Bittersweet Expectations (Hate at First Flight #0.5)

41. Bouquet of Lies

My mind was in disarray as I stared back at Mrs Clarke, a jumble of questions and thoughts intertwined as I contemplated how to react.

She said no.

At least she hadn't said no initially. She had agreed. But then after she saw the bouquet she had changed her mind.

All because of the blasted bouquet that I had in my hands, hidden behind my back.

The same bouquet that Ethan had said his mother liked.

The same bouquet that we had gone into the city so early in the morning to get.

The same one that -

I felt a rage slowly burn inside of me.

A rage that threatened to swallow my entire being as it hunted down the one thing that it thirsted to destroy.

Ethan Clarke!

"Ashleigh honey," Mrs Clarke's warm voice drew me out of the anger that was slowly rising in me.

"Yes Mrs Clarke?" I tried to smile, to not show that I was slowly devising a plan to make Ethan Clarke regret his lies to me.

"Give me til the end of the week."

The confusion must've been obvious on my face because she smiled as she explained, "Let me think over your request for the week. After that then I'll let you know what my decision is."

A small genuine smile appeared as I nodded. "Okay Mrs Clarke."

At least it wasn't a flat out no.

She was going to have a decision for me by Sunday.

I headed back to Building X after that, my steps thundering as I did as I went over Ethan Clarke's ploy.

What was he up to?

Why did he tell me his mother liked bouquets when she obviously didn't, almost to the point she loathed them?

He himself had said that he was okay with me leaving, so why did he ruin my chances of getting Mrs Clarke's approval when he did?

Did he get a kick out of this entire thing? Was he probably back at Building X laughing at what he knew was going to happen?

Ethan Clarke!

And to think that I was being confused and thinking that I was attracted to him !

I was going to ask him straight to his face. He had better be prepared because I was ready to smash the bouquet in his face. Wait, what did the bouquet do wrong ?

Okay, I was going to smash something other than the bouquet in his face.

That train of thought crashed once I got to Building X and he was nowhere to be found.

I sighed in defeat as I remembered that he had left as soon as he had dropped me off. He had mentioned that he had to run to a meeting.

It had slipped my mind.

I placed the bouquet on the countertop before I went and grabbed one of the ceramic vases that I had seen the other day.

I unwrapped the bouquet and start arranging them in the vase, the beautiful aroma of the flowers flooded the kitchen as I did.

After they were carefully arranged, I placed them on the coffee table in the living room so it could add colour to ther otherwise white and black overall scheme of the house.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, save for my plan of confronting Ethan Clarke once he got back home.

The hotline was busy by the time I went in.