The Bakery Love

29 | Rasmalai

I woke up with a beaming smile on my face and I couldn't remember the last time, I was that happy at the beginning of the day. I got ready for the day with the same smile, not even Madison's quizzical look fazed my beaming face. I hummed a happy tune as I drove to the café. There were two reasons for my bright happiness, one being that today Noah and I would be leaving for the competition and second and more importantly was the fact that I finally confessed to Noah about my feelings. After calming him down, I called Jake for help and ask for Noah's address. Jake told me to wait and that he would be taking Noah back home so that I could pack and get ready for the competition. So we waited until Jake arrived and after thanking me, he took Noah with him. And since then I couldn't stop smiling and giggling.

I walked inside the café with a bit of nervousness, how should I interact with Noah now? Should I hug him, how should I greet him? Were we in a relationship with each other? I mean we both know that we like each other so naturally we should be in a relationship. Should I ask him to be my boyfriend or should I wait for him to make the move? I giggled as I thought that Noah was going to be my boyfriend, my boyfriend! I never thought I would be in a relationship with someone like him but now, I couldn't imagine being in a relationship with him. I decided that I was going to wait for him to ask me to be his girlfriend which I was sure wasn't going to take him too long.

As soon as I entered the kitchen area, a huge 'pop' sound came from the confetti cannon, I gasped as I felt the little colored paper fall on me. I looked around and smiled at my team who were standing opposite to me with grins on their faces. I gave them hugs and thanked them for this small surprise.

"I appreciate this but what are we celebrating?" I asked Sam as I gave her a hug, she hugged me back.

"We are celebrating because you and Noah are going to one of the biggest baking competitions and I'm pretty sure we are going to win it. So this is just an early celebration." She shrugged as she replied. I chuckled at her justification of the celebration. I walked ahead to give a hug to the next person and I stopped in my tracks when I noticed a familiar pair of blue eyes that were already on me and I stopped in my tracks. I felt my cheeks getting warm as I was about to hug him.

I let out an exhale as I took in his scent and I felt his arms tighten around me. He bent his face down so that he could keep his head on my shoulder, I felt his breath on my neck and then in sync goosebumps arose on my neck and face. "Thank you for taking care of me yesterday. Jake told me that you called him and until he came, you were with me." He said softly. I nodded absentmindedly. I held my breath as I waited for him to continue, to finally ask me out. After a few tedious seconds, when he still didn't ask the question, I pulled back and looked at him. his features were warm and maybe a little embarrassed but other than that he didn't look any different. I felt myself change so much since last night and here he was, absolutely unaffected. I felt my heart drop in sadness and something more intense that made me feel as if it was getting hard to breathe easily. Completely unknown to how I was feeling, he added; "I hope I was not much of a trouble."

I was confused by his statement. Then the realization hit me. "You don't remember what happened last night?" Though it was a question, it sounded more like a statement coming from my mouth.

"Not really, just vague small things. Did something happen last night that I should have remembered?" He asked me. I don't know if I was more disappointed that he doesn't remember anything or relieved that he wasn't rejecting me after what happened last night.

I forced a smile on my face and then answered, "No, nothing significant." Lie, I blatantly lied to him; a part of me wanted to yell at him and remind him what happened but the major part of me said that it would be better if he recalled it on his own.

"Okay good, since I woke up I have felt like I was missing or forgetting something." He confessed, relief visible on his face. I forced another smile and then excused myself so that I could have a moment to myself.

Apparently, I needed more than a moment to collect myself because we were now driving to the hotel where the competition would take place and I was still grumpy. "Are you okay?" Noah asked me as he glanced towards me when the lights turned red. I'm sure he could also make out that I was not in a good mood.

I looked at him and then felt guilty when I noticed that he was getting affected by my bad mood. "Yes, I'm fine. Just tired." I replied to him with a forced smile. He wanted to ask more but then thought better of it as the lights turned green and he drove us to the hotel.

To not worry him more, I closed my eyes and pretended to fall asleep when in reality I wasn't a bit sleepy. Was I being a coward by pretending to be asleep? Yes. But do I regret any of it? No. I felt his eyes on me and then heard him sigh. He lowered down the music that was playing.

I was still very much invested in fake sleeping when I felt the car stop and within the next few seconds, I felt a blanket placed on my body as Noah tucked me in it. After another minute or two, I heard him hum some tune and weirdly his soft humming made me actually sleepy. I didn't fight against the sleepiness and the last thing I heard him was singing softly, I couldn't hear the words correctly as I fell asleep.

"Wake up, Bella. We have reached." Noah said. I stirred a bit and opened my eyes to see that Noah was driving and we entered the hotel's entrance. The remaining sleep vanished as soon as I noticed how lavish and beautiful the hotel was. I might have gasped as I heard Noah's chuckle. I looked at him to see him already looking at me with amusement in his eyes. I blushed a bit but then I was again entrapped with the beauty of this place. Noah stopped the car and then a guy came to open the door for me, I probably looked so caught off guard as I heard Noah's chuckle again and this time I glared at him for laughing at my expense. It wasn't my fault that I haven't ever experienced something so fancy before.

Noah and walked to the reception of the hotel. If I thought that the exteriors of the hotel were beautiful, the interiors were much more extravagant and gorgeous. Everything looked so clean and aesthetic that I was feeling a bit underdressed. Noah might have noticed that as I felt his fingers entangle with mine and squeezed my hand.

"Hi, we are here for the Summer Baking Championship," Noah informed the receptionist who hasn't even glanced at me since she was so busy ogling at Noah.

"Yes, your name please?" she asked him and I was getting annoyed at her obvious ignorance to me. Noah noticed that and bought our still entwined hands to the table so it was in clear view of the receptionist. She huffed a bit as she noticed our joined hands.

"Isabella Anderson and Noah Miller from 'Sugar & Spice.'" Noah replied curtly. He didn't even look at the receptionist any longer, his eyes were fixed on mine. Without breaking eye contact he received our room keys.

He broke eye contact as he looked at the room number. He walked confidently with me walking beside him and our luggage being carried by the bellboy. I hid my smile as I recalled how interested Noah was in the very attractive receptionist and how he made a point of letting her know that I meant something to him. I was so busy feeling happy that I didn't realize that we had reached our hotel rooms.

Noah unlocked the room and then the bellboy placed both of our luggage inside the room. I looked confusingly at him but before I could ask him anything, he left the room. I looked at Noah in question. "Why did he leave my luggage in your room? And can you give me my room keys?" I asked him.

He looked at me like I was joking. "This is your room, Isabella." He stated.

"Okay, then where is your room?" I asked him further.

"This room." He grinned and walked towards the bed and laid on it, his eyes were still fixed on mine as he waited for the news to settle. Okay, so he wasn't joking. We both have to share the room. I looked around the room and it had one big queen-sized bed along with a huge balcony, a tv, and other necessities. I love reading fiction books and I have read about the "One-bed trope" I never thought I would be in the same situation. When this part used to come in those fiction books, I would giggle and be happy that the relationship between the characters would grow. But right now when the exact thing happened to me, all I could feel was nervousness. My fate might have been laughing at my expense. Why did I have to take part in this competition? Why didn't I just stay at home? None of this would have happened if I just had stayed at home. I cursed at my stupid fate for putting me in this situation.