chapter 5

I came into work and went up to my office. The building was really quiet this early in the morning.

I walked into my office and saw a beautiful bouquet of white roses on my desk. There was a little card attached to the vase. It read:

"Not stalking, Just curious, hope you like roses" 

It was not signed with a name, but I instantly knew who they were from. I smiled and walked down the hall and knocked on Ryan's office door.

"Come in and make it quick" he said gruffly.

I walked in and smiled at him. "Thank you for the roses. They're beautiful"

He looked at me and sighed "white roses symbolize new beginnings, this is your new beginning" he said as he went back to writing something. His tone was dismissive. 

How could he manage to be so deep and rude at the same time? I tried not to frown. 

How could he manage to be so deep and rude at the same time? I tried not to frown. 

"Is there any way I can repay you for everything you've been doing for me?" I asked and smiled.

"Here's a thought, you can finish your work today and get out of here" he looked at me and rolled his eyes. I was caught off guard by his nasty comment, but I did not want to let him know that I was offended.

"Okay...I'll do that. But if you think of anything else let me know" I remarked. 

"Sure" he said. 

"Bye Mr. Saunders and thanks again! They're lovely" I said in a sarcastic tone and began to turn on my heel to walk out of his office. 

He looked at me in the eyes and I couldn't read the expression on his face. It looked like he was going to say something himself but he just nodded instead and went back to doing whatever it was he was working on before I interrupted him. 

I left his office and closed the door. I sighed and shook my head, I could not even formulate a thought about this man. How could someone so brooding and rude be so charming the next minute and vice versa? At the end of the day, I was finished with my work so I made myself a cup of coffee before getting ready to leave.

I saw that Ryan was still in his office based on the light coming from underneath the door, so I knocked on his door. He didn't respond so I wound up some courage and let myself in.

His head was in his hands with his fingers in his hair. 

"Ryan?" I asked quietly.

He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes and a crooked tie. 

"What are you still doing here?" He asked in a rude tone as he adjusted his tie and began to type something on his computer. 

"I finished work late. Here's some coffee" I made my way to his desk and set the coffee on it, cautiously. 

He took a huge gulp from his piping hot coffee. "How do you know the way I like my coffee?" he asked after setting the cup down.

I blushed "I remembered your coffee order from when we got coffee together, I'm not a stalker, just interested" I smiled.

"The first to listen. Go home, it's late" he said as he started up his computer again.

"You should go home too." I said.

He looked at me "I told you, I don't go home" he said angrily.

I was not taking this cap from him. "Well, you should. No matter how much work you still need to get done, you have better things to do at home, like sleep. Seriously, you can't work yourself into the ground. Give yourself a break once in a while" I huffed.

"Maddie, I don't have time for this shit. Just please go" he said.

I took a look at him and turned around and left. Fine, he can do whatever he wants.

"have a good night Mr. Saunders," I said before leaving "I hope you will have a better day tomorrow" I said.

He looked back up at me "how do you know I didn't have a good day today?" he asked and shook his head. 

I looked down at the ground, I wanted to say it was because he looked like he hadn't had a proper nights sleep in days but I chose an alternate route. "I just know" I said and closed the door before he could respond. 

Before I went home I stopped by a store to get some ingredients to make some chocolate chip cookies. Cookies always cheer me up, maybe they will do the trick for him as well. I was baking my cookies when Maggie came home. "Hey Maddie, what is that smell? It is heavenly" she called out. 

She popped her head into the kitchen where I was mixing the ingredients together for my next batch. 

She sat on the counter and dipped her finger into the side of the bowl and licked the mix off her finger. I slapped her hand away as she laughed.

"What? Are these not for me?!" She said.

I shook my head "no, these are for Ryan" I said as I started rolling the mix into cookie shapes.

"Ryan? You guys are on a first name basis now?" She asked, sounding curious as ever. 

I shrugged "it's not a big deal. He asked me to call him that outside of work" I said as I placed globs of cookie dough onto the sheet. 

"When do you ever see him outside of work Maddie?" She asked. I looked at her and felt my face heat up.

"HE TOOK YOU OUT DIDN'T HE?!" She screamed. I shook my head "no it's not like that! We just went for some dinner after work yesterday"

"Yeah, sure it isn't. Ryan, dinner, and now you're baking him cookies?" She smirked.

"He got me this gorgeous bouquet of white flowers. He said they symbolized new beginnings"

Maggie laughed out loud "yeah you know what else they symbolize? Reverence"

I laughed to myself. "Reverence? What's that supposed to mean?"

Maggie grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it "it means that he's in awe of you. The new beginnings crap was just a cover-up. Think about it, he comes to your old job to specifically tell you that he hired you, he took you out to coffee as a brand new employee, the next day he took you out to dinner, and he got you WHITE roses today. He likes you" she said and shrugged. 

The way she bounces back and forth between warning me and being happy for me gives me a headache. She is always so wishy-washy. 

I bit my lip and looked at her "he also brought me home yesterday" her face fell.

"He was here?! RYAN SAUNDERS WAS HERE?! Did anything happen??" She asked.

I shook my head "absolutely not. This Is strictly platonic"

"Yeah sure. Platonic up until he seduces you" she said. I couldn't help but feel like she was judging me this whole time.

I laughed "shut up and order pizza"

She hopped off the counter and grabbed her phone as she made her way to her room. "On it!"

After she left, my phone buzzed. It was an unknown number.

"Hello, this is extremely difficult for me to say but I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you. I've been extremely stressed out lately and have had a lot on my mind. I found your personal number on your resume. -Ryan"

I smiled to myself. For some reason, his text made me really happy. He actually apologized. 

I decided to text him back as a giant smile played on my face. 

"Hi, it's okay. Are you texting me from your personal phone number?"

He responded a minute later.

"Yes. Why?"

"Nothing, curious"

"You're always curious"

"Wow, you noticed."

"I notice a lot of things"

"Is that one of your talents?" I decided to be funny. 

"Precisely. I'm a man of many talents" Is he flirting with me?

"I don't doubt that, I have a surprise for you..." I decided to be just as ominous as him.

" I hate surprises" of course he does.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you should get used to them"

"My bubble is still intact. Thank you very much. I'm looking forward to your surprise"

I smiled and put the cookies into the oven.

After Maggie and I had our super fattening pizza we decided to go shower and hit the sack.

While I showered I really wondered if maybe a teeny tiny part of me really did like the mystery that came with Ryan Saunders. There was something about him that made me so insanely curious.