The Hour He Never Gave Chapter 15
Ellie was always excited whenever Sean came over.
After school, if she spotted him at the house, she’d instantly glue herself to him and drag him into building LEGO sets or puzzles with her.
She wouldn’t even give him weekends off. Every Saturday, she begged me to take her to the flower shop to see him.
I smiled at Sean apologetically.
“Sorry. Is Ellie bothering you at work?”
“Not even a little. I like having her there. A kid makes the place feel alive. Otherwise it’s just me alone in the shop all day, slowly dying of boredom.”
Ellie never caused trouble. If anything, she helped out.
She wrapped bouquets, tied pretty little bows on them, and even introduced flowers to customers with weirdly impressive confidence.
Sean ended up giving her a spare key.
He stocked the shop with snacks, drinks, and toys so she could stop by whenever she wanted.
After closing every night, he’d hold Ellie’s hand while she skipped down the street, walk us home first, then leave only after making sure we got inside safely.
Worried about us living alone, he bought tools and reinforced the yard gate himself. He even installed a security
doorbell with a camera.
If
anyone messed with the lock, the thing would scream like the apocalypse started and send a notification straight to his phone.
After setting up the app on mine, Ellie-who’d been quietly watching the whole time-suddenly blurted out, “Mr. Spencer, I wish you were my dad.”
Both of us froze.
“I’m so sorry…” I quickly covered Ellie’s mouth. “She just likes you too much. Kids say random stuff without thinking-”
Before I could make Ellie apologize, Sean spoke up.
“Lucia, I’ve liked you for a long time.”
The tips of his ears were bright red, but he kept going.
“I didn’t grow up around much Floravian culture, but I know Floravians usually aren’t very direct about this stuff. So I never really had the courage to say it out loud. I just tried to show it through what I did.
“I know you’ve been through a bad relationship, so you’d naturally be more careful this time. But I still want a chance.”
As he spoke, he suddenly pulled a flower from behind his back and held it out to me. “Lucia, I know this is sudden. I didn’t plan any of this. Ellie taught me that trick, actually. Didn’t think I’d end up using it.
“So… just take this as an apology for putting you on the spot. If you’re willing to accept me, I’ll do this properly
another day. And if you’d rather stay friends, I won’t bring it up again. Things can stay exactly how they are. Okay?
I just stood there with sweaty palms, completely frozen.
Ellie slapped both hands over her mouth, too shocked to make a sound, her eyes bouncing between us.
Thinking about everything Sean had done for me and Ellie, I realized I’d gotten used to him a long time ago.
Whenever something went wrong, he was the first person I thought of.
When something good happened at work, or Ellie won an award at school, he was the first person I wanted to tell.
Somewhere along the way, I’d fallen for him too.
With that realization, I reached out and took the rose from his hand.
“Then I guess you should start planning that confession ceremony when you get home.”
Ellie screamed before either of us could react.
Sean finally snapped out of it, looking so excited he could barely talk.
“L-Lucia, then I should go back and prepare right now.”
For the next few days, Sean completely disappeared.
The flower shop even had a giant CLOSED sign hanging on the door.
Just when I was about to go check if he’d accidentally buried himself under flower arrangements, he suddenly showed up at my gate.
“Lucia, call Ellie down too.”
After Ellie came over, he told me to cover her eyes.
Then he stepped behind me and covered mine.
“Follow me. No peeking until I say so.”
He led us around corner after corner for what felt like forever.
Finally, he stopped.
“We’re here, my two princesses.”
The second he let go, I froze.
I was so shocked by what I saw that I couldn’t even speak.
