Chapter 7

  The café that she had to manage right now is like a lost child that needs guidance and care from a mother. She didn’t feel any pressure from it but the challenge to satisfy the customer and make a profit from it bring her joy.

   In the office room, the table is a mess with stacks of files and documents. Rosa works on the floor with her laptops, busy listing everything that needs to be done before she could promote the café officially on the internet. While her baby also was sitting not far from her on the baby mat.

  Throughout Rosa working, her baby will be babbling and be playing with her toys earnestly like having a serious job. She knows her mother is working and understand that she can’t disturb her mother.

Knock. Knock.

A door open before Rosa could answer.

"Madam, It's already 8 o'clock." Sophia reminds her new manager.

    Rosa looks at her watch and looks at her baby. The café closed at 7 o'clock, her baby already falls asleep by herself. She feels bad for her baby. Usually, her baby can only sleep by hugging. After she comes here, her baby can sleep by herself.

    She was relieved that her baby is well behaved but when she remembers how her son always cries for attention at the age of Damia now, she feels guilty with her little princess. She wonders if her daughter's behavior was affected by her temper when her baby still growing in her stomach.

    When she was pregnant Damia’s, she had been accused by her husband that the baby was not his, she also lost her mother at that time, so she doesn't have anyone to share her problem with. She endures it patiently while her husband will come home only to tortured her physically and mentally. She endured it for the sake of her son and her future baby.

    At first, she had hated the baby so much but maybe she has no one to depends on and the nearest to her is the baby in her tummy, she becomes soft and always prey that her new baby will be her new life and her happiness. The baby is innocent, and she feels pity for the child as she had been abandon by her father even before getting born.

“Thank you for the hard work, Sophia.”

   Rosa shut down her laptops and organize a little bit the table. Then carefully pick up her baby and put her in the baby carrier. The café had extra rooms and Zack live in it. She says goodbye to Zack and walks to her rental house.

    When she entered her rental house, she smells something burning. With her daughter still on her chest, sleeping, she runs towards the kitchen. She saw a tall man wearing a black apron pouring water into the burning kitchen. Quickly she opens the sliding door and window to let out the smoke, afraid that it will suffocate her baby. Then she put her baby in the master room.

"What are you doing?" Rosa asks when she saw Louis has a dejected look on his face.

"I don't know how to cook."

"Then why are you playing in the kitchen?"

"The rules said the landlord has to cook dinner."

Rosa chuckled and shake her head. "Then you should say so. We can ignore the rules."

"No. I will not disobey the rules." He said seriously.

    Why does she think that her housemate's behavior is just like her son's? Very stubborn. She inhales deeply and exhales heavily, shaking her head to throw her feeling of missing her son.

 "Wash the pot first, I will help you to cook. So, what are you planning to cook?"

    Louis show his phone and she saw a chicken recipe and she laughs and understands what makes him burnt the kitchen.

"For beginners like you, you should try to find the simplest recipe."

"What food can be cook simply?"

"Just type a simple recipe for beginners!" Rosa laughs at Louis.

   At first, she is very worried that they will be very awkward when they had to face each other on the same roof. She is also quite uncomfortable when she remembers that her big boss is her roommate. Maybe because she has a good mood after got back from work, she found that the big boss is like a clueless child. Very simple-minded.

   Patiently, she teaches him basic ingredients for food and shares some tips. After an hour, their food finally can be eaten. She wakes her daughter and puts her on her baby chair and gives her broccoli. Her daughter was still sleepy but after being greet by Louis, her face lit up, and gazing excitedly at Louis. Her face clearly told that 'I miss my new toy!'

“My little lady, do you like my cooking?” Louis teases the baby when he saw the baby was eating greedily. He didn’t do much for today's cooking but he was the one to cuts and boil the broccoli for the baby.

“Mmm!” Damia's eyes sparkle and eagerly answer him like she understands what he was talking about.

“My lady, I am glad you like it. From now onwards I will be in charge to cook for you.”

    Rosa lifts one of her eyebrows. He just successfully boils the broccoli, and now he looks like he had found a great talent for cooking. She had guided him to make a scrambled egg by pouring a little oil into a pan but he had poured it too much like he wanted to deep-fry it.

   She even guides him to chops some onion, but he cries at the first cut of the onion. It was obvious that Louis never had tried to cook before. She had tried again to console him to forget the rules but he won't give up. Hopelessly, she only let him pour the water and ask him to gently cuts the broccoli and puts it into the pan of boiled water. 

"I won't let you cook for my baby." Rosa said and continue.

"You are bad at cooking. You need a lot of practice before I let you cook again."

   The big guy with a messy beard looks hurt. She even thought that behind his messy beard, he was pouting. Making her feel guilty by tempering his confidence.