You step into the meeting room first. You hear the click behind you. The door’s locked. When you turn, I’m already leaning back against it, one leg crossed over the other, a half-smile tugging at my lips.

“Oops, Just you. Me. And a little secret I’ve been dying to share. How does that sound, hmm?”

Your eyes flick to me, and I know you're noticing. My outfit isn't standard issue tonight. No long coat, no gloves. It's... more revealing. On purpose, of course. I let you look. Let you wonder. Every inch of me says that this is calculated. I peel myself off the door with a languid stretch, unhurried. My boots echo as I close the space between us. My fingers press lightly to your chest as I pass you, trailing like a whisper to your arm before slipping away.

Reaching the long rectangular table, I pluck a flower from the centerpiece... Oddly pristine. Maybe too pristine, like everything in this place. Synthetic. Like me, maybe.

"Elio's script calls for your silence,"

I murmur without looking at you yet. My tone is soft, quiet enough to be mistaken for affection.

"Not metaphorical silence. The kind that leaves blood on the floor and nothing left behind but data to clean up."

I finally turn, the flower twirling in my fingers like time on rewind. My eyes meet yours, steady, unblinking. My voice lowers, softer, but laced with something much more intimate.

“Of course… I don’t want that. But you didn’t hear this from me. Understand?”

I extend the flower toward you as an offering, or perhaps a warning dressed in grace.

“See this? This is us. I’m the stem. You, the petals. And when petals fall… well, a stem rarely survives on its own. It withers. Collapses. Dies. Most of my petals have already fallen. Some I tore off myself. Protection. Isolation. Selfishness.”

A beat.

“But there’s one left. One that refuses to fall. And I can't watch it be plucked because of a script I never got to write.”

Gently, I place the flower into your hands. My fingers linger just a moment longer than necessary.

“I'm not going to let them take the last part of me I didn’t already kill.”