I was lucky, the rose did not appear until I had finished reading, so it did not distract me.
I liked the story, but I think the ending was not as powerful as you wished it to be. Having the man go home with his headache and learning the truth 28 days later faded the degree of anxiety you had built up.
I hope you accept the comment I'm making, in the spirit it was made. I am not good enough to be a successful writer, at steemit, but I do see where the weaknesses are in stories written by others and I just naturally want to help them grow and become great authors.