CHAPTER ONE: THE BIG DISASTER.

Winnie.

Today was supposed to be the grand opening of my bakery, but I could just go ahead and forget all about that. 

Apparently, I didn't have a building, not the bakery and not the apartment above it, just a really costly oven that was currently sitting pretty in a building that I had no rights to and was generating interest every second that went by. 

My dream had always been to run a pastry shop. I'd started messing around with flour and butter even before I was five. Watching my grandmother create so many wonderful smelling things had kick-started my love for baking. She had taught me everything I knew and before she had died, she had made me promise that I'd own a bakery one day. 

I had gone to culinary school right out of high school and gotten a job afterwards at a small cafe that sold a minimal selection of baked goods. 

All the while, I had been on the lookout for the perfect space to run my own shop. Nothing had felt right, and for me who had always worked with intuition, I knew that I couldn't work comfortably in a location that felt off, so I had kept on searching. 

Then I had found it. 

It had been perfect, it had been set at a corner on a semi-quiet street. It was peaceful enough that customers could sit with their delicious pastries and busy enough that I could get customers. As I said, perfect. 

I had contacted Eli Hardy, the owner of the space, a cute and overall nice guy. He had informed me that the apartment above it was also available to rent and it had felt like fate. I had entered inside to get a feel of the place and I had fallen in love immediately. It would need a bit of work, but I didn't care. I was willing to work hard to make this place feel like mine. 

The cost of the place had been a little steep, but Eli explained that it was prime location so the cost was expected. After selling grandma's house, I was able to pay some amount for the place. I took a bank loan to complete the payment and buy the expensive oven I needed. 

Everything had been looking up... Until it wasn't. 

Five days ago, I had been informed that I was doing unauthorized work. Confused, I had demanded an explanation and had been served papers, suing me for breaking and entering and a whole bunch of other things. Well, turned out that nice looking Eli Hardy was a fraud and he didn't own the bakery. 

I had been able to track down the owner of the bakery and pour out my whole sob story. The man had retracted his case against me, but now I had no home as I had already moved into the apartment above the bakery. I also had no bakery. What I did have was an expensive bank loan and an oven. 

In summary, I was screwed. 

My boss at the cafe I had worked for had recommended me to her attorney sister who agreed to talk to me for free. She had explained my options which weren't all that much. They could try to find Eli Hardy which wasn't promising. The name was a bust, but one of the security cameras outside the building had caught a bit of his face and the police had given me a lazy assurance that they would run his face through their systems. 

I didn't have any hope whatsoever in that direction. They had looked bored with my story, probably summarizing that I was a gullible lady who had given her money to her boyfriend and was now mad cause I had found out that I was getting cheated on. 

"This boyfriend, what was his name again?" One of them had asked. 

"He's not my boyfriend." I had snapped. 

What I wanted to do now was climb into my bed, burrow under the covers and cry for a good, long time, but I didn't even have that luxury. There was so much to do and I didn't even know where to begin. 

I had to move my things out of the building and into storage probably. I sighed sullenly. 

I needed money to call movers, hire a U-Haul, pay for storage space and also pay for a couple of nights at the cheapest hotel I could find. I didn't have any friends in the city that I could camp out on their couch and my grandma who had been my only family was now dead. 

I walked out the lawyer's office with her business card held tight in one hand. She had warned me against making similar future transactions without a lawyer in place to verify authenticity of the deal. It had been my first mistake, one that I wouldn't be repeating even in my next life.

I made my way to the elevator and got in, grateful that nobody else was inside. 

I crossed my fingers that no one else would get in. I just needed to be alone at that moment. To try and sort my thoughts for just one minute. I pressed the button for the ground floor, just as a notification lit up my phone. 

I looked down at it. It was a notification I had set up weeks ago when I thought my life was on track. It was a congratulatory message to myself for an official first day at the bakery. 

Seeing that single line of text was the breaking point for me. 

I burst into tears. Loud, painful sobs that racked my chest and shook my small frame. 

I had failed myself and I had failed grandma. I had given my all and it had all been for nothing, my dream nothing but a weight of massive debt right now. I covered my face with my palm as I sobbed. 

Everything had been going so well, I should have suspected that something bad had been about to come. 

I was so exhausted and I was all alone. 

I had to handle this mess all on my own because I had no one, and somehow, that was the worst part for me. 

I hadn't even realized that the elevator had stopped moving till I heard the doors slide open. I looked up through tear blurred vision and met electrifying green eyes.