LET ME LOVE YOU

Chapter 30 - couple goals

The big 3-0 💃

Aya

I used to think the most exciting moment of my life was when I got signed to Pepsi, but the surprise I got from Hafeez yesterday just topped everything. I've literally been smiling ever since he told, And now my Face is starting to hurt.

Not to blow my own trumpet, but I've been working way too hard lately, I was so caught up in that web that it basically became my way of life for a few days, and I couldn't stop, not until I started feeling like I was about to breakdown, and that was when I realized just how much I needed to relax. I needed to empty my mind, and rest each of my muscles until i feel like i am going to melt into the floor. I needed to just let it all go. All the expectations, all the unneeded worry, all the things other people want for me but i don't want for yourself, Just forget everything and focus on myself.

My mind has been wound to a pitch of concentration by the interactions of various studios. I feels as if I have been playing a computer game which remorselessly tested my reflexes, only to have it's plug suddenly pulled out from the socket. I've been so impatient and restless, but simultaneously exhausted and fragile. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I am in no state to engage in anything significant.

For this particular combination of tiredness and nervous energy, the sole workable solution is just disconnection; going on a looooooong hiatus until I put the pieces of my mental and emotional health back together.

We are leaving tomorrow, and I honestly could not wait. Our clothes are packed and everything is 90% ready..well, MY clothes are packed, Hafeez's were too, but he dug through the entire suitcase a while ago because the shirt he wanted to wear to the party was inside, mind you, it was just a plain black T-shirt which he has dozens of, but this man ruined the entire bag just to pull that particular one out, and he left the clothes he disorganized right there on the floor, obviously waiting for me to come and re-fold them for him.

We were going to Adda Mimi's birthday party by the way. Ya munir threw a surprise party for her and invited family and a few close friends in secret. It will take place at their house in the absolutely amazing backyard, I'm not even there yet and I just know it looks perfect, Adda will probably cry out of happiness.

I thought of buying her a gift, but I didn't know exactly what to get, so I just decided to bake her a cake, I know there will be a lot of cakes there, but none will be like the one I'll make and that right there is a fact Because I just make THEE best chocolate cakes.

On the kitchen table, a wooden spoon sat in a small saucepot, which held crushed almonds that had been soaked and heated in brown sugar syrup, next to the bowl of thick velvety pastry cream I prepared last night. Since my cakes were already baked, I just grabbed one of the baking pans, released the first layer and settled it onto the cake plate, it was so so redolent with a harmonious scent of almonds and chocolate, I couldn't wait to feel it in my mouth. I generously spread some of the pastry cream on the layer and sprinkled a tablespoon of the crushed nuts on top of it. Then I added the second layer, more butter cream, and a tier of fresh strawberries I had cut in half.

I always aimed for an extra shading of flavor when I created a recipe, something to complement and embrace the most prominent flavor in a dish, something that tickled the palate and the imagination, so there, I chose aromatic and earthy almonds to add an extra dimension of texture and taste. Each layer of the cake covered the one beneath it as I laid them on, like dark disks of chocolate eclipsing moons made of creme anglaise. In short order, the 4th and final layer had efficiently been fixed into place. I took a half step back to check for symmetry and balance like some professional baker, and then I moved on to the frosting.