Alle Kapitel von She Gave Him Roses But Left Me Thorns: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

Three days later, Alec Scott moved into our apartment.Apparently, a pipe had burst in his rented place and flooded the floors, so he needed somewhere to stay for a week.Lindsay brought him home without even discussing it with me. “He’s on his own, and he hates staying in hotels. Besides, the guest room is just sitting empty.”As she spoke, she moved several pots of allergy-friendly ferns I kept by the guest-room window to make space for Alec’s three enormous suitcases.I leaned against the doorframe and watched her.“So, he gets to move into my home just because he doesn’t like hotels?”“Ivan, don’t be such a jerk. He’s been my friend since we were kids, and he’s my muse. We’re all friends. What’s wrong with letting him stay for a few days?”Her muse. She said it as though there was absolutely nothing strange about that.The next evening, I sneezed the moment I walked through the door after work.Alec was wandering around the living room in an oversized T-shirt Lindsay had

I suddenly remembered what had happened the week before. Alec had been rummaging through the drawer for painkillers after complaining of a headache, when he knocked my pill bottle onto the floor. He hurriedly picked it up and assured me that he had put everything back.I finally realized that all the pills must have spilled out. Either he had never put them back, or he had thrown them away.I had not thought much of it at the time. I figured I would get the preion refilled over the weekend anyway.But I never imagined I would be at death’s door before the weekend even arrived.I was getting less oxygen with every passing second. Black spots began spreading across my vision.I fumbled for my phone on the floor and dialed 911 with fingers that were trembling almost beyond my control.“Hello, I’m in anaphylactic shock… Lily pollen… My address is…”By the time the wail of ambulance sirens reached me, I had completely lost consciousness.As my eyes closed, I felt no fear. All I co

During my first six months in Rovenia, I thrived.The institute had some of the finest equipment in the world. There was no petty office politics, only a shared commitment to research and innovation.The project I led, Development of Hypoallergenic Alpine Plants, advanced rapidly.Using genetic material from polar moss and pollen-free ferns, I developed a remarkably resilient indoor plant that produced no known allergens.I was no longer living in someone else’s shadow.Back home, however, Lindsay was sinking fast.Without my eye for color and composition, her floral designs began to reveal how hollow and gaudy they truly were.She had always piled expensive imported blooms into her arrangements, mistaking excess and loud colors for luxury.Time after time, I had stripped her designs back with cool-toned greenery, bare branches, and carefully placed negative space. That was what restrained their new-money gaudiness and gave them the sophisticated polish people mistook for coutu

Two years later, global technology giant Aurexis Group officially opened its new regional headquarters in Westmere, Caldria.As an industry leader, Aurexis launched an open competition to design the indoor landscape for its ground-floor lobby. The theme was “The Allergen-Free Living Atrium”.With a budget of fifty million dollars, the project demanded more than exceptional design. Every element also had to meet the strictest standards of ecological safety.As the lead designer of one of Rovenia’s foremost ecological design teams, I returned home to lead our bid.The competition was held in the panoramic conference center on the top floor of Aurexis Tower.The rules were demanding. Each team was assigned a sealed display chamber and given thirty minutes to construct a miniature landscape using preapproved plant materials. A panel of judges from around the world would observe from behind one-way glass as the designers presented their ecological concepts. When I entered the loun

After signing the contract, I pulled my impeccably tailored cashmere coat tighter around me and walked out of Aurexis Tower.Winter in Westmere was bitterly cold. Fine snow drifted from the sky and melted against the dark asphalt.A woman stood alone in the plaza outside the building.It was Lindsay.She wore a thin coat that had faded with age.I had heard that after her studio failed, she was left buried under an enormous amount of debt.She had turned to alcohol to numb the pain, eventually causing severe damage to her nervous system.The hands she had once taken such pride in were shaking violently beyond her control. She could no longer hold even the lightest pair of floral shears.When she saw me, her body jolted. Then, she stumbled toward me.“Ivan, I saw the news. Congratulations on winning the contract.”I stopped and regarded her coldly, as though she were a stranger who had nothing to do with me.“Why are you here?”“I just wanted to see you. I heard you were bac