The CEO

Chapter Nine

For three years, I had seriously hated Valentines Day.

Not because I saw people my age on romantic dates being lovey-dovey and stuff, no. Because I could see parents of all ages, going out and enjoying the years they'd been married, talking about how they loved their kids and their life. It made me feel bitter and alone.

This year, I had no time to think about any of that.

I got a bouquet of deep red roses thrust at me the morning of the fourteenth. That wasn't the only bouquet. I peered over the top of the bundle I had at Ryan, confused, and he pointed at the front door where there were at least a dozen or so more bouquets of roses, all of them the same deep red color. Ryan didn't look very happy about our apartment being cluttered by flowers.

In fact, he hadn't looked happy about a lot of stuff for a couple weeks, since he came home angry and in tears. I still didn't know what had gone wrong that day, but made sure he knew I was there for him, even if he never did tell me. I didn't need to know about it, just wanted to make sure that he was going to be okay.

He went to his room, seeming to not care that I couldn't move all the roses by myself. I was still recovering from my hospital stay those two weeks ago. My knee was encased in a light brace, my wrist had a splint, I was finally free of that suffocating neck brace - yay! - and the bruises were ever so slowly fading along with the scrapes. My concussion was okay by then, and I was finally allowed to attend school that following Monday. It felt really, super weird not to be in school, though I was fortunate that Pete brought me the assignments and homework, and Kayla sometimes stuck around to help me understand it since I hadn't been there to listen to the teachers.

I stared blankly down at the roses, unsure if Aroon had sent them or someone else had. Did he even know when Valentines Day was?

"Your boyfriend needs to know the meaning of the word restraint," Ryan's voice was muffled behind his bedroom door.

"Not my boyfriend," I muttered. Yet.

A knock on the door startled me, and I reluctantly got up from my comfy seat on the couch and hobbled to the door, carefully side-stepping the aromatic roses. Sheesh, I was gonna stink like roses before too long! Opening the door, I wasn't at all surprised to see Aroon, and M, standing there and glaring at each other.

"What'd he do now?" I asked in a bored voice, gaze focused on M.

"You'll find out before too long," M responded grumpily, shooting me a quick smile to let me know it wasn't me he was mad at, but Aroon. "Just don't blame me if it you think he went overboard. I tried to reign him in, I really did."

I chuckled. "It's fine. Lots of people go overboard for Valentines Day."

Aroon beamed, nudging M with his elbow. "You see? I'm just like other people."

"I'm sure that's not a good thing."

"Sam doesn't seem to mind."

"He's just trying to reason your insanity," M deadpanned.

"It's called 'love'. But I forgot, you've never experienced one like this," Aroon shot back, folding his arms.

Are they seriously arguing about something as stupid as this??? I stared at them, wondering if this whole thing was a crazy dream. "Look, I don't mind the roses. How many bouquets did you send me?"

"Eighteen. One for each year of your life."

I blinked. Well, that was sweet of him.

"And," he continued, expression softening when he looked at me, ignoring M's grimace. "I prepared a whole day out for us."

"Really??" Excitement course through me. I was so ready to get outside the house again! But everyone had been afraid that I'd slip and fall on the ice, possibly hurting myself worse.