[s]he's a ten, but...

[16]

Men woo women with flowers. My crush sent me pots of insectivorous plants.

There was a pot of bladderwort beside a pot of a venus fly trap and I stared up again at the delivery man, silently asking him to confirm whether he had made the correct delivery.

The poor man looked plausibly awkward and I would've laughed had it not been for the fact that I had no clue what to do with those two plants.

I cleared my throat before asking quietly, "Are you sure you can't take them back?"

"The client would kill me, ma'am,"

I sighed. Fuck Caspian (quite literally too). "Can you throw them in a dumpster on the way back?"

"I would be fired if my boss were to find out," I cursed under my breath. "The man asked me to give you a note, miss," With those words, he handed me a piece of paper with Mr Grey's handwriting. I swear that man managed to have sexy handwriting, if that was even possible.

To keep near your windows,

Caspian Grey

P.S.: I am very sorry about what I did. Forgive me?

"Need my help carrying them inside, miss?" the man asked and I shook my head in response.

"I'll be fine. Here," I handed him a hundred-dollar bill before lifting the pots and closing the door with my foot. The man deserved the tip for being put in that situation.

I carried the pots up to my room, again miraculously opening and closing the door with my foot.

There was a window above my bed, and one near the study table. Just as I was laying down both the plants there, I realized two things: one, I had never told him I hated insects, and two, I had never told him that my room had two windows.

A chill went over my body as I remembered that he had also somehow managed to obtain my number, despite the fact that I had never shared it with him.

Without wasting another thought, I dialled his number. It took him three rings to pick up, and I calmed my thundering heart and greeted him politely, "Good evening, Mr Grey,"

"Good evening to you too, Ms Decembers,"

"I wanted to thank you for sending me those plants. I love them!" I honestly did. I hated stupid arthropods too much, and I was glad that I had one more thing to protect me from them.

"I am glad," he replied, his words being short, but his voice was anything but curt.

"Though I wonder how you knew about it...my hatred towards insects, the fact that I had two windows in my room, and most importantly, my phone number. How did you get it, Sir?"

A beat passed in absolute silence before he answered. "It's hard not to miss the fact that you despise insects when you go around calling people 'you stupid arthropod' or 'you son of a centipede'. While I can't get you plants to keep in your room that can kill chilopods, what I can gift you is something that will help you get rid of the insects. I merely estimated the number of windows you had, Noctiluca. And I am a teacher, I have access to the students' records. It wasn't hard to dig out your phone number,"

It did make sense but I still felt like there was something wrong. I refused to pry on it, in case it were to sound rude, but I didn't know what to say. Luckily, he saved me by asking,

"Pizza or burger?"

"Sorry?"

"What would you like to have for dinner, Noctiluca?"