A Dangerous obsession.

Chapter one: °tulips.°

Stella woke up early in the morning, and as usual, she did not have breakfast. She went out directly after changing her clothes, heading to her flower shop.

On the way, Stella greeted almost everyone. All the residents of the neighborhood love her and acknowledge her kindness and love of helping.

Everything was normal, some customers started to come and everyone got their orders, and after a long time passed without anyone coming, Stella decided to go for a snack.

as soon as she approached the door, a man who looked to be in his thirties entered the shop, he was tall, wearing heavy clothes that barely showed his face, knowing that the weather was not that cold, Stella did not pay attention to that, she welcomed him and went to her place to take his order.

"What can I help you with?" she said in a soft voice with a smile.

He said in a calm voice after clearing his throat,
"I want to buy flowers."

"Um...of course sir, but what kind of flowers do you want?" she replied.

"What kind do you prefer?"
he said confidently, as if he was asking someone he had known for a long time.

She looked at him in surprise, then said hesitantly,
"Well... As for me, I prefer tulips, but I don't think that..."

"I want tulips, a bouquet of tulips please." He interrupted her in a calm, firm voice.

"As you wish... Sir, wait a moment."

After a few minutes, the bouquet of tulips was ready, the man paid for them and left, and Stella continued her day normally, not thinking much about it.

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After finishing work, Stella met her best friend 'Maddie' to go out together, while she was walking with her, she saw the tulips man from the morning, He was sitting in a public park reading a book.

Maddie noticed her looking at the man and said with jokes, "Are you interested in men now?"

Stella didn't care about any man trying to get close to her, she preferred to stay single, and all her friends knew that.

Stella looked at her with a mixture of anger and surprise, and said defensively, "What? No! I'm looking at him because I saw him before, in the morning, he came to buy flowers."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "And? What's so special about that? A lot of people come to buy flowers from your shop. This isn't the first person."

"No, it's not just that, he asked me what I preferred, and when I said I preferred tulips, he wanted to buy a bouquet of them. Weird, right?" Stella replied.

Maddie raised her eyebrows again in surprise. "Well... honestly, it is weird, but maybe he just didn't know what kind to buy. It's not like he's in love with you." she teased.

Stella rolled her eyes, "I know he's not in love with me...you know? Just forget it."

"Okay." Maddie replied pretending not to care.

After the outing, Stella returned home, and since it had been a long day, she went straight to sleep.

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Early in the morning, Stella woke up, her morning was routine as usual, she got dressed and went out.

On her way, she greeted the neighbors she knew, then arrived at the shop and started working.

Today was as usual, working on an empty stomach, offering flowers to customers as requested with a smile,

Suddenly, the Tulips man entered; Today he was wearing casual clothes, Stella couldn't deny that he was handsome.

She greeted him with a smile and then said, "Hello sir, how may I help you today?"

The man looked at her for a moment, then replied, "Um...maybe tulips again?"

"Sure, sir, wait a moment." She replied and then went To prepare the tulip bouquet again.

The man took the bouquet after it was ready, then looked at it and said, "I really like this kind of flower."

Stella smiled, then replied, "I'm glad you like it. You can always come here and get a bouquet."

The man nodded, paid for the bouquet, and left.

As he was leaving the shop, Maddie was at the door to enter. She looked at him for a while and then entered.

"So here he comes again, the Tulips man." Maddie with a smirk.

"He came to buy flowers, yes." Stella said quietly.

"He's handsome." Maddie teased.

"kinda." Stella replied without looking at her.

"Are you serious!?" Maddie said in surprise then walked towards Stella and continued her words.
"You never said that!"

"Truth be told, I just said he was handsome, not that I liked him, why are you making a big deal out of it?"

"I don't know, I'm just a best friend who's never heard her bestie compliment someone before," Maddie joked.

Stella rolled her eyes, "That wasn't a compliment, for God's sake Maddie!"

"Okay okay, my bad." Maddie.

A few days passed, the tulips man came every day with the same order, but today, when Stella went to the flower shop, hours, and hours, and hours passed, but he did not come, why? Who knows.

'I don't care anyway.' she said under her breath.

It was half past nine when Stella closed the shop and started walking home.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry I'm late." It was the tulips man.

Stella tried to act cool. She said nonchalantly, "Yeah, right. You can come back tomorrow; the shop is already closed."

The tulips man hesitated for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Can we hang out? I mean... if you're interested."

Stella was confused, but deep down, she liked the idea.

"What do you mean? We don't even know each other's name," she replied.

"Yeah, I know... I just want to get to know you better, if that's okay with you," he said, his tone unsure but sincere.

She hesitated for a moment, then smiled softly as a sign of acceptance and nodded.

His face lit up, and he said in a calm, hopeful voice, "Well... are you free tomorrow? We can go anywhere you'd like."

"Yes, I’m free. Then... see you tomorrow?" she said, her gaze meeting his.

He couldn’t help but fall for her eyes.

He nodded, a broad smile on his face. "See you," he said warmly.