"Well, well, well," Lisa drawled, leaning against Angela's desk with a smirk. "Looks like someone had an interesting Valentine's week."
Angela blinked up at her, still gripping the red rose in her hand. "What are you talking about?"
Lisa pointed at the flower. "Oh, don’t play dumb. A single red rose, an elegant handwritten card? That screams romance if I’ve ever seen it."
"Yeah," another coworker, Jake, chimed in from his cubicle. "Looks like our girl Angela has a secret admirer."
Angela groaned and dropped the card onto her desk. "You guys are reading too much into this."
Lisa plucked the card up before Angela could stop her. She scanned the message and let out a dramatic gasp. "Would you be my Valentine’s date? Wait, wait, wait—Valentine’s was yesterday. This guy is persistent.”
"Hold up," Jake said, standing and crossing his arms. "Does this mean you actually have a boyfriend? And you never told us?"
"Boyfriend?!" Angela choked on her coffee. "No, absolutely not."
Lisa raised an eyebrow. "So, who is he?"
Angela hesitated. "Uh… just some guy I met last night."
A beat of silence.
And then—
"Last night?" Lisa practically shrieked. "Oh my God! You met this guy yesterday and he’s already sending you roses? Girl, spill!"
"Yeah," Jake added, looking way too interested. "How did you meet?"
Angela sighed, knowing she wasn’t getting out of this. "At a bar. I was having drinks, and he… just sat next to me."
Lisa’s eyes gleamed. "And?"
Angela shifted uncomfortably. "And we talked."
"And?"
She cleared her throat. "And we left together."
Lisa gasped dramatically, clutching her chest. "Wait. Hold up. Did you sleep with him?!"
Angela's face turned a deep shade of red.
Lisa’s jaw dropped. "Oh my God, you did!"
Jake let out a whistle, shaking his head in amusement. "Damn, Vasquez. Didn't peg you for a one-night stand kind of girl."
"Oh, shut up," Angela muttered, burying her burning face in her hands.
Lisa cackled, smacking Angela’s desk. "This is golden."
"Can we not make a big deal out of this?" Angela groaned.
"But it is a big deal," Lisa countered. "You don’t just sleep with a guy and then have him leaving you gifts at work the next day. That’s next-level commitment."
"That’s the thing," Angela said, finally looking up, her expression serious. "I barely know him."
Lisa blinked. "What?"
"We just met last night, okay?" Angela sighed. "I don’t know anything about him except his name—Eric. But he…"
She hesitated.
"But he what?" Lisa pressed.
Angela’s stomach twisted as she remembered the way he had spoken her name so effortlessly. How he had whispered details about her life that he shouldn’t have known.
"He knew my name before I told him," she admitted quietly.
A pause.
Lisa frowned. "Come again?"
Angela licked her lips, her pulse quickening. "He knew my name. My birthday. My job. Even my office."
Silence.
Jake finally spoke, leaning against her cubicle. "Okay, that's… weird."
Lisa waved a dismissive hand. "Or romantic! Maybe he's been crushing on you for a while. Like, a secret admirer thing."
Jake nodded. "Yeah. Could be someone who works in one of the company subsidiaries. Maybe he's seen you in passing, got interested, and finally made his move."
Angela frowned. That was… logical. But it still didn’t explain the eerie certainty in Eric’s voice last night. Like he had known her for years.
"I don't know," she muttered. "Something feels off."
Lisa rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Angela. You had a hot one-night stand, and now the guy is showing interest. Enjoy it!"
Angela wanted to agree. She wanted to brush it off as a harmless crush, a fairytale romance unfolding right before her eyes.
"Wait," a soft voice cut in.
The group turned toward Mia, another coworker, who had been silent the entire time.
Mia’s expression was thoughtful, her brows drawn together. "You said you don’t recognize him, right?"
Angela nodded slowly.
Mia pursed her lips. "Are you sure? Like, he didn't look even a little familiar?"
Angela shook her head. "No. Not at all."
Mia exhaled sharply and crossed her arms. "Then be careful."
Lisa groaned. "Oh, come on, Mia. Don’t be a buzzkill."
Mia didn’t budge. She turned to Angela with a serious expression. "I'm just saying—if a guy you don’t know somehow knows everything about you, that’s not romance. That’s a red flag."
Angela swallowed.
Jake let out a low whistle. "Damn. When you put it like that..."
The group fell into silence.
Lisa scoffed, but her earlier excitement had dimmed slightly. "Okay, yeah. That’s a little weird. But he could still be harmless, right? Maybe he just did his research."
Mia shook her head. "Or maybe… he’s a stalker."
A collective gasp filled the air.
Angela’s blood ran cold.
A stalker.
The word echoed in her mind like a warning bell, sending a chill down her spine.
Eric’s piercing gaze. The way he had watched her so intensely. The way he had spoken her name before she told him.
Had she just slept with someone dangerous?
Her heart pounded.
Lisa let out a nervous laugh. "Okay, now you’re just being dramatic."
But Angela wasn’t so sure.
And for the first time since last night… she was afraid.