Chains

Chapter 41

 I watched in awe as droplets of water plummetted the earth, hydrating the parched streets of Barcelona. The unexpected gift of rain filled me with glee as the temperature had dropped considerably in this sauna of a city. Something about the rain made me feel more relaxed than I had been in months and frankly, I was in no rush to wish the rain away.

I watched as the darkened grey clouds spewed out rain drops with an underlying vengeance. Glancing at my watch, I realized that I've been marooned at the grocery store for a good 15 minutes. I waited for the rain to lessen in intensity but that moment never came. Instead, I sought shelter in front of the grocery store and admired this rare occasion. But alas, the time had come when my hands began to shake due to the weight of the bags I've been holding this whole time. 

It never occurred to me that I might actually need an umbrella in this heat stricken city, but I made a mental to get one as soon as possible. I gave myself a mental pep-talk to finally confront the rain and its wrath but in the midst my internal monologue ,I received a gentle tap on the shoulder.

I turned my head to see a tall, brunet guy with an umbrella in his hands along with a grocery bag, greeting me with a smile.

"Hey, are you stuck here? " he asked,"Cause I'm pretty sure I saw you standing here when I arrived ten minutes ago"."

"Actually," I said , pausing a bit to look at the rain which still hadn't eased up, "I am. I don't have an umbrella on me right now". 

I watched as he opened his umbrella.

"Well today's your lucky day" he held the umbrella so that it was covering both our heads. A small part of me developed some anxiety as he was, in fact, a stranger but the stress these bags were causing my hands was too much for me to decline is offer. As if he could see the distress I was in due to the heavy bags and my lack of arm strength, he offered to hold some of my bags which I gladly agreed to.It was not before long that I was in the comfort of my car thanks to a kind and, dare I say it, cute stranger whose name I forgot to ask.

The rest of my Monday morning was spent making cronuts at my bakery, all to the melodious drip-dropping of the rain on the rooftop.  It was needless to say that I was in my element. The place was cool, the sound of the rain was soothing, I was happy.

"Jencarlos, your brother's here to see you," Denise said bursting through the doors of the kitchen. I glanced at Jen who was focused on finished his intricate floral design on a wedding cake. He bit his lip as he glanced from his cake to Denise and back. I could tell that he was in a dilemma as going out to meet his brother may disrupt is flow, jeopardizing his design.

"He can come back here to you, Jen" I said as I shaped the dough for my next batch of cronuts. I could then feel his stare so I looked up at him.

"Are you serious?" He questioned, trying to hold back a smile as he tried to make sure that I wasn't joking. I nodded my head and gave him a small smile before going back to my work. Denise exited the kitchen to call the other Canela brother, who soon appeared in the kitchen a few seconds later.

To my surprise, it was the nice stranger who sheltered me from the rain and saved my hands from blistering and falling off. On top of that, it made me realize that the genes in the Canela family were out of this world. Both boys were insanely stunning, something I failed to notice earlier when my arms were close to exploding. But now that I was thinking straight, I couldn't stop stealing glances at the two, neglecting to give adequate love to my cronuts.

The other Canela brother caught one of my many glances, which made me quickly divert my eyes to my dough as if that made it less obvious that I was looking at them.

"Hey Boss," Denise said, entering the kitchen once more,"someone's here to see you". I glance at my watch to see that it was one hour shy of twelve thirty which was when Zayn had promised to bring me lunch.

I covered the dough with a damp cloth before exiting the kitchen only to regret my decision instantly. I turned on my heels to go back but he stopped me.

"No wait,Lou"

I mentally debated on whether or not to stay but my stupid and completely irrational side stopped me from going any further. I sighed as a turned to face him again, although we were still separated by the counter.

"I already got my stuff out of your house and I gave you back the spare key, so what do you want?" I asked Maluma, who was clad in grey sweats and a hoodie.

"I told you we needed to talk Lou. But you've been declining my calls" he said, his voice cracking a bit. 

Zayn's words of wisdom crept in my mind which helped me to stand me ground.

"Oh there's nothing for us to talk about," I said, folding my arms. "So if you'd excuse me, I have a cronut to get back to".I watch as his frown deepened, his eyes reflecting a hint of hurt. 

With that said, I pranced back into the kitchen without looking back and acknowledging his calls for me to wait. I was happy that I didn't give into his pleas which made me less upset that I completely crashed into someone as I entered. As the OG clutz that I was, I was said close to meeting the ground face first when a pair of arms wrapped around me to prevent the potentially damaging impact.

"Woah there" 

As I regained my balance, my eyes were greeted with the Canela that I met earlier today.

"You ok?" he questioned, a small smile creeping on his lips.

I nodded my head as I was somewhat lost for words. 

"I'm sorry about that by the way, " he said as I slowly got out of his grasp.

"No way it was all my fault. Sorry for crashing into you like that and thanks for saving me from that face to floor meet and greet" I said, rubbing the back of my neck a bit. He chuckled a bit making the sides of my lips curve upwards a bit.

"That's like my second time saving you today. What in the world would you do without me?" he asked jokingly. I chuckled a bit resulting in him doing the same.

"I'm Jason, by the way," he added.

"Louisa" I said, giving him a small but genuine smile.