Chapter 7: Chapter 7

I thought that maybe I had to go to the club every night if it was going to have the same result it had at that moment. Hell, I wanted to relive the previous night over and over again.

Hiro had gone home with another man, drunk like the rest of the people at the club, and left me without a ride back home. I’d tried to call Brielle but her phone was switched off and I remembered that Kosara had gone to meet her. That meant that they were resolving their issues.

I had thought of calling Leon but it dawned on me that he wasn’t with me in Atham City and couldn’t be my savior as always. That brought it down to one person to call: Emrys.

At first, I’d been scared that he would be too busy and I’d probably have to start walking home but he was actually in a rush to pick me. Then while we were in the car, he took things further by offering (he offered and I didn’t even pressure him into it) to take me (of all people) to his favorite bakery (which meant that it meant a lot to him).

I freaked out the moment he asked me and it caused him to repeat himself and obviously not trusting my tongue, I nodded.

That was exactly the reason why I was in Emrys’s car (with him obviously in it) on our way to the not-so-popular bakery he said was a good thirty minutes’ drive from the house.

“So, what really brought you to Atham City?” Emrys asked trying to make small talk again.

I thought of a reply that wouldn’t sound as stalker-ish as the truth and said, “I realized I haven’t been spending much time with Brielle and I wanted us to catch up before the wedding stress.”

“Oh, girl stuff,” he said with a nod. “Nothing else?”

“None that I’m aware of,” I said with a shrug even though I could hear my brain chanting that it was all lies.

“Your allergy? Do you still…”

“Sadly, but I’ve gotten it under control enough to actually be alive so far,” I said with a light chuckle trying to remove the weight that had just fallen on us.

“You shouldn’t be going out carelessly like last night,” he said with a sigh. “God knows what could have happened to you. Imagine if you died.”

“I didn’t. Nothing happened other than me being left there by the friend I came with.” “You should have gone with a car.”

“That’s in the past so let’s just forget about it,” I said but it didn’t calm him. His hands were still tightened around the wheels and his brows furrowed in worry. “So, this bakery is owned by who again?”

That was enough to get him back to normal like I’d expected.

“Taniya. She lives next door and inherited it from her father who inherited it from her grandfather. It’s a family thing,” he said with a fond smile. “Though I’ve always thought that

the bakery was much better with her in charge. It’s like there’s magic in whatever she makes. She always says there’s no secret except love but we all know that’s not true.”

“You must really like her,” I said with a forced smile that he couldn’t even see since he was driving.

I didn’t like the way he spoke about this Taniya and it seemed they were really close. It seemed like there was a very big space for her in his heart and, as much as I know it was expected, I hated to think I had a competition in this mission.

“Yeah and she has the cutest daughter I’ve ever seen. She’s an angel.”

Oh, so there was no competition just as I’d wished for. Maybe the universe was actually working for me?

“She has a daughter?”

“Yeah but she isn’t married. She got knocked up when she was sixteen and he abandoned her. Luckily, her parents were supportive if not I don’t know what would have happened to her.”

And the competition was back. That alone made me want to go to the bakery even faster so I could see this competition and size her up.

“That’s sad.”

“I know but she hates pity so make sure to act normal around her.”

I’d do the opposite just out of spite and take her away from my man. Yes, that seemed like a perfect plan.

It isn’t, my subconscious said but I shut it out.

I wasn’t going to let some silly conscience destroy everything I had planned to achieve during my time here. The last thing I wanted was for it to become a futile mission.

“So, when are we going to be at this bakery?”

“We’re here,” he said and I looked out the window to see that he was just parking the car in front of the bakery.

It was a cute bakery with Disney posters on it while the name was Rosa’s Bakery. I smiled at the cuteness of Belle using her hand to hold up the name. I was eager to see the famous Taniya so I hopped down from the car almost immediately.

Emrys and I walked to the bakery and just as we walked in, the scent of bread and cake hit my nostrils and I was practically drooling. It smelt good. Suddenly, I was hungry.

“Emmy!” a girl of about eight years shouted and ran into Emrys’s arms who had the largest smile on his face.

