In His Eyes

02|The Tender Trap

The feeling of sheer and utter nervousness shrouded Tom's body like a moth to a flame. It was like his whole body was wrapped with excitement and Tom had no idea why.

Maybe it was because he was finally going to meet his ever mysterious boss who has a weird habit of people watching in the havens of his tinted windows. Or it's probably because he hasn't been in a party in forever. And boy was he excited.

“Tom?” He heard Kate from downstairs, voice yelling.

“I'm upstairs” Tom replied while he hastily had trouble fixing his tie right. He cursed himself and thought why didn't he just bought a zip-on tie and not one this- fancier piece of cloth.

“What is this?” He heard Kate question, her voice booming in their apartment.

“What is what?” Tom questioned, finally giving up on fixing the tie, letting it loose around his neck. He examined himself for a minute, his skin was fair, for now. Sighing, Tom knew he could've done better with his hair. But he knew if he wasted 30 minutes with his hair, he would be late for the event later on.

“Tom!” Kate once more yelled from downstairs, finally catching Tom's distracted attention.

"WHAT!?”

“Would you come down here? What is this?” She retorted.

Sighing, Tom finally gave up fixing his hair and huffed downstairs.

“I swear, If this is another one of your weird-” Tom didn't finish what he intended to say when his eyes met the glorious bouquet of pure red roses by the center table with Kate's eye gleaming with glee.

“What is that?” Tom asked Kate softly, who nevertheless smiled dreamily at him.

The rose banquet, not more than a few dozen roses stood out against the room. Both in color and the sheer size of it. A letter was visible tucked along the first roses.

“I found it outside our door a few minutes ago. Who do you think it's for?” Kate asked, standing idly as she looked at Tom with wide eyes.

Tom shrugged, walking a bit closer to inspect the massive bouquet of flowers. The aroma is radiated was enticing, the way it stood out was breathtaking, and for a very first time. Tom was a loss for words as he watched the roses in awe, thinking who it may be from. For an instance, he thought it was from a very particular someone that watched him from afar, but later brushing off the idea and how ludicrous it was.

“Maybe it's from Robert, I mean you do have that date later on...” Kate said and Tom couldn't help it but curse from the inside.

“What's wrong?” Kate asked, seeing the recent distraught on his face.

“I forgot about that, about our date.” Tom confessed, placing his hands in his pockets.

“But you're in a suit?” She interjected, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, but not for our date” Tom said. “I have somewhere to be”

“And where is that? After Robert gives you the courtesy of sending you roses on the night of your date?” She grunted, arms still crossed from one another.

“The Plaza Hotel, It's a corporate event and we're not even sure if that came from him. It could be for you for all we know” Tom replied, his eyes fluttering back and forth from Kate to the roses.

“Well, let's find out shall we?”

She then walked close to the bouquet and grabbed the letter without a second look. She was about to open the card open when Tom forcefully stole it out of her grasp.