Her ex and nightmare...

...Tale told herself she was dreaming.

Precious handed the pad to Tale, and as she was about to sign the boy screamed.

"Madam, it is not for you, so you can't sign. The boy replied obviously bent on impressing the man that sent him.

"Actually she is the girlfriend not me." Precious said smiling at the boy as she picked up the box herself. Shock was registered on the boy face.

"Ma na you! Na you get that kine fine man?(1) Well technically he wasn't hers but she will bite as she smiled at the boy and thanked him.

"I wonder what it is, maybe a puppy, or new pairs of shoes, lord knows you need a few, or a box of condoms, or ..."

"Or we could just open it to find out!" Tale said as she dropped her bag and sought for a scissors to tear the tape.

Once that was out of the way inside was a velvet purple round florist box held nice by a red ribbon

Her eyes gleamed at the sight of it. No one has ever gotten her flowers before.

She undid the bow, opened the lid, and her living room was filled with the scent of roses. Four dozen red roses bloomed against a bed of green. She allowed herself one feminine sigh as she held her breath for a bit.

Precious plucked out a card from it and read the words out loud.

"I miss you. Bunny. SY"

Tale took the card from her friends hand to confirm what was written.

"Bunny? Is that what you both are going with in this relationship?"

"We aren't dating!"

"Soon or later, it will happen"

"You know it's just a friendly gesture."

"No it's not"

"Yes it is!" It just had to be

"Four dozen red roses isn't just a friendly gesture girl, it's a move towards romance

Precious replied dancing around her friend.

"I hardly think so."

"I easily think so."

"What do I do now? I don't know anything about flowers or taking care of them" Tale said using her hand to demonstrate.

"We could go to the mall and pick a vase.

"OK, I need to call him"

"Yeah you do" Precious replied nudging her friend as she went into the room to change out of her work clothes.

Tale was trying hard to draw her thoughts away from Su Yan qualities that seemed to be piling up in the positive direction by the minute.

He was confident, sexy, meddlesome, kind, easy to relate with, intelligent, sexy. Wait that's the second sexy. "Dammit" she searched through her bag and found her phone as she took a picture of the flowers before giving him a call.

"Hello" that calming voice came through

"Hey chicken, I got the flowers you sent, they are really beautiful but what if i didn't like roses.

"It don't matter, every beautiful woman deserves a rose

"Or four dozens of them" she replied smiling absently as she touched a rose. "Thank you"

"You are welcome" Wasn't she going to invite him over. That's what I wanted!

"So I'd talk to you later, me and precious are going to try to arrange them, give it the best we got,"

"I'm sure that will be fun" he would have loved to do that ritual with her.

"Oh it will be, Precious is excited."

"OK then, have a good night" he said frowning his face.

"You too" she blew air through her nose as she hung up.

"You know he wants to see you right?"

"I'm not sure I want to, I'm trying to hold on to my sanity and avoid men like him on a personal level"

"How's it going so far?"

"Not so good"

"So? Call him and have him over for dinner or launch or the night"

"Keep it PG precious, and I plan to do so, it's just the fun of making him wait it out."

"I know right, go change we have a vase to pick up and I'm starving."

"What are we going to do about dinner?"

"That's why we are heading to a mall right."

"Should we do local food tonight?"

"Absolutely, precious said as she picked up a rose and sniffed it. I need a man like Su Yan, he's the whole package."

"What do you know about packages, you hardly ever trust a guy that so much as looks at your butt!" Tale replied coming out of her room. She changed into an oversized baseball jersey and a short.

Precious had a hard time believing men liked her for her as they were always attracted to her body. She appreciated the ones who were honest about it and turned them down without a second thought.

The pain hit her again out of the blue...

"I forgot my debit card, be right out." she can't let her best friend worry over her as she ran back in to her room and popped some pills into her mouth.

"I'd be fine" she told herself.

Beep beep.

"Hello beautiful, how are you doing?" The devil always works hard they say.

She recognized the number alright. Chris! Her ex and nightmare, and a part of her past she hoped will stay buried forever.

She deleted the text not wanting to travel down a path that would not be good to her mental health.

"Are you ready?" She asked as she came out of her room.

"Honey, I was born ready! leggo"