Chapter 1
Back in 2014, I had just taken over one of the organization’s operations.
Over the previous two years, I had managed to put an end to conflicts between groups that had been at war for decades.
Not because I was the strongest.
But because everyone knew my word was worth more than any contract.
While patrolling downtown one afternoon, a small flower shop caught my attention. Not because of the flowers, but because of the woman taking care of them.
She was arranging a bouquet while chatting with an elderly customer, smiling the entire time, as if life had never shown her cruelty.
At that moment, two thoughts crossed my mind.
The first was that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
The second was that someone like me should never get close to someone like her.
The next day, I found an excuse to drive down the same street.
The day after that, I did it again.
Eventually, I even started changing my team’s patrol routes just so I could pass by that flower shop.
Before long, I began stopping there.
Making small talk about the flowers.
The first time I walked in, she greeted me with a warm smile.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“Good afternoon. I’d like to buy a bouquet.”
“For whom?”
I searched for a convincing answer.
“My mother.”
She smiled.
A few days later, I stopped by again.
She recognized me immediately.
“Did your mother like the flowers?”
I smiled awkwardly.
“She did.”
It was a lie.
The bouquet had been sitting on my desk the whole time.
The following week, I came back once more.
She looked at me with a playful frown.
“You buy flowers an awful lot...”
Embarrassed, I scratched the back of my neck.
“I think my mother’s getting spoiled.”
She laughed.
“If you keep this up, I’m going to end up turning your house into another flower shop.”
She laughed again before asking,
“What’s your name?”
“Erick.”
“And yours?”
“Noemi.”
“That’s a beautiful name.”
The words slipped out before I even realized it.
A faint blush colored her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
A foolish smile spread across my face.
I bought the bouquet.
White roses.
After talking with Noemi for a little while longer, I walked back to my car still smiling like an idiot.
As the city drifted past my window, I couldn’t stop thinking about one simple sentence.
She asked for my name.
I smiled to myself.
Sergey started the car, and we pulled back onto the avenue.
A few blocks later, his eyes drifted toward the bouquet in my hands.
“Flowers again?”
I looked at him awkwardly.
“Don’t say anything.”
A subtle smile appeared on his face.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
After a brief pause, he added,
“They’re beautiful.”
I glanced down at the bouquet.
“They are.”
He smirked.
“You leaving these at home too?”
Then I remembered Sergey had a wife.
“Want to take them home to yours?”
He smiled, carefully placing the bouquet somewhere it wouldn’t slide around during patrol.
“You just reminded me that I should take better care of the woman waiting for me at home.”
I smiled again.
Some of the bouquets I gave to Amelia, the woman who had raised me.
The rest kept piling up inside my house.
When Amelia opened the door and saw another bouquet in my hands, she smiled knowingly.
“Another one, Erick?”
“At this rate, you’re going to turn my house into a garden.”
She chuckled.
I looked away, embarrassed.
She accepted the bouquet and studied the flowers before saying a word.
“Pink lilies...”
She looked back at me with a gentle smile.
“So you picked lilies this time.”
I glanced at the bouquet.
“It was random.”
She smiled.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Did you know pink lilies usually symbolize affection?”
“I didn’t.”
I paused.
Actually...
A few days earlier, I’d watched Noemi carefully arranging a bouquet just like this one.
Maybe it hadn’t been such a random choice after all.
Amelia wandered through the living room, testing different spots until she found the perfect place for the flowers.
As she worked, she kept talking naturally.
“Are all these flowers just an excuse to see someone?”
She asked it so directly that I froze.
She had known me my entire life.
She knew that stack of bouquets wasn’t a coincidence.
“Well... I...”
I stammered.
She looked at the bouquet.
Then at me.
And smiled.
“So... it finally happened.”
I frowned.
“What did?”
“You fell in love.”
Silence.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
No answer came.
I was about to say something when she spoke again.
“I knew the moment you brought me that first bouquet.”
“You’d never given me flowers before.”
“You wouldn’t suddenly start doing that for no reason.”
“What’s her name?”
I scratched my head.
“Noemi.”
She smiled.
Then she straightened my collar.
Just like she used to when I was a little boy.
“Be a good man, just like I raised you to be, Erick.”
“And never forget who you are.”
I nodded.
“Never.”
As I watched Amelia carefully arranging that bouquet, I realized she was right.
For the first time in my life, I allowed myself to believe that maybe...
I really was in love.
“Are you still working today?” she asked.
“Yeah. I just stopped by to say hello and bring you the flowers.”
“Come have dinner with me tonight.”
“And stop by the grocery store first.”
“I need some potato sticks.”
“I’m making your favorite.”
“Beef stroganoff with plenty of sauce.”
Just imagining it made me hungry.
“Alright. I should finish my patrol in about an hour.”
“Perfect.”
“Dinner will be ready by then.”
I said goodbye and went back to work.
Later that afternoon, I stopped at the grocery store to buy the potato sticks she’d asked for before heading back to her house.
She welcomed me inside, and together we set the table.
I sat down first.
The moment I reached for my fork, she lightly smacked my fingers.
I looked up.
She was making the exact same expression she’d made countless times before.
“You never learn, do you?”
“What have I always taught you?”
Before she could finish, I answered with her.
“You wait until everyone’s at the table before you eat.”
I let go of the fork and waited while Amelia finished getting everything ready.
Only after she sat down, served herself, and nodded at me did we begin eating.
We ate in comfortable silence.
Amelia watched me with the same warm smile she always had.
She looked happiest whenever she saw me enjoying a meal.
After taking a sip of juice, she looked at me casually.
“Does she like stroganoff?”
I stopped eating.
Looked up.
And smiled.
“I don’t know yet.”
“But I’m going to find out soon.”
Amelia leaned back in her chair, smiling.
Before taking another bite, she said,
“When you do...”
“Bring her over for dinner.”
That night, I realized Amelia had been right all along.
There was no reason left to hide what I felt.
So I made a decision.
I was going to ask Noemi out.
