It was another long day at work, and when you left the office you wished for nothing more but to get home, take a shower, and curl up on the sofa with a glass of wine. Sometimes you wondered if it was worth it, to waste your best years for this job. There was no one waiting for you at home other than your cat, and the weekends were lonely and depressing.

It was raining, so you walked quickly, clutching an umbrella and feeling your hand getting unpleasantly cold. Seriously - hot shower. That was going to be the highlight of your evening. Finally, you reached your apartment building, and started walking up the stairs. But half-way there, on a landing between first and second floor, you bumped into someone sitting on the stairs.

You stopped in your tracks, raising your brows as you took in a figure of a man sitting there with an unlit cigar between his fingers. There was a bouquet of roses next to him, lying discarded on the steps.

He looked up at you with tired blue eyes, and gestured to a cigar he was holding.

“Got a lighter?” he asked in a low voice.

“Yeah…” you mumbled, still confused by this interaction. You fumbled with your coat pockets, and found a lighter, handing it out to him.

He took it, lighting the cigar and taking in a slow drag. You just stood there, staring at him and the wilting flowers on the ground.

“You’re kind of blocking my way…” you said, awkwardly trying to explain why you kept staring at him.

He sighed and scooted over on the steps, picking up the roses to get those out of the way too. He looked at the flowers and then extended his hand towards you. “Want them? Otherwise I will need to toss them out.”

“Break-up?” you asked, looking down at the flowers. It was pretty obvious.

“Yeah.” the man grunted. “Just came back from deployment… this whole time I thought there was someone waiting for me. I guess… no one can wait forever, huh?” There was bitterness in his voice.