CHAPTER 3

She felt like she just got off a rollercoaster when she got home, the day’s work definitely took a toll on her.

    She took off her sneakers and closed the door, her mind still reeling from the incident that happened earlier on.

  She walked into the kitchen to fine her cousin, Mira preparing what appeared to be tacos for dinner.

   One of her favorites.

   “Hey couz, how was work?” Mira asked her.

     “It was okay” she shrugged.

    Mira gave her an unimpressed look “really? Is that all you’re going to give me?”

   She sighed “look Mia, I’m really tired okay? I’ll give you the details later”

 “Sooo, why don’t you go up, freshen up, and then we’ll discuss over dinner okay?”

 

   She simply nodded and exited the kitchen, heading to her room. 

     After scarfing down some tacos and explaining everything to her cousin, she set her alarm for the painfully early time she had to wake up the next day, and then she fell asleep.

       Brooklyn has always been someone to take out her frustration on her work, and she was fortunate that her job allowed it. She worked through her angst with a batch of dough, enjoying the slap of dough against the table.

  Her violation of the dough definitely caught the attention of one of her elderly worker, Peggy, who was like a mother figure to her since she had none.

       “Is everything alright dear?” she asked her.

     "I’m fine" she assured her, even though she wasn’t. She applied more force as she slapped the dough once more on the table.

   She had been working on the dough too much, that it had gotten too soft.

     “Fuck” she couldn’t remember the last time she had screwed up in the kitchen, even when she was upset.

   “Why don’t you work out front dear” Peggy said as she discarded the dough “I’ll do everything back here for a while”

  She wanted to argue, but she knew Peggy was right. So she washed her hands and headed out front to serve. Peggy used to be one hell of a chef, so she knew her kitchen was in good hands.

    She ordered Amanda to go serve as she replaced her behind the counter. "Forget Brian" she whispered to herself. "Your business makes you happy and that’s what matters".

     She was about to place cash in the cash register when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

      “Hey bestie,” she smiled “how are you doing you drunkard?”

      Tegan had sent her loads of message last night and most were gibberish, so she suspected that he had gotten himself wasted last night.

   He winced “I think I’m fine”

  She laughed.  “You really got wasted yesterday didn’t you?”

   “Yeah, I have a badass headache, but I’ll be fine though".

   “I can’t believe you got wasted on a Thursday, so unlike you”

  “Blame my boss then,” he said “just kept shoving drinks into my hand, and going on about how well I planned the party and all. I got a raise though”

   “That’s great Tegan”

  “Yeah, we need to celebrate” he said “and you know what else we need to celebrate?”

   “Hit me”

 “My boss fucken loved your cake, I’m pretty sure that you’re going to get more deals from us. Your cheque is in the mail by the way.”

“I’m so happy Tegan, thank you so much". She said into the phone “I owe you one”

  “You better”

  “Okay, wait it’s a Friday night right? Let’s go out and celebrate".

   “I’m down”

  “Okay, pick me up at 8pm from the bakery, I'll close early today. Everyone in here need to rest anyways, it’s been a long week".

 “I think this call is taking too long brook, aren’t you busy?” he asked

  “Nope. I’m out front and there’s no customer at the moment".

  Just then, the bell on the door jingled indicating another customer.

 “Okay, that’s cool”

   “Yeah,” she said as she lifted her head to see the customer walking towards the counter. She gasped as she saw who just walked through the door.

  “Brook? Is everything okay?” he asked her.

  She was too stunned to respond. Even though it was summer, he was wearing a jacket, with a hat that hid half of his face. But she could recognize Brian Kamryn anywhere, naked or clothed.

   “Brook?”

  “Let me call you back tee” she mumbled and she ended the call, and shoved her phone in her back pocket. Her stomach was visibly in knots, and she didn’t know if she should be shocked or pissed.

 This definitely wasn’t an accident.

 He came here looking for her and she knew it. Pissed or not, he was a customer and on that note, she had to be polite.

   “Good morning” she smiled “what can I get you today?”

  Obviously no one had recognized him yet. If they had, the place would’ve been filled with paparazzi by now.

  He took his time to study the showcase. He lips tilted up as he noticed her pompom special.

  “Actually, I would love to order a cake for an event” he said.

 Her smile dropped and her whole body went numb. It was one thing to talk to him with the counter separating them, and it was another to walk beside him. Despite the fact that she had been fighting the urge to reach into the case, grab some cupcakes and smash them on his face. The best course of action was to show him that she didn’t give a fuck about him anymore. When deep inside, she knew she did.

