Every morning I wake up to the bright, delicate sun shining on my freckles. My black, unruly hair is normally up in the morning and my eyes shine because of the sun, creating a type of light brown, but normally they’re naturally dark brown. This is when I feel the most natural, kind of confident, but in the city of New York, it’s kind of hard to stand out. I check the time. 6:07 am. It’s just my brother, Mateo, and my mom in our small apartment, but no one is up at the time. Im hoping to move out soon and make a life of my own but with the job I’m working and the same routine I do everyday, I find that plan to be fading. Before I could start getting ready, I hear, “Oceahna! Ven, mi amor”, come from downstairs. It was obviously my mom but it was very unusual to hear her up this early in the morning. I skip downstairs and she gives me a bright, red rose to take to work. She says, “esta rosa te traerá amor." which means, this rose will bring you love.

“Gracias.” I say and slump back up the stairs.

I start to get ready. Straighten my hair, put on a little bit of makeup, pick out an outfit, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, grab some coffee, then walk out the door and down two flights of stairs, leading onto the street. The same, everyday. It’s about 7:10 by the time I'm leaving our apartment. With New York being so bipolar, the sky is grey now and it’s cold, so I grab a light black jacket to put on before I leave. I start walking to my job, which is a coffee shop down in New York Square. At this time, it can be crowded with many people, which I tend to ignore. But today, I had the soft red rose in my hand from my mom and it really stood out in the crowd of people, all wearing darkly impaired colors. From a distance, I see a man run across the street. He’s about 6 foot, medium length hair which is pushed back but some small sections falls to the front, tanish skin, very attractive. Then, I notice he has a rose in his hand. It caught my eye quickly due to the vibrant red color. Saying the I basically do the same thing everyday, it was shocking that this man had a rose like me, and I’ve never seen him before while doing my daily routine. He’s on my side of the street and starts walking the opposite way I do. We pass by each other and exchange a look. I quickly look to the ground. I can tell once he passed by me, he immediately turned around to catch another look, but the big crowd of people just pushed him along. I’ve never seen him before, and the fact he had a rose, same as mine, really made me curious.
He was in my head all day. Constant thoughts like if he knew me? Or if the rose was just a coincidence. My mom was right. Maybe this rose is supposed to bring me love. I honestly struggled to get this man out of my head. I immediately wanted to see him as soon as I could. Or just see him again for a quick second. I was praying that I would be able to see his perfectly carved face when I was walking home.

I watch the time tick till it reaches 6:30. It’s currently 6:27. I was nervous to walk home. Like what would I do if I saw him again. What would I say? I check the time on my phone one last time. 6:30. I jump up and grab my stuff and my rose. I clock out and walk  through the door and the breeze flows through every strand of hair what it feels like. It’s very windy now. I begin walking up the street. Looking every possible way I could. No sight of him so far. Then from the corner of my eyes I see a bright red glow, it’s him and he's holding the rose. In some way I feel like I'll always be able to spot out him out in a big crowd, even though I barely knew him, I felt so close to him. But I got scared so I quickly turned the corner which leads up to this park, well kind of not a park but rather an open field with a bunch of trees and a few benches scattered around. I walk into the open field quickly and start to slow down. Then I hear a loud scream, “Wait!” I turn around and that’s when I saw him. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach. My hair almost covers my whole face due to the wind and I’m constantly having to push it back behind my ears.

“Listen, you obviously don’t know me but we both have a rose. I don’t know if that means something to you but it does to me. You’ve been in my head all day and I feel like we have an intimate connection. I know it sounds crazy but can I get your name?” He said. Without any hesitation, I grab him by his beautiful shaped face and kiss him. The wind pushes all my hair back and was making me shiver. But in this moment, it was so beautiful. The wind breeze, the beautiful fall leaves but it was mostly him I was focused on. I fell for him even though I didn’t know him. I push away from his soft lips and look him in the eyes.

“Hi, I’m Oceahna. Nice to meet you.” I smile.