Nicole entered the gallery on Monday morning to meet a large bouquet of flowers, she wondered which of her staff already started receiving early Valentine's day present and why they felt so comfortable to bring them here when they were new, she barely knew the people working with her, they were all new and she was still trying to get to know them.
"Who left this here? Rose?"
She asked the lady at the reception.
"Good morning ma'am,"
"Nicole, my name is Nicole, you can call me that,"
She corrected, she wasn't ready to be addressed as ma'am or ma, she hated to be addressed like that.
"Who is it that is already receiving flowers? We are still in January, isn't it too early for gifts?"
Nicole asked pointing at the huge bouquet of flowers.
"Ma'am, I mean, Nicole, they are yours, it was left here for you,"
She responded, Nicole was taken aback by her response, who would send her flowers on a Monday morning? Her first stop was Aron, he had said he would do it but he said during valentine and they were still in mid-January.
"Who brought it?"
She asked, the receptionist knew Aron so if it was him she would know.
"I don't know, I met it here and it addressed to you, I asked the security men and they said it was a delivery guy that brought it early in the morning and they were told to give them to you so they brought it in,"
She explained, Nicole walked to where the flowers stood and checked, there was a card and it was addressed to her, it was a good morning card and there wasn't a name on it, so how was she supposed to know who sent them.
"Wow, I wasn't expecting flowers, anyway, good job,"
She said to Rose and walked into her office carrying the bouquet of flowers, she dumped it on her table and looked at it properly thinking there might be another card that would give her a clue of who the sender was.
"Aron, I should just call him, I need to give that boy a piece of my mind,"
She said opening her bag and bringing out her phone, Aron was the only one that talked to her about flowers so these should be from him, he was teasing her and she was going to give him a piece of her mind, she dialed his number and waited patiently for him to pick up.
"Aron? Did you send me flowers?"
She asked as Aron took the call.
"Hi, good morning to you too Nicole,"
"Sorry, good morning Aron,"
"Good morning, Nicole, I didn't send you flowers, I told you I will do that on Valentine's week right? We are still in January,"
"Oh, I thought of that, sorry, I don't know who else will send me flowers,"
Nicole responded all the words she had planned on telling him dying in her tongue, she had thought it would be Aron because he was the only one that talked about flowers with her, now who could it be and why didn't the person not just say who it was so that she can accept the gift and just move on.
"Maybe it's your ex-husband,"
Aron suggested.
"Nah, that can't be, Rafael? Send me flowers, and worst with no name? Can't be him,"
She replied, she was sure it wasn't him, He hasn't spoken or called her since after they met at Aron's studio so why would he send her flowers? Not as if they were even close.
"Might be him, you should call him and ask,"
"I am sure it's not him,"
Nicole responded, there were things that Rafael would do, and sending flowers wasn't one of them.
"Okay, maybe you have a secret admirer,"
"Be serious,"
She scolded.
"I am or it could also be from a fan,"
"I don't accept fan gifts, it's on both of my pages,"
"Aha, well there are loads of other people but you thought it would be me?"
"I don't know loads of people Aron, and you are the only one that talked about flowers with me recently, of course, I thought of you first, anyway I will let you be, bye,"
She said and hung up on him while he was saying something, she looked at the bouquet again.
"Why am I even bothering about a bunch of flowers? Jizz, I have better things to do,"
She said and pushed the flowers aside, sat on her seat and brought out her laptop, she had things to do and a flower should be the last thing on her mind, she set to work immediately, one thing was sure, she wasn't made to be in the business sector, her stress levels were increasing on daily basis, the hotel was another thing, it was too huge for her to manage, things were going smoothly but there was always something for her to do at one point or the other, talk about the brand she represented, she had a reshoot by Twelve because the previous video ad she did was mistakenly deleted, now she has to do it all over again, God bless her that she didn't become lazy like most pregnancy women become, she was rather one of the few ones who gain unexplainable strength, the doctor did tell her not to walk on eggshells and we'll she was eating healthy and making sure to get enough sleep, she had another appointment by the end of January which will also be the beginning of her second month in pregnancy.
"I wish I can just run away,"
She said trying to get out of her own head, too many clouded thoughts all finding their way into her head at the same time.
"Unfortunately, you can't do that,"
Kris one of the young artists she had on her team said.
"Hello, Kris, you are here earlier than I expected,"
"Yes, I got out of school early, do you have anything you want me to do?"
Kris asked, Nicole really liked her, she is just sixteen but already have so many beautiful works in her name, Nicole had met her last month and took a liking to what she do but Kris had talked about giving up because she didn't have the right materials neither did she have a studio or even her own small space to do her thing since she shared a room with her sister who hated seeing paints in the room, Nicole saw too much in her to let her give up something she was good at so she offered to let her work here after school each day also on weekends, the pretty teenager had been excited and started work right after Del Cole was opened.