keep your face to the sunshine (and you cannot see a shadow)

you shall tug, then tug once again

It isn't uncommon to feel the creepings of tingles up your body with fear laced all around them, the crinkle of your eyebrows which are furrowed with uncertainty, the droppings of your stomach when you hear an unfamiliar sound coming from the outside world, or, the inside. But never once has Ajay paid attention to those feelings, not until they made themselves clear with intent.

There was no true beginning to the feelings of such acts, but it hasn't been so otherworldly glass protected before his mundane (or as mundane a busy bakery can be) shift at the bakery.

With all the years he's been working at the said bakery, he's never fully gotten to accept the screeching ring of the loud bell at the door, indicating a new (and probably demanding) customer has arrived. But, with the way the bakery was already full to the brim, it wouldn't make much of a difference, Ajay thought. No, not with the way the middle-aged woman, who so graciously maintained a voice level of booming, was currently ordering her box of pastries with a double shot latte with unrequested small talk.

''I was running outside my house towards him – however, always careful to not step on the blossoming daisies I had grown over this spring with all the free time in my hands and– oh! Did I already mention this? Anywho, my son, Lincoln, had bought me some pomegranates this morning – ever the sweet boy – so gracious even though it's his birthd–"

''I'm very sorry, ma'am, but your latté will grow cold if you don't step aside and retrieve it, it would be such a waste." Ajay knew he was being a bit of a menace to the poor lady, however, he couldn't find a bone in him that was screaming in guilt, they were already occupied with screaming in agony and tiredness from the hectic day at the bakery.

''Oh, thank you, dear. I've almost forgotten about it! Silly me," The woman smiles with a light chuckle. It takes every fiber of Ajay's muscle not to mumble something sarcastic at the woman, opting for a kind smile in which he had practiced in the mirror for far too many minutes than he is proud to say when applying for the job.

''Now that would be unfortunate!" He forced a chuckle out of him, ''Thanks again for coming to Berry's Delights. Hope to see you soon!" With the (also thoroughly practiced) proclaimed customer voice laced in his tone, Ajay slides the pastries over the counter and sends a final look at the woman before gliding towards the back kitchen. The back kitchen, in which the most sweets that lay in the counter are made from, but that isn't hard to piece together considering the smell radiating from the slightly ajar doors, making everyone sniff deeply and let out a sigh with wanting eyes.

Ajay makes the small distance with ginger steps, stomach rumbling despite having lunch only a couple of minutes ago.

"Penny?! Are you there?" Ajay yells out as he swings the kitchen doors, immediately met with crowded counters with stray baking tools and murmured talk between bakers.

"Here!" The tall woman replies, only a few years older but already having a mature aura in the way her hair is tied into what would be a boring CEO-lady-style any day, but with her perfectly crafted square shoulders and toned skin, it only looks more or less from a cover shoot.

Ajay speed-walks to Penny, passing the frantic movements of the otherwise composed chefs before finally reaching the small corner where Penny has her design team, who mostly work for special requests given, are stationed.

"Penny! Could you believe it?!" Ajay let out a strained laugh, "Another older woman obsessed with her son and flowers!" Ajay's arms raise to then slam to his sides, the sheer noise of the impact startling one of the new bakers from Penny's team.

"They always come at 4 in the afternoon, I don't know why you're surprised." Penny shares no interest in the matter, only going back to what seems to be a birthday cake of a supposed 'Lincoln'. Ajay hummed, I never knew it was a popular name.