.

"I don't wanna die yet... I want to live and grow old with Ivan... Why? Why? Why?!" I say, shouting the last word. "I'm so sorry Ivan... I love you..."

I close my eyes as my breath leaves me. And then... I fall. I fall and fall and fall some more. Then the falling stops. I open my eyes. A purple sky greets me. Huh? Why am I outside?

I sit up and look around. Tall skyscrapers surrounds me. I look down on my wound and almost faints.

First of all; I'm wearing another set of clothes. Black trousers, black shoes and a purple coat.

Second... Part of my coat is ripped, it's the same place I got stabbed and from the wound grows a lonely white lily.

I bring my shaky hand to touch the lily. It's really there... I start pulling it but when I do so it causes me great pain.

Is it... stuck to me? How is this possible? Where am I?

Slowly I stand up. I search my surroundings. There's no one else in sight. So I start walking. I need to find someone.