Like a child happy to show his parents his first painting, Jake brought his hands forward, handing me a rose flower. It was just a single red rose, while he had a small bag in the other hand.
It wasn’t extravagant, but I knew it had cost him some money, which I know he didn’t really have. And that alone made my chest tighten.
I stood u and hurried toward him. He had little to give, yet he gave it anyway, desperate to please me in the only ways he could. How could I not honor that? T
It would be wrong of me to make him feel any less of a man who was desperate to please a woman.
Slipping my arms around him, I pressed close, absorbing the quiet warmth of his lean frame. He smelled of faint cologne and comfort wrapped in simplicity.
“Thank you, Jake,” I murmured, smiling as I took the gifts from his hands.
Jake’s gaze softened when my fingers brushed against his.
Then, before I could react, he stepped closer.
His fingers brushed against my cheek, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. And then, slowly, so carefully, he kissed me.
It was hesitant at first, his lips pressing against mine like he wasn’t sure he had the right. Soft. Gentle. Testing
But then, when I didn’t pull away, he gathered his courage, deepening the kiss just slightly, his warmth spilling into me. A quiet sigh escaped me, my fingers curling against his shirt.
For a moment, I let myself sink into it. Into him.
But only for a moment.
I pulled back before it could become anything more, my lips tingling, and my heart doing something strange in my chest.
Jake blinked, almost like he was coming out of a trance, and then let out a small, breathless chuckle, his cheeks dusted with the faintest shade of pink. “Sorry,” he murmured, scratching the back of his head, suddenly looking boyish in a way that made my chest ache. “I-uh, I just… couldn’t help myself.”
I smiled, but it was a sad one.
Instead of answering, I reached for his hand and led him to my desk, where I placed the rose carefully beside my laptop. “Come on,” I said, trying to keep my voice light. “Let’s eat whatever’s in that bag before I start overthinking everything.”
His face lit up with relief, and within seconds, he was pulling out a small box of chocolates. Nothing extravagant, but enough to make me smile.
We sat together, sharing small bites of the sweet treats as Jake talked, filling the space with his easy words, and I let myself get lost in them.
Besides, Kester wasn’t even back yet. Why shouldn’t I enjoy this moment with Jake?
“I already have a surprise planned out for your birthday,” he said at one point, grinning like a man who had just discovered fire.
I nearly choked on my chocolate. “Jake, my birthday is still six weeks away.”
“So?” He shrugged, popping another chocolate into his mouth. “I like planning ahead.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet, you’re still here,” he teased, nudging my knee with his own.
Before I could respond, we heard a knock on the office door
Jake and I turned at the same time, just as the door cracked open and one of the security men from the front gate stepped in.
In his hands was a bouquet.
Not just any kind of bouquet-this was extravagant. Large, breathtaking, perfect arrangement of deep red, soft pink, and creamy white flowers, all wrapped in silk paper. It made the single rose Jake had given me seem almost pitiful in comparison.
My stomach clenched.
Who were these for? I thought, forcing myself not to compare. Jake had done his best, and that was more important.
Jake’s face shifted-just a fraction, but I saw it. The small frown. The tension in his jaw. The way his fingers twitched against his knee.
It was obvious he felt the way I did.
The security man walked up to my desk, carefully setting the bouquet down in front of me. “This was just delivered,” he said.
“Uhm… From who? And who is it for?” I asked with furrowed brows. I didn’t have anyone who would have the intention of sending me flowers. No crush that I knew of.
And Kester? He wasn’t even close to being that romantic.
“A courier company dropped it off at the gate. No sender is listed. But they said it was for you.” The man replied.
A strange kind of guilt twisted inside me as I reached for the flowers, aware of how intently Jake was watching me,
I didn’t mean to accept them in front of him-not when he had just given me a single rose with all the sincerity in the world.
But I did. I was too curious to know who it was from.
Slowly, I unwrapped the note nestled within the bouquet, my heart already racing as my eyes skimmed over the words written in that elegant, familiar handwriting.
A single sentence.
One that made my breath catch.
“You have consumed every inch of me, Kasmine. Tell me, do I haunt you the way you haunt me?”
I didn’t need a soothsayer to tell me who they were from.
Kester.KASMINE.
I kept reading the notes over and over again, even when I willed myself to stop.
Kester’s possessiveness needed a degree. His will to become a man he wasfi’t…? It was impressive.
His obsession with doing things that he originally wouldn’t do was as consuming as a wildfire in winter. And it was becoming dangerous.
Kester was never such a man. And I never envisaged him being such a man, even in his next life.
But this?
“Who are they from?” Jake asked, yanking me back to reality. His brows were pinched while his eyes scanned my face like he could see straight through me.
I inhaled sharply, pressing the note between my fingers like it might disappear if I held it tightly enough.
“Uhm…” I swallowed, forcing my expression to stay neutral. “I… I don’t know, Jake. There’s no name on it.”
The lie slipped past my lips so smoothly that it frightened me..
He didn’t say another word. He just leaned into his seat, his expression saying everything his mouth couldn’t say
And, gods, I hated it.
I hated that made him feel this way just moments after making him feel appreciated.
The silence made my stomach twist. My fingers tightened around the luxurious arrangement of bouquet, which probably cost more than Jake made in two years from doing assignments for students in school.
I shoved it aside, my chair scraping against the floor as I moved closer to him.
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