Page 104 of One Nightstand With My Ex's Uncle

EMILY’S POV.

I stared at the roses in shock. How could he do something like that to me? In front of everyone! We weren’t even dating, not to talk of being engaged. Why would he give me flowers?

We had agreed not to tell the public about our breakup, but we didn’t say we’d lead them on to keep on thinking we were couples.

After the applause, people began to whisper.

“So romantic.”

“Jeez, she must be feeling really lucky.”

“I wish I were her.”

“Oh my God.”

“Perfect. She has the perfect life.”

“Has anyone ever given me a letter, not to talk of a rose.”

“He’s so romantic, and handsome. He’s everything.”

“I bet she’s trying hard not to blush.”

“Damn, they look good together.”

“If I were in her shoes, I’d kiss him right there…”

Right and left, the whispers grew, and John’s perfect smile stayed still on his face. Where did he manage to get the roses? They didn’t seem artificial. I didn’t think flowers would still be that gorgeous with winter covering everything in white.

But then, even if the flowers had been ugly ones, I could not see myself rejecting them.

I took the flowers from him, and he put his hands into his pockets. Everyone burst into applause once more, and I went red out of pure embarrassment.

Why did he have to like attention so much? Must everything he did in his life be applauded, and in public?

My hands tightened a little around the flowers, and I looked at them. If only John hadn’t given them to me, maybe they wouldn’t make me feel so angry. If I ended up hating roses, then it’d be a hundred percent his fault.

“They’re real flowers, Emily. Smell them.” He said, and the applause died down.

I looked at the people in the canteen staring at us like they were watching a movie. My partner had her mouth open in a wide smile, and she looked impatient like she wanted to push the flowers underneath my nose, and have me smile at John, showing my approval.

I sniffed the roses, and nodded. They had a really nice fragrance, and I would keep on sniffing if it weren’t John who gave them to me.

“How do you like it?” He asked, and I looked around, at all the people staring at us. Did he really have to do something like that?

“It’s nice. I really like it.” I said, keeping my gaze on the flowers out of embarrassment.

“Do you know why I chose real flowers?” He asked.

Oh gosh, was he really going to start saying stuff like that right there? With everyone present??

“No.” I said, trying to rise, but he pushed down my shoulders gently.

“Because I want our love to bloom even in the winter. When all other love is withering, I want ours to wake to the beauty of a new day, and bloom beautifully. Even in winter.” He said, and finally…

“Awww!” Everyone died from the words of their so-called Mr. Romantic.

“You don’t remember, but this was the day we started dating.” He said, and the people began to clap. The whispers also started afresh. “I guess we’ll meet after this. Have a nice day.” He bent to place a kiss on my cheek.

“Don’t.” I said, in a low voice, through gritted teeth, and he smiled.

“Alright.” He said, and walked out, leaving the ladies to stare at him in awe.

“Oh. My. God.” My partner said, turning to look at me. “That was a masterpiece! I want our love to… what was that part? Oh yeah, bloom in winter! Jeez, you’re so lucky.” She said, but I gave a little smile.

“I have to drop these.” I said, and she looked at the flowers enviously.

“Do you have to? Don’t you want to show it around?”

“Definitely not.” I said, immediately, getting to my feet. As I walked away, I could feel a thousand eyes on my back, and it felt so hard to walk. I kept on feeling like my knees would buckle anytime, under the pressure of the stares.

I went straight to John’s office, and even on my way there, it felt like the employees in the cafeteria could still see me.

I opened the door to his office, but discovered he wasn’t there.

“Well, I don’t care wherever you are. You’ll get my message.” I said, going to his desk. I hit it hard with the flowers, sending petals everywhere. Then I proceeded to rip up the flowers as best as I could.

How dare he embarrass me? What was he hoping for? Did he think I’d blush, and thank him? Did I ever mention a wish about wanting to receive flowers in a crowd?

What did he think he was doing? Who cared about the date we started dating? We broke up long ago! What did that matter?

The door was pushed open, and I jumped, as my hand flew to my chest.

It was John.