“How have you been? Where is your mother?” he asked once he was out of her grip. She looked thoughtful for a minute and said, “Let me go get her.”

She ran back the way she had come and Emrys and I exchanged looks before going to sit on one of the tables while waiting for Taniya and her daughter to come back.

“You don’t order immediately?” I asked with a raised brow when I noticed he wasn’t looking at the menu.

He shook his head with a smile as he explained. “I prefer Taniya taking my orders and they all know that so they don’t bother coming to my table while I’m here.”

I nodded even though I could feel jealousy take over my being again. I hated to think that Emrys was whipped by her and pulling him out of her clutches would be impossible for me. I wondered why he even took me out if I meant nothing to him.

If I thought I was jealous when Emrys said what he did, I was even more jealous when the little girl came out with her mother. Taniya was gorgeous. Hell, she was more beautiful than me and that was saying something since I knew I was very beautiful.

Even with her wild brown curls tied up in a messy bun and the stray curls sticking to her face because of sweat, she looked like a model. She seemed so out of place working in a bakery with looks like that. I could see why Emrys was so clearly taken by her.

Had he brought me here to kill every dream I had of both of us ending up together?

“Emrys, it’s so good to see you again,” she said with a smile that put the smiles of supermodels to shame.

Emrys stood up and pulled her into a quick side hug. “Right back at you.” He looked at me. “This is my friend, Paris.”

I wanted to hate Taniya but that smile on her face melted every hatred I had growing for her especially when she directed it at me.

“Any friend of Emrys is a friend of mine. I’m Taniya.”

“I know. Emrys talks about you a lot,” I said returning her smile reluctantly.

“All good things I suppose,” she said her eyes trained on Emrys and I nodded even though I wasn’t sure she could see me. “What are the both of you going to have?”

“I’ll have your special red velvet cupcakes,” Emrys said then quickly added, “as always.” She turned to me and I said, “Vanilla?”

“Plain much?” she asked and I laughed. “How about you try the red velvet and if you don’t like it, I’ll give you extra vanilla?”

“Okay, that sounds great,” I said as she nodded and left to get our orders. “Is she your girlfriend?” the little girl asked Emrys who laughed.

“No, hon, she’s only a friend.”

That hurt deeply. Only a friend. I was sure he said it without trying to offend me but he didn’t know how much those words broke my heart.

“Yes, I’m just his friend,” I said forcing a smile as I looked at the girl. “Ella, this is my friend, Paris. Paris, Ellarosa.”

I smiled at the girl. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

“I like to meet Uncle Emmy’s friends. They’re not as pretty as you though,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I want to be as pretty as you when I grow up.”

“You already are,” I said and she blushed furiously.

Honestly, I wasn’t saying it to make her feel better but it was the truth. I knew that when she becomes older, everyone would have their eyes on her. She already had similar looks to her mother and you could tell she would be too beautiful eventually.

“Thank you,” she said and turned to Emrys. “I like her.”

“Me too,” he said and although I knew he was saying it to make her feel good, I still felt the butterflies fluttering in my stomach. “Now, go find your mother and see if she’s okay.”

She did as she was told and I focused my attention on Emrys. “Uncle, huh?” I asked with a teasing tone and he laughed.

“I’m actually her uncle to an extent. Brielle’s eldest brother is her father. Our family accepted her though even if Adan wouldn’t accept his responsibilities,” he said with a sigh. “She’s family to us.”

“Seriously?” I asked and he nodded.

I didn’t know when I heaved a sigh of relief and he raised a brow. I laughed it off. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

He was about to reply when Taniya came back handling a tray with two dozen cupcakes, all red velvet. She placed it on the table and they all stared at me waiting for me to try it.

I picked up one and took a bite and God, it was like heaven on my tongue. I wasn’t really a cake person but I was going to become one if it meant having more of Taniya’s cakes.

“This is heavenly,” I moaned.

Emrys laughed. “Now you see why I say it’s magic.” “It really is.”

“Thank you,” Taniya said with a smile. “I better leave two of you now.”

She left just as soon as she said it and I was fine. I realized there was nothing going on between Emrys and her other than regular friendship and I had nothing to worry about. I still had a chance after all.

