Conundrums | Edward Nygma

01.

Vanessa. 💡

I was carefully putting in my contacts when I heard the front door of my house slam open.

"Vanessa!" A familiar voice yelled for me. I quickly caught the contact before it fell down the drain and put it on.

It was my semi long term boyfriend of 6 months, Josh. I was just finishing getting ready so he came just on time.

I didn't really have much of an interest in him anymore, and I'm sure he could tell that my feelings for him were starting to fade away.

So I had no idea why we stayed together. Convenience? Or maybe the fact that I was absolutely terrible at breaking up with people.

After meeting Edward yesterday, those feelings started fading even quicker. He was so weird but in the cute way.

When I went into the living room, Josh wasn't there. I was confused until I saw the roses and a note placed on the table.

'Just came to drop these off, have a good first day! x - J'

It wasn't surprising at all, we barely spent any time together that it made me wonder why we were even together.

I took the flowers and put them in a water filled vase as I headed out.

💡

"Hey Vanessa!" The young looking guy at the receptionist desk called out. If I wasn't in such a hurry, I probably would have stayed to chat; but not today. "Some weird guy left you some things in your office, he said he knew you?"

I knew it wasn't Josh, since he'd never make the effort to come all the way to my job to leave things. The only reason he went to my house is because it was near his.

When I was my in office, I was caught off guard the numerous things laid out on the bed the kids would lay in.

I dropped my bag on a chair and got closer to take a look at what he left.

There was a small bag of peppermint candies with a green sticky note attached. It read:

'Peppermint helps stimulate the brain'

I put them aside as I grabbed a small box wrapped in newspaper. As cautiously as I could, I took off the newspaper and looked inside the box.

There was a bunch of makeup products inside and I almost squealed in excitement. Some of them I've been wanting for a while.

There was another sticky note at the bottom of the box.

'I saw you wearing makeup last night, I thought you might like some more'

I made a mental note to remember to try these out later and looked at the last two things.

There was a dozen roses that looked like they might be made out of newspaper too and a white box.

I went for the box first and when I opened it, I almost gasped. I didn't even know this guy and he got me a dress. It was black and my size.

I secretly hoped it was just a lucky guess. Another one of his sticky notes were in the box.

'How can you write a date in 5 letters without using any numbers?'

I turned back the sticky note where it said:

'Today; which is when I'm taking you out on a date.'

He had written down an address to the restaurant and a time, 7pm. I could feel butterflies in my stomach as I picked up the roses.

This was one of the sweetest gifts I've gotten in a while. The fact that he barely knew me did stick around in my head but at the time, the excitement was clouding my thoughts.

Later on though, the excitement was replaced by a bit of fear when one of my patient's mother pointed out the flowers.

"Are you a fan of his work?" I was confused at first, until she showed me that all the newspaper pieces were talking about the same person. "The Riddler, are you a fan?"

"These were actually given to me." I admitted, carefully putting them back as if they were dangerous.

"They're very beautifully made," she cheerfully told me, "Whoever did that must be a great fan of him."

It was only when she left that I looked up The Riddler and realized he was my secret, well not so secret, admirer.

I was mentally scolding myself for not realizing, but it was dark last night and I was tired. Now, I had a date with a criminal.