There's A Dark Secret Beneath

"I'm going out to dinner with Victoria tonight," Rowan told Kodi. He was so excited about it that he couldn't contain himself. He was practically bursting with joy.

"Wow, you're moving fast!" Kodi said, a little surprised. He knew that Rowan had recently met Victoria after a long time, and it seemed like things were already getting serious. 'Was the end time near?'

"No time to waste, eh?" Kodi said, shaking his head. "But are you sure you're not moving too fast? You barely know her."

Rowan rolled his eyes. "You sound like my mother," he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. He paused to sort through some documents on his desk. "Besides, time is precious. You never know when it'll run out."

He looked up from his desk, and his expression softened. "Now, what should I get for Victoria? Any ideas?"

"I really don't know what she likes," Kodi replied, rubbing his chin in thought. He seemed stumped, unable to come up with a good idea.

Rowan rolled his eyes, this time in clear annoyance. "How could you not know what Victoria likes?" he snapped.

Kodi frowned, his face scrunching up in thought. "Really? That's a bit much, isn't it?" he said. "I mean, we hardly know each other. I've only known Victoria for two weeks!"

"I can't believe you're saying that!" Rowan said, exasperated. "You're hopeless!" He shook his head, clearly annoyed.

"Unlike you who have known her for much longer, and yet you're the one asking me about her likes and dislikes?" Kodi mused, letting his feelings pour out raw despite their status.

"Well, you're the one who keeps calling her 'Vicky, Vicky, Vicky'!" Rowan said, clearly exasperated. "How can you not know anything about someone you give a nickname to?"

"Just because I use a nickname doesn't mean I know her well!" Kodi protested, his hands on his hips. "She's my coworker, not my best friend!"

"Arguing with you is foolish!"

"Mutual," Kodi muttered under his breath. Looking up at Rowan's conflicted brows and pouted lips, he understood he was lost in thoughts perhaps, on what to get Victoria. "She does look good in yellow. Maybe get her a yellow dress?" he suggested.

Rowan's face lit up at Kodi's words, but his expression quickly turned dark. He slowly turned his head to look directly at Kodi, his voice low and icy. "You've been keeping tabs on her outfits too?"

The tension in the room was palpable. Kodi swallowed hard, his face going pale. "I... I didn't mean it like that," he stammered. "I was just trying to say that I don't know her that well."

"You really don't!" Rowan half-shouted, his voice filled with a mix of anger and hurt. Kodi lowered his head, not daring to meet Rowan's gaze.

He had realized that Rowan's feelings for Victoria ran much deeper than he had realized. There was jealousy, protectiveness, and a deep care for her that he had never seen in Rowan before.

"I think she likes tulips," Rowan said, his voice lighter now. Kodi's head snapped up, a confused look on his face.

The tense atmosphere had melted away, and Rowan's expression was back to normal. But Kodi could tell something was still bothering him. He seemed lost in thought.

"What color of tulips should I get her?" Rowan finally asked the question that had been on his mind.

Kodi looked left and right, uncertain of what to say. He didn't want to anger Rowan, but he also didn't want to give the wrong answer. "Color of tulip?" he repeated, stalling for time.

Rowan sighed impatiently and glared at Kodi with his eyes saying, 'Don't make me angry, kodi.' Kodi's mind raced, trying to come up with the right answer.

"Do you think she'd like white tulips?" Rowan asked, a curious expression on his face.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Kodi nodded his head quickly, his eyes lighting up. "She would love white tulips. That's exactly what I was going to say." He smiled, and then let out a chuckle.

…

DINNER TIME

"Achoo! Achoo! A-achoo!" she sneezed continuously, rubbing her nose vigorously.

"Ah- Ah- Achooo!" Victoria let out a massive sneeze, her face scrunching up in the process. She opened her mouth, as if another sneeze was imminent.

