Chapter 1

Markus

The intense smell of caffeine hit me in the nose like a turmoil and I blinked a couple of times before willing my eyes to open up. When my gaze landed on the clock near my duvet, I instantly shot up from my bed and picked up the coffee that was served. As always, I woke up before anyone and started my routine, morning jog at 4am, gym time at 5, breakfast at 6, then freshening up by 6.30am to leave for office. This is the life I signed up for when I decided I wanted to start a billion dollar company, the success of my company depends on me and I won’t let anyone down. To me, ‘work’ is my first and last priority everything else comes after it, everything except one person, my 5-year-old niece. She is my only source of happiness, every time I listen to her laugh my soul soothes and my mind calms down. I never really liked children, because of their screaming qualities but Emily, she’s different, she is like the rays of first sunshine, always smiling and making everyone around her happy. That’s the only reason I like to spoil her every chance I get.

At around 9am my brother called me, "can you do me a favor?" he asked, "unless you don’t want me to kill someone, I’d do anything for you" I say. "Very funny, but no I don’t want you to kill anybody, it’s actually regarding Emily " he says and I instantly perk up "I’ll do it" he just chuckles and says "I knew it, I want you to pick her up from her school at exactly 4pm, can you do that? Are you free?" , "I am always free for my Em bear, you know it" I say, "Yeah, just don’t take her to the zoo like you did last time, she shouldn’t become a spoilt brat when she grows up and bring her home directly no wandering! Do you hear me? ", he warns me. "I hear you loud and clear big brother, no wandering at all" it’s a lie, that girl could ask me to buy the most expensive piece of jewelry and I would do it in a heartbeat but I don’t tell him that.

I’m outside the kindergarten before any parent arrives, I’m excited to meet her after so long since work has been crazy these last few weeks. With the new product about to launch in a few weeks, my office hours have increased vivaciously. “Uncle Mark!” Emily exclaims while running towards me with a big goofy smile on her face, I grab her in my arms and throw her up in the air “there’s my bundle of joy” I say and she giggles. If I wasn’t already in love with her, that sound would have made me a goner. “Where to today, baby girl?” there is no way I’ll miss a chance to spend more time with her. “Movies? I want to watch Frozen 2 and then we’ll have dinner together and then we’ll eat chocolates lots and lots of chocolates” she says with that contagious smile on her face. I cannot say no and my brother has to deal with it.

***

Lizzy

The morning breeze makes my hair fly across my face and covers my eyes and destructs my view, for someone who is overlooking this, you might think this is something out of a movie scene but I assure you ‘it is most certainly, not’. The hair tickles my nose and an irritating feeling overcomes me. My hands are full with kitchen supplies, so any chances of getting my goddamned hair of my face are slim.

I reach the front door of my chocolate store and stare proudly at it, it is small but it is my ‘place’, my ‘creative space’, my ‘magic making machine’. "Golosi" also known as ‘sweet tooth’ in Italian, is my dream shop. Ever since I found out that chocolates were my calling, I’ve dreamt of having my own place and blessing the world with my unique chocolate recipes. Now, all my dreams are coming true, I should be happy but I’m not. My heart is not in the right place, I’ve been taken advantage of, been cheated on and above all I’ve been broken into innumerable pieces that cannot mended. Love did that to me, in the beginning it was all unicorns and fairy tales I thought I was the luckiest girl in the whole wide world, turns out, I was just a plaything.

Anyway, I struggle with the lock of my shop holding what feels like 100 tons of weight, finally it opens with a pop and the rich smell of cocoa hits me. I smile, my first genuine smile of the day. Golosi feels more like home than my apartment, with its baby pink, beige and dark brown decor it is a perfect place for a chocolate shop. There are no benches or tables of course, because people aren’t going to sit and eat chocolate in front of me, are they? The shop is simple yet elegant with a see through glass container that displays various flavors of chocolate bordered with golden rims. I’ve a cash counter and a small see through kitchen. I’m the only one who works here, I can’t afford employees right now but with time I’ll give it a thought. I dump all the supplies I need into the kitchen, then fill the empty vase near the counter with white roses ‘they are my favorite’, and get to work.

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