“So is Paris still the same Paris of all those years ago?” he asked with a teasing smile.

I laughed. “I still am. How would you even know what I was like then? We weren’t even friends.”

“True but that doesn’t mean I didn’t notice you.” He shrugged. “I just preferred keeping to myself then instead of socializing. You know me and perfect grades.”

I nodded. I did know him and how he obsessed over having perfect grades. He was the definition of a nerd all those years back but he somehow made being a nerd cool. I didn’t think it was possible but he did it. It was one of the reasons he was never bullied like most nerds. If anything, he was looked up to.

He graduated as the valedictorian of our class and had a perfect score in the finals. He was even voted most likely to succeed and obviously he had done just that even though it wasn’t in the form most of us had expected. I’d thought he would end up a lawyer or a business man like his father.

“Yeah, I know. Who wouldn’t really? You were the golden boy.” “Well, sometimes I regret that part of my life.”

“Why would you? You were respected by everyone and I could have sworn you were that human who didn’t even have haters. I would have given anything to be you.”

“There were a lot of things I should have done that I didn’t and friends I should have made that I didn’t. Friends like you.”

You know when it feels like your heart has hitched and you try to breathe but it isn’t possible? Yeah, that’s how I felt. It wasn’t a love confession like I’d expected but it was something. It meant he had actually noticed me and liked me even if it was just as a friend.

I coughed and said, “Well why didn’t you?”

“I guess I was just so focused on my books that I didn’t want to do anything else and by the time I figured it out, my social life was destroyed.”

I laughed. “I get that. My only real friend then was Brielle. The others were just part of the perks of being on the soccer team and all that. Leon and I were more of frenemies then than actual friends.”

“Leon?”

“Leon King. We are best friends now.”

“The kid who felt he was better than all of us and went to a private school?”

I frowned. “You know that wasn’t the reason.” He simply shrugged. “I wonder why both of you never liked each other. I was even shocked when he couldn’t remember you because you guys were practically enemies. He may have been the only person that actually hated you in our town.”

“Oh, it’s nothing too serious,” he muttered but I could see through it and I knew it was a lie. “Forget about all that please. You were saying?”

“I was just saying that I understand what it’s like to regret your lack of a social life. Mine was more on the side of health issues but I still understand the feeling.”

“I’m sorry if I was ever cold towards you,” he said, locking eyes with me. Do you still wonder why I was utterly, hopelessly in love with him? “You weren’t. You saved my life once, remember?”

“How can I possibly forget?”

We burst into laughter as I took another bite of my sixth or seventh cupcake. I’d already lost count. Those things were just too addictive.

“So, on a totally unrelated note, I wanted to know why you never looked for me if you really wanted to be friends?”

“You never went back to our town after you graduated from high school and it’s not like I’d actually google ‘Paris Boudoir of Capemun Grove’ and you’d suddenly appear or something.”

I chuckled. “Actually, I would.” He raised a brow. “I mean, you don’t have to put Capemun Grove but you’d easily find me. I am a wedding planner and occasionally I try to branch out into planning other events. I have a company that I run with Leon and we’re pretty successful so my name would pop up if you google me.”

His eyes widened. “Why didn’t I do that all this while?” “Beats me.”

“Should we go back in time let me try that and see how it works?” he asked as his eyes lit up with excitement.

“Can we?”

“You know, it’s kind of rude to answer a question with another question.” I smiled and replied, “Did I?”

We burst into laughter and honestly, it felt like the best day ever. I didn’t want it to end because I knew it would end up with both of us (more like him) being too busy to hang out with each other. All I had was to enjoy the moment.

When we were done with our cupcakes, Alder asked Taniya to get him some to go with other pastries and after saying goodbye to Taniya and Ellarosa, we were gone.

While in the car, his smile was large and I knew that we might have taken a big step in our relationship.

“You know, I really enjoyed all we’ve done today and I’d like that we do it some other time in a more decent place like a restaurant. Maybe tomorrow?”

Yes, my day did get better. Things were finally looking up for me. Maybe my karma was working for me.