Pavel arrived at the building with his arms full of vases and the security guard frowned at him.
“Didn’t you just come here yesterday?”
“Daily deliveries,” Pavel explained. “For the whole week.”
The security guard shrugged and waved him through.
On the fourth floor, the receptionist saw him coming and her eyes went even wider than the day before.
“Again?” she asked.
“Again,” Pavel confirmed.
Iris Ivanovich’s office was already crowded with yesterday’s flowers, and now Pavel had to find room for even more. He ended up placing vases on the floor, in the corners, and on top of a filing cabinet.
“This is insane,” one of Iris’s colleagues said while peering into her office. “Who is sending you these?”
“My husband,” Iris said with a mixture of exasperation and affection in her voice.
“Your husband sends you flowers every day?”
“Apparently.”
The colleague, a man in a suit who Pavel noticed was staring at Iris with a little too much interest, did not look pleased.
“That seems excessive,” the man said.
Iris smiled. “You don’t know my husband.”
DAY THREE
Two hundred roses, fifty sunflowers, and thirty pink peonies.
The security guard at the front entrance did not look happy to see Pavel this time.
“You again?”
“Daily deliveries,” Pavel said with an apologetic shrug.
“How much longer is this going to go on?”
“Until the day before Valentine’s Day.”
The security guard groaned and waved him through.
On the fourth floor, Pavel had to make six trips from the elevator to Iris Ivanovich’s office, and by the time he was done there was barely any room to walk. Flowers covered every surface and spilled out into the hallway, and people from other offices were stopping by just to look at the spectacle.
“This is getting out of hand,” the receptionist said, though she was smiling as she said it.
“There’s more coming tomorrow,” Pavel warned her.
Her smile faltered. “More?”
“More.”
DAY FOUR
Three hundred roses, fifty sunflowers, and thirty pink peonies.
