𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐍.

𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄.

⌖ CAME THROUGH TRIM | O69. ‹ ⚜ ›
❝ what life you think you gon' live without me? ❞

— AUGUST TWENTIETH
12:O5 A.M. ᐟ

As Iris stepped into the lobby of her condominium building, her attention was glued to her phone with thumbs moving fast across the screen. She was texting Cleo back the club's lineup for tomorrow night, reminding her to send out the memos, confirm the bottle girls, & make sure the two dancers scheduled for that Key Glock video shoot in the morning showed up on time. She barely looked up as she walked, already mentally juggling tomorrow's schedule.

But she paused when she heard her name, spoken with a polite urgency. "Miss Love?"

Her head lifted. The front desk concierge was leaning slightly over the counter, gesturing toward the massive bouquet sitting beside him. Lush, expensive, impossible to ignore & arranged in a way only one person ever did for her.

"These were dropped off for you earlier." He said.

Juliet Roses. The same flowers Jasiah brought her the night they were supposed to leave for Tokyo, his attempt at an apology for showing up late, right before he & Spoon ended up in handcuffs.

Iris furrowed her brows as she stepped closer, the scent of the flowers wrapping around her nose. A small card hung from a baby pink ribbon, paper hole punched & dangling against the glass vase. It was small—just big enough for a message that meant to land soft & feel personal.

She grabbed & unfolded the card.

Jasiah's handwriting hit her first with the strokes & the heavy ink with the way he always pressed too hard with the pen.

"Can we start from this point? Everything went sour after this, and I never meant for it to be this way."

She frowned, holding onto the card longer than she should've.

She wished it were that simple. She wished they could rewind to that night, back when she was only irritated because he was running late, back when her anger was minor, fixable & human.

Before everything spiraled & stopped being simple.

She lifted her eyes from the card & looked back at the concierge. "Thank you." Her voice came out lighter than she meant it to be. She slid her phone into her back pocket & reached for the bouquet with both hands, the arrangement so big it swallowed half her field of vision.

"Do you need a hand?" He asked, already stepping forward like he expected her to say yes.

"No, thank you." Iris managed a small smile, even though it was obvious she was struggling. "Have a nice day."

He nodded, & she maneuvered away toward the elevator, navigating on instinct alone. She had walked this lobby a thousand times, her feet didn't need her eyes to get to her pent.