Chapter 75 - The Bolton
In his hotel room, Jack was busy in front of the laptop. He was having a serious conversation with Erick, his assistant in Geneva, Switzerland. Even though it was getting late, Jack seemed to have extra energy so he didn't feel tired at all. It was only after almost 2 hours of talking with his assistant that Jack ended his call. He then laid down on top of the super large bed in the president suite's room.
"You can't run away from me, Anne," Jack said quietly, yawning. Jack couldn't help but feeling sleepy because it was already five o'clock in the morning.
When Jack was just starting to sleep, people out there began their day to work, including Anne, who was up early. She had to go to the flower shop as soon as possible to arrange orders from customers who had paid in full, including shipping costs since last night. Anne immediately rushed to get ready to go to the shop. After having a piece of white bread, Anne drove her car to the flower shop not far from the apartment. When Anne arrived at the flower shop, the other shops were still closed. Even the security guard around the shopping complex seemed shocked when he saw that Anne's car had arrived.
"You're very early, Miss," said the security to Anne, kindly.
"Yes sir, there is an order for a large bouquet of red roses for a proposal ceremony. So it should be prepared early in the morning," said Anne honestly with a smile.
"Wow, really fun proposal! Well, then good luck with your work, Miss. If anything is needed just call me using the phone. I'll be at the post," said the security guard.
"Yes sir, thank you," said Anne quickly, nodding her head.
Not long after, the security guard left Anne to continue her work, as his working hours were still until seven in the morning. He had to make sure the shops were safe until his working hours ended. Meanwhile, Anne went straight into the shop. She then started working on arranging the fifty roses that had been selected, using white wrapping paper. Anne carefully wrapped the red roses. Anne used a red ribbon that matches the color of the rose. Anne was only taught once by Mrs. Mary when she came to visit one week ago, but Anne's work looked beautiful as if it was made by a reliable florist.
"It's beautiful," said Anne happily when she saw her work that had been placed in a special vase.
Because it was a race against time that Anne took her cell phone to take a picture of her rose bouquet. When she managed to take her cell phone from the bag, Anne's face turned red when she realized that her cell phone was still in airplane mode. The first thing she remembered was the promise she made with Aaron in which she had to make dinner for Aaron.
"Anne, why are you this careless?" said Anne softly, as she activated her cell phone.
Anne closed her eyes for a moment when she managed to change her cell phone mode. After feeling quite ready to look at her cell phone, Anne then opened her eyes slowly.
"300 messages, oh Anne, you're just looking for trouble," muttered Anne quietly as she looked at her cell phone screen that showed a message from Aaron's number.
Out of curiosity, Anne then opened the three hundred incoming messages, all of which were almost the same. Aaron asked where she was and his complaints of being hungry. There were even fifty messages in sequence containing only the letters of her name per message.
After making sure there was no other message except the extraordinary messages from Aaron, Anne then continued her work. She took several photos of her rose bouquet to be archived before posting them to the Lotus Florist's social media. Because it was getting late, Anne then tidied up the remaining tools for arranging flowers into a storage box to make it easier for her to look for them again. Anne was such a neat person, she was very careful in storing goods so it was no wonder that the flower shop, which was messy last night when she put together a customer order, had been so clean this morning. The reason was that before going home last night Anne had tidied it up well.
Because she was done at the shop, Anne then walked out of her shop, hugging her rose bouquet carefully. She got into the car after locking the flower shop door. Armed with the address that was given last night by the customer, Anne drove her car down the streets of London which were still very quiet with very few vehicles passing, but this actually made Anne happy because she could drive more freely and carefully.
"What a rich man," said Anne softly as she entered the residential area of The Boltons. She drove slowly as she looked for a customer's house that matched the address on her cell phone.
Because The Boltons complex was very large, it took her nearly thirty minutes until finally she found the address after the customer stood in front of her house guiding Anne.
"Sorry, Mr. Felix, I'm late," said Anne regretfully.
"No, Miss, I just want to get ready. Thank you for the flowers, very beautiful and extraordinary. My lover will definitely like it," replied the customer named Felix, quickly admiring Anne's rose bouquet.
"You're welcome. If you'll excuse me," said Anne quickly.
"Wait, Miss, here are the tips," called Felix quickly as he pulled out a 50 pound note.
"No, sir, thank you, the money you sent last night was already too much and had exceeded the price of this flower bouquet. So I can't accept your money again, thank you again. Excuse me sir," said Anne, politely refusing money from her customer. Having said that, Anne then got into her car and left the customer's house.
Anne felt very uncomfortable in that luxurious complex. Being in a luxury housing complex made Anne think of Leon's home in Germany. When Anne came out of the small road to the main street of the luxury housing, suddenly a luxury car repeatedly turned on the headlight from behind and honked at her. Since she felt that she didn't violate the rules, Anne was still driving casually. She had just accelerated her car to get out of the housing complex.
"Are rich people always in such a hurry?" muttered Anne softly as she stopped and pulled over to the side of the quiet road to make way for the car that had just been bothering her.
Thump, thump, thump!
"Aghhh .... please!!!"
Anne screamed loudly in the car when she realized that an invisible person was banging on her windshield.
Thump thump thump!
"I'm sorry! I didn't do anything wrong please, Daddy help me please huhuuuu .."
Being banged on like that by a stranger made Anne lower her face towards the steering wheel. She thought back to what Leon had done to her, where Leon often screamed and destroyed the things that Anne touched.
Thump
Thump
Thump
"Hey Miss, open your window," shrieked the man loudly.
"I'm Daniel, Aaron's friend. Open the door!" Daniel added again, deliberately bringing Aaron's name so that Anne would open the window.
Hearing Aaron's name vaguely made Anne lift her face from the wheel. She tried to stare at the window for a closer look. Anne's fear disappeared when she saw clearly the face of the man who was standing outside her car.
"You ..."
"I'm Aaron's friend, open the door," Daniel said again, although Daniel's voice sounded faint but Anne could still read Daniel's lips.
Slowly, Anne opened her car door and got down and walked towards Daniel, who was smiling at her.
"What are you doing in this housing complex, you're not ..."
"You're really Aaron's friend, aren't you?" asked Anne, unconsciously cutting Daniel's words, Anne was remembering Daniel's familiar face.
"Of course my name is Daniel. Don't you remember what happened at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, when I was littering in the street at that time?" Daniel asked back.
Anne was silent for a while trying to remember what Daniel was trying to say. Soon Anne smiled when she remembered the incident at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne when she returned the garbage dumped by Daniel.
"Yes, I remember. Did you go out with Aaron at that time?" asked Anne again, her first meeting with Aaron was at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and when she got mad at Daniel, it was only two days before she met Aaron.
"Of course, Aaron was beside me at that time. Oh yes, you haven't answered my question, what are you doing in this estate?" Daniel replied quickly, again asking Anne on her purpose of coming to The Boltons.
"I'm here to deliver customer orders, I've come to this address," said Anne quietly, showing Felix's address, the buyer of the rose bouquet.
"Orders ..."
"Yes, orders, so Mr. Felix ordered roses at the flower shop where I work, because he wants to propose to his girlfriend. So I came to this place. I really didn't expect to come to a luxury housing complex like this," said Anne. quickly interrupted Daniel's words.
To be Continued