“Sorry. Did I scare you?” He asked, and the fear sizzled out of me, and filled with rage instead.

“What is all this? Do you think it’s funny? Romantic? Oh. You must have some scheme you’re making up. You’re planning to get revenge, right? Because your petty self cannot stand being defeated!” I shouted, slamming the flowers hard into the ground.

It wasn’t satisfying, as I didn’t hear noise louder than my voice. I stepped on it, crushing it further with my heels.

Cruel, right? But I hated John more than I loved Roses.

“Emily, I have no ulterior motive.”

“Because your words are that easy to believe.” I spat in return.

“No. I’m serious. Tell me, what bad news could come out of giving you flowers?”

“You’re trying to make the public bring up news about our marriage again. Maybe so you can bug your brother that we need to get married.”

“Oh wait, I didn’t think of that. It’s actually a good idea.”

“What?”

“Anyways, listen to me, Emily. I’m not after you. I’m not intending to make you cry. Okay, you know what? You can take the afternoon off. Do whatever you wish to do after Lunch. Don’t stress yourself too much. Also, we’re having dinner together.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I say so.” He replied, walking towards his seat. The sight of him seemed to kindle the flames within me, so I walked out of his sight, before I could do anything more destructive.

I didn’t bother going back to the office, and slacked off as he told me to. I sat in a nearby café, ordering snacks slowly, so they wouldn’t ask me to leave.

I was about ordering the seventh snack when I got a call from John.

“Where did you go?” He asked.

“I’m at the café across the street.” I replied, dismissing the waitress with my hand.

“I’ll be there soon.” He said, and I got up from the table, finished my iced blueberry drink, and walked out.

He was walking up to me when I came out, and he smiled.

“Let’s have dinner. You’re hungry, right?” He said, taking my arm, which I jerked out of his grip.

“No.” I said, colder than the air whipping my hair out of my face.

He gave a little laugh, and led the way to his car. We got in, and he took the wheel.

It was a long drive, and finally we arrived at a restaurant, which wasn’t too big, but was a real eye candy.

Everything about it was elegant, and caught the eye at every turn.

“This is a five-star restaurant.” He bragged.

“This little thing?” I scoffed.

“Don’t call it little. You cannot walk in here without a reservation. The price of one meal will feed you for a month.” He said, and I rolled my eyes. We sat close to the window, and there was soft music playing in the background. The place smelt awfully nice too.

“What would you like to have?” A waitress asked, bowing to us, and John opened the menu, scanning it. I looked around, and saw the restaurant was filled with people that seemed to be highly-important.

Luxury shoes, rare diamond rings, flashy necklaces, limited edition clothes…

The people spoke like they didn’t have a care in the world, while some of them seemed to be there for business.

It was no normal restaurant.

“You like the restaurant?” He asked, and I turned to him.

“Yes. Better than I like you.” I replied, and he laughed.

“When did we come to this?” He asked, wiping his lip with a napkin.

We were served with appetizers first, and I marveled at how pretty each appetizer looked. I wanted badly to take pictures, to show it to someone, but I wasn’t proud of who was treating me to it.

“Do you like it?” He asked, and I nodded.

Shortly, after devouring the appetizers, our main course was served, and by then, people had started noticing John. It made me wonder if he truly hadn’t thought of getting people to notice us, so he could beg his father to get us married quickly.

I began to eat, and the food was a delight, but it was hard to handle the stares.

Some of them smiled, looking at us enviously, and some were obviously talking about the rumors the family had recently been involved in.

Some of course, looked like they were waiting for an opportunity to approach John, and probably talk about business.

And gladly, some were completely uninterested.

“I’m happy to spend time with you again.” John said, and I raised a brow. He was getting weirder by the day. Wasn’t it the same John who kissed Mandy in front of me? The same John who made me work from morning till evening?

The same John who gave me pointless work just to torment me?

Just then, he got up, leaned forward, and wiped something off my lip. My instinct was to brush his hand away, but doing that was the fastest way to have people talking about us on the internet the next day.

As if that wasn’t enough, he leaned closer, and kissed me.