Rowan stood by her side, concerned. "You're sneezing," he said. "Are you alright? Are you unwell? Is it Bacteria? Dirt or dust?" He was worried, almost sick.

"No, no," she said, shaking her head. "It's an allergy. I'm allergic to those." She pointed at his hands.

Rowan turned his gaze to the object of her allergy - a bouquet of white tulips, which he had bought for her.

"You're allergic to white tulips?" he asked, his voice full of surprise. "You used to love them so much. You never said anything about being allergic to them!"

Victoria nodded in agreement. "Yes, I did." She paused, coughing lightly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my allergy. I didn't know something like this would happen." She paused to blow her nose, her voice sounding nasal from all the sneezing.

Then she processed Rowan's words and looked up at him, puzzled. "Wait, how do you know I used to love tulips before? We've only known each other for a few weeks," she said.

When Victoria asked how Rowan knew about her tulip obsession, he was caught off guard. His mind went blank, and he froze like a deer in the headlights. He didn't know how that information had slipped out of his mouth, and now he was trying to figure out how to get out of this situation. "I..." he began, but no other words came out.

Victoria raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for an explanation. Rowan's mind raced as he tried to come up with a plausible excuse.

"It was Kodi who told me!" Rowan blurted out, suddenly remembering the conversation he'd had with his employee. "I asked him about you, and he said you loved tulips."

He cringed as soon as the words left his mouth, realizing how bad it sounded. "I mean... that's not the only thing we talked about! We just... um... chatted about a lot of things." He mentally kicked himself for making things worse.

Victoria tilted her head to one side, giving him a skeptical look. "You and Kodi chatted about me?" she asked, her voice laced with amusement.

Rowan felt like he was digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole. "Yeah, I mean, we were just talking about the staff, you know? We're all workers of LT Company, after all."

He winced as he realized how pathetic he sounded. "I'm sorry." Instinctively, Rowan tossed the tulips into the trash bin and pulled Victoria to another table where they could sit.

As they moved, Victoria couldn't help but chuckle at his awkwardness. He sounded so pathetic, and yet, she couldn't help but find it endearing. She immediately shook her head, trying to dispel the thought. It wasn't fair to compare Rowan to Sebastian like that.

"So," she said, "how did Kodi know that I don't like tulips?" She wasn't angry, but she was genuinely curious. "We only met a few weeks ago," she continued. "So how did he know?"

Rowan's eyes widened. "Oh, um... he didn't say exactly," he said, fumbling over his words. "It was more of an inference he made based on... um... on other things we talked about."

He was struggling to come up with a convincing explanation, but he could tell Victoria wasn't buying it.

She narrowed her eyes. "So, in other words, you're not going to tell me?"

Victoria nodded and shrugged, feigning acceptance of his unwillingness to tell her how Kodi had known about her dislike of tulips. She mentally noted that she'd have to ask Kodi herself at some point.

"Why don't you like tulips?" Rowan asked, genuinely curious as well as conflicted. "And how did you suddenly become allergic to them?"

Victoria was about to give him a vague answer, but then she realized she didn't have to. Rowan was her friend, and she could be honest with him.

In a sudden surge of honesty, Victoria decided to tell Rowan the truth about her distaste for tulips. "It started from something that happened in college. I was hospitalized and when I woke up, I was a different person. I suddenly didn't like tulips and a bunch of other things."

She thought back to her brother's comment on how she hated cotton candy before and now, she loved them so much, and a smile crept across her face.

"Cotton candy is the only thing that can win me over these days," she joked. "Just be careful, though - I'm very particular about chocolate."

While Victoria was busy joking around, Rowan's expression became a mask of conflicting emotions. He was struck by the casual mention of her time in the hospital, and his heart sank with a feeling of pain and regret.

It was obvious to him that there was a dark secret beneath the surface of her bubbly personality. But he didn't want to pry - Maybe because he just wanted to be her friend and support her in any way he could or maybe because he knew something about it and just wanted to cover it all up by saying nothing.