The Unveiled Rose

Sasha was visibly annoyed. She stepped closer to Joanna and said, emphasizing each word, "I love flowers, and someone sent me flowers. Isn't that good enough?

"Why does it have to be from a man? Do flowers from men smell better? Or are they more valuable?"

Sasha couldn't wrap her head around Joanna's mindset.

Unable to hide her coy smile, Joanna replied, "Because if a man is willing to send you flowers, it means he loves you."

Sasha was rendered speechless.

She nearly rolled her eyes but stopped herself. Instead, she forced a smile and said in a calm tone, "My friend sent me flowers because she loves me, too. Otherwise, why would she bother spending the money?" With that, Sasha hugged her bouquet and returned to her desk.

...

At lunchtime, just as I was tidying up my desk, Sasha burst into my office.

She glanced stealthily at Zane to confirm he was still engrossed in work before leaning close to me and whispering about some gossip she had just overheard.

I stared at her, incredulous. She had only been at Game Department for a few hours, yet she already knew so much.

I was impressed. "You're really something."

"It's nothing, really." Sasha grinned sheepishly.

Zane finished up his tasks and approached us, saying, "Let's grab lunch."

"Sure." Sasha nodded and grabbed my arm. "Anna, I haven't had the chance to ask. What do you like?" She put on a mischievous expression and asked, "Can you tell me?"

I thought about it seriously for a long time before finally replying, "I think I forgot."

From a young age, I had always lived for others. I worked hard to become the kind of daughter Mom wanted. Later, as a wife and mother, I strived to be what others considered "perfect". I'd never stopped to think about what I wanted or liked. Sasha didn't seem surprised. "No worries. Life's long. We can figure it out as we go."

"Yeah," I agreed with her words.

Before we could leave the office, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Zane said indifferently.

The door opened, and a delivery man stepped inside. "Is Annalise Jamison here?"

I looked at him, puzzled. I hadn't ordered anything. "That's me."

The delivery man handed me a bouquet of flowers. "These are for you."

I didn't know many people in this city, and those close enough to send me flowers were even rarer.

"Who sent them?" I asked, baffled.

The delivery man replied honestly, "I have no idea."

Not wanting to hold up his work, I accepted the flowers.

Sasha turned to Zane, mouthing, "Was it you?"

"Yeah," Zane mouthed back.

When he saw Annalise buy flowers for Sasha, he suddenly felt that Annalise herself deserved a bouquet as well. Without overthinking it, he went ahead and bought one. But now...

"Just say they're from you," he mouthed to Sasha.

Sasha raised an eyebrow but didn't refuse. Nudging me gently with her shoulder, she asked, "Do you like them? I bought them for you."

"I love them," I said earnestly with a nod.

The last time I'd received flowers was from Willow, and it had deeply touched me.

Now, I felt inexplicably happy receiving another bouquet from Sasha.

Inhaling the fragrance of the flowers, I felt a wave of contentment wash over me, as if the day's exhaustion had vanished.