A Pleasant Surprise

While Adam returned to his office, David made his way down to the design department. Suzy sat at her desk with the door ajar.

David stood in the doorway and knocked against the frame.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

Suzy looked up from her work in surprise. She had no idea what had happened with Emma afterwards, so she had no idea that they had been caught.

She smiled warmly at David. "Of course, come in."

David went in and stood in front of Suzy's desk.

"Please, sit down." She insisted. She always did her best to treat David well, only because he was Adam's secretary.

"That's okay Director Shaw, I have no intention of staying long." David said coolly. Only when she took in the tone of his voice did Suzy begin to get the sinking feeling that something was wrong.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked nervously.

"I've come to give you a warning." David said sternly.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." Suzy replied with a quivering voice. What had gone wrong? How much had been discovered? She wondered fearfully.

"It's true that there's no proof that you had anything to do with your friend's actions last night so the president is willing to look away this time, but I'll only warn you once; stop doing things you ought to not be doing. Only focus on doing your job here well."

Suzy's jaw clenched with frustration. She was supposed to be the star today. Months and months of hard work ruined by a single useless model. But what could she say? Suzy could only sit in silence and listen to David's warning.

David took her silence as acknowledgment and started to leave, but stopped in the doorway.

"One more thing." He said, looking back at her. "Be more careful going forward. You know what Adam is like, there will not be a second chance."

"Yes, sir." Suzy replied through gritted teeth. David couldn't see, but under her desk Suzy had clenched her hands into fists with her long nails digging into the palms of her hand.

~~

On the other side of town Elle had just finished eating breakfast, despite the fact that it was approaching noon. Elle heard the doorbell right but paid no mind to it. She was scrolling through her phone when she heard the front door open, there was a pause, and then she heard her father shout her name.

"Elle," He called out, "It's for you."

Elle got up with a frown. She wasn't expecting anyone, who could it be? She wondered curiously. Her jaw almost dropped when she saw what, rather than who, was waiting for her.

At the door was a delivery boy from a local flower shop, and in his arms was a beautiful bouquet made up of the same white wisteria flowers from last night, paired with pale blue roses. A huge grin slowly crept onto her face as Elle accepted the flowers.

Her father stood to the side, watching with a grimace as his daughter accepted the beautiful bouquet.

"A secret admirer?" Her father asked.

"No." Elle said, paying no attention to him.

"A boyfriend perhaps?" He asked playfully, but Elle could hear the tension in his voice.

"You don't have to worry, they're just from a friend." Elle said to placate him. "I did them a favour recently; I suspect this is a 'thank you' gift."

"I see." Elle's father walked away, but he couldn't deny that the idea of his only daughter having a boyfriend bothered him. It wasn't something he had prepared himself for yet, despite the fact that she was in her twenties.

While her father was busy contemplating Elle quickly took the flowers up to her room and set them down on her desk. As she admired them she realized there was a folded card nestled between the flowers.

Elle opened the note, all that was inside was the sentence 'Since you seemed to like them so much.', written in the neat, even script of Adam's handwriting.

Elle carefully plucked a few petals from the bouquet and pressed them into the card, which she then pressed between two thick books laying on her desk. She then took out her phone and sent Adam a text message.

First she sent a picture of the beautiful arrangement. Then she wrote, "Thank you for the flowers. How did you know I liked them so much?"

Adam simply replied with a picture of his own. Elle opened it and realized it was a photo of herself from the previous night, looking up at the flowers. Elle was speechless.

The photo was breathtaking; she could hardly believe the girl in the photo was her. But more than that, she couldn't believe that a man who was infamous for being strict and uncaring could be so thoughtful.

After a moment Adam sent a few more photo's. They weren't all of her, but the majority were.

"I thought you might like to have some photos for the memory, but be careful with them. You're the only person with a copy." Adam wrote.

As Elle was flipping through the photo's Adam had sent her she received another text message. This time it was from Abby.

"Hey there, long time no see!" Abby wrote. "Are you free today? Can I come over?"

Elle glanced at the time. Usually she liked to spend her weekends alone, but today she was in an exceptionally good mood.

"Okay." Elle replied. "Come over."