The Power of a Flower

    

    A morning rain just ceased to fall at exactly 7 AM. It was quite a cold weather that day, and the street was wet and clean. A woman came out of her house, with her purse at her side, seemingly going to her work. Her high heels' tapping echoed through the silent neighborhood. Descending the couple of stairs of her house, the woman suddenly stopped at her heels to stare at a beautiful bouquet of flowers nicely put at her doorstep. It literally took her by surprise. This had never happened before. The woman did not have a beloved, nor did she have anyone who usually offered her flowers. So, she picked up the nice bouquet, with a growing happiness and actually headed back inside her house. She couldn't just go to work without knowing who it was from, right ? 

Inside her house, she peeked from her window as she smelled the flowers. They were charming and of an excellent taste. She found a note stuck to the bouquet, and after she read it, her hands shook in excitement. It was from a man, probably a secret admirer. But, the little sad thing was, he didn't mention his name or any personal information, but he just expressed his admiration. The woman was instantly overjoyed by this approach. How elegant and romantic it was! She set the bouquet next to the window, and hoped he would visit her later. The rest of the day, she passed her work hours with an eternal smile. Then, when she came back home in the afternoon, she felt herself strangely even more seized by that new morbid curiosity. She did her housework, and lay in her couch, waiting for a sign until it became dark outside. Still, no sign of a man.

She crawled to bed, and even though she was tired, she couldn't block away her wild imagination. She kept fantasizing and dreaming about this man until she finally fell asleep. The next morning, she came out of her house to go to work, but she was once again surprised by another bouquet at her doorstep. She picked it up and went inside again, only to find it having the same note as yesterday's. "Did he think I didn't get the previous one ?" Thought the woman worriedly. "And how come he always puts it so early in the morning ?" "He sure means every word in this note if he puts that much effort into it." And so she went to work, mostly distracted by her wild thoughts about this mysterious man, and when she came back home, the night passed just liked the first night. No sign of the man. She slept herself that night as well with dreams and fantasies. But what could she do ! He left so much space between them that she felt obliged to fill it, even with her thoughts if she could. 
The third and fourth morning went exactly the same. The same bouquet, the same note, and the same timing ! "Okay! This man must be extremely shy.. This must be it. And the next morning ?" The woman told herself. "I will catch him red-handed when he puts down the bouquet.." 

 Later at night, she drank a lot of coffee to stay awake. There was no way he would get away with it this time. But, fancies never left her mind as she sat next to her window. As curious and determined as she was, the woman kept herself awake most of the night, only to sleep, however, halfway through it. The poor woman couldn't make it... 

When she woke up in the morning, she ran through her house like a lunatic and opened the door. And there lay again the bouquet of flowers. She almost screamed in anger. She took it inside and read the note as she always did, but this time, there was something else. She found an address! She breathed out in relief, and decided to skip work that day. She dressed herself well, and went immediately to the mentioned address. The taxi took her there, and when she got out of the car, she beheld a magnificent building. "Does this belong to him ? Is he then a businessman of some sort ?" She wondered. 
She went inside the fancy building and was welcomed by one of the employees there, who, strangely, greeted her by her name and asked her to follow him. Things were getting confusing and exciting at the same time. She also glanced in her way a lot of women waiting here and there, a lot of workers rushing about the building, but she could not have the slightest idea what it was about. 

"You may enter !" Said the employee to the woman when they reached a fancy office. "The boss is waiting for you." 

 "The boss !" The word rang loud through her head! "So, he is the boss of this company ! Nice" 
She went into the office, and found a man seated there. He stood up and came to shake her hand, and while her heart was not beating, she noticed how old he was. He was way older than her... 

 "You are miss Leslie I presume ?" He asked. 

 "Yes." She answered with a trembling voice. 

 "Well, miss Leslie, this will come as a surprise to you, but I want to congratulate you and thank you for being such a great help to us." 

"Help ? How ?" 

"You should know by now that you have been part of a social experiment that we have been conducting for a week now." 

 "A social experiment ?" 

 "You see," the man went on "We had conducted several social experiments before, but this one was to test how powerful can flowers be in a relationship. The results, I must confess, were truly surprising. I never thought flowers can have that much influence on women. This finding will greatly help us in our marketing strategy. By the way, how was your experience ?" 

Leslie stared at him blankly. "So you are saying there is no man behind this ?" Leslie asked, still in confusion...
The man laughed at her awkwardness and told her "Ah okay. The influence was clearly powerful on you. But, you know, since we have manipulated your feelings, we will offer you a compensation for it. So, you may claim it from the employee who conducted you here. Have a nice day miss Leslie." 

Leslie went out of the office, her mind blank, not knowing what on earth had just happened. The employee showed her the way again and offered her the reward. Then at the door, he smiled at her and wished her goodbye. She walked back home, thinking, depressed and puzzled, her dreams were nothing but pure fiction. She sat by the window later in her house and gazed outside then back at the bouquets lined next to the window. She was beginning to get over it, but there was one thought that kept repeating over and over in her mind. "Never ever again accept flowers from an unknown man..."