 “Amanda” she called out.

 “Yes Brooklyn”

 “I want to show Mr.…?”

  He know that she knew exactly who he was, but he played along “just Benjamin” he lied.

 “Oh right. I want to show Mr. Benjamin some of our designs” she said “please come take over the counter”

  “Sure thing boss”

 She stepped out and ushered him towards the tasting table,which gave them a little privacy that she didn’t want at the moment.

   “So Mr. Benjamin,” she said, as she clutched her clipboard “you’re looking for a cake?”

   “Yes” he answered “I heard you’re the best, so decided to come here first.”

 She had no idea what he was trying to achieve by flattering her, but she was all business mode and nothing was going to work.

 “What’s the occasion” she asked.

 “A birthday party”

    She wrote that down.

   “For who?”

     “My brother”

      She also wrote that down.

    “His name?” she asked.

  He stared at her, clearly amused that she was playing the ignorant game.

 “His name is Jason,” he answered “his birthday is in two weeks”

  Any chance that she was going to keep acting ignorant went down the drain when he mentioned his brother’s name. The same brother whose fiancée he was fucking the other night. 

 “You said you wanted a birthday cake for your brother?” she asked, her voice icy.

  “Yes”

  “I think what you should be ordering, should be an apology cake sir”

  “And why would I do that?” he frowned slightly

  She sparked “I don’t know what world you came from,but most people would feel bad about fucking their brother’s fiancée. I know your family have some absurd set of rules, but this is too fucken much” realizing that she was clearly beginning to get upset, she focused on the clipboard.

  He sighed “it’s not what you think”

“Seriously!? I basically saw you two screwing each other!!” she screamed so loud that if they weren’t in a secluded place, the whole bakery would’ve heard them by now.

   “That wasn’t what I meant” he said “what I’m saying is, it’s not like that between them”

 “What the hell are you trying to pull? Everyone knows your brother and Brianna are about to get married” she deadpanned

  He took a sit calmly “Their marriage is a publicity stunt Brooklyn”

  It took a moment for his words to sink in “How?”

  He shrugged “Their relationship was never real. I’d really appreciate if you keep this between us, wasn’t really supposed to tell anyone soo…”

   “Wow” she was more than shocked, who would’ve thought that the thing was a lie? No one actually, they were so good at acting that’s for sure.

   He continued “it really boosted their popularity level tremendously and that of the movie, so why not right?”

  “And you” she added. He sponsored the movie after all.

     But he took her words in a wrong way.

   “Brianna and I are jus-”

   “I don’t want to know” she cut him off quickly, for the sake of her sanity. “It’s not my business anyways” she went back to her clipboard “so about the cake, how large do you want it to be?”

  “Why do I feel like you’re jealous?” he asked her, his gaze totally on her.

     She could feel his gaze on her, even with his shades on.

  “How large is this party going to be?” she asked him, clearly ignoring his question. “I can’t tell you the estimate for the cake until I know”

  “Why does it seem like you’re upset about the situation? We haven’t even seen each other in like three years? Four?”

  She ignored him, and asked him the next question on her clipboard. “I was thinking velvet cake for the first step, would you like a specific flavor? Or several flavors? If it’s a tiered cake, we can do different flavor per tier”

    “Brooklyn”

 “Could you please answer my questions, Mr. Benjamin?” she asked him, “I have a lot to do today, and If you could just help me by answering, that’ll be nice”.

 He smirked. “Who would’ve thought that you would walk back into my life” he scoffed “sincerely if I had known, maybe we would’ve met in differen-”

 “That does not matter,” she said. “Like is said before, it’s none of my business. We are not in a relationship Mr. Benjamin, I just felt bad for your brother that’s all. But I guess there was nothing to feel bad for. People have sex, and who you chose to have sex with doesn’t concern me at all”

 He watched her “you’ve always been a bad liar”.

  “I have no reason to lie”.

  “Well yo-” he was cut off by the blare of his phone. Even though he was obvious that he wasn’t going to answer the call, it dissolved a little tension between them.

 “So, back to the cake” she said, once the phone stopped ringing “what’s your take on sponge cake for the second tier?”

  “We are not going to push this matter under the rug Brooklyn”.

  “The only matter here is your brother’s cake,” she responded “And there’s no way we can push it under the rug”.

   He leaned forward “it didn’t mean anything Brooklyn”.