Pavel was dressed as an IT technician with a fake badge clipped to his shirt and a toolbox in one hand, and hidden inside the toolbox were twenty roses wrapped in plastic.
Driver number two was dressed as a maintenance worker with a mop and a bucket, and hidden inside the bucket beneath a layer of soapy water were thirty roses sealed in waterproof bags.
Driver number three was dressed as a catering delivery person with a stack of pizza boxes, and hidden inside the boxes instead of pizza were layers of roses and peonies.
Driver number four, who was the smallest of the group, was dressed as an intern with a backpack and a nervous expression,and stuffed inside the backpack were as many sunflowers as they could fit.
The remaining flowers were hidden in the van, ready for retrieval once they established a way inside.
Pavel took a deep breath and walked through the front entrance.
The security guard looked at him. “IT?”
“Yes, sir, got a call about a computer problem on the fourth floor.”
The security guard squinted at him. “You look familiar.”
“I have one of those faces.”
The guard stared at him for a long moment and then waved him through.
Pavel walked to the elevator with his heart pounding in his chest, and when the doors closed behind him he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
On the fourth floor, he walked past the receptionist with his head down and made his way to Iris Ivanovich’s office where he quickly unloaded the roses from his toolbox and arranged them on the one small patch of empty floor space he could find.
He was on his way back to the elevator when he passed driver number two in the hallway, who was pretending to mop the floor while strategically placing roses behind potted plants and under chairs.
Driver number three arrived next with the pizza boxes and convinced the receptionist that someone had ordered lunch for the office, and while she went to investigate who had placed the order, he ducked into Iris Ivanovich’s office and unloaded the flowers.
Driver number four came last, wandering the halls with his backpack and asking people for directions to offices that didn’t exist while secretly depositing sunflowers in conference rooms and break areas.
By 8:45 AM, they had made twelve trips each, sneaking flowers in through the front entrance, the back entrance, the loading dock, and at one point the fire escape.
By 8:58 AM, Iris Ivanovich’s office and the entire fourth floor looked like a flower shop had vomited everywhere, and the security guard downstairs was losing his mind trying to figure out how it had happened.
By 9:00 AM, Pavel called Mr. Ivanovich.
“It’s done, sir.”
“I knew you could do it, Pavel.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Same time tomorrow, and Pavel?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Tomorrow there will be five hundred, I trust you’ll be prepared.”
Pavel looked at his exhausted team and wondered if he should start looking for a new job.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “We’ll be ready.”
On the fourth floor, Iris Ivanovich stood in the middle of her office surrounded by a sea of yellow and pink, and she laughed until tears streamed down her face.
Her phone buzzed with a text message.
Ilay: Did you get my flowers?
