The Baker's Daughter | satzu

10 | shop till you drop

T Z U Y U

My mum strolled the bread cart around as I called out "Bread, bread, get your bread here!"

It's a typical Wednesday afternoon where, after school, I rush to the mall to help my mum sell more bread, before Thursday, where she takes a day off from running the bread cart. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people know my mum, and we often get a lot of customers.

As I handed out bread to a customer, I brushed my hands on my apron, and my mum tapped my shoulder.

"Tzuyu, can you just go over to Mr Hwang's shop for a second? My delivery has arrived and he said he'd hold it for me for a while." She asked, pointing over at a small delivery shop across the mall.

"But we have a lot of customers at the moment." I told her, smiling at the satisfied customer and beginning to serve the next one.

My mum pouted, taking a bread and sneaking a bite. "Please, Tzu? I can handle this myself."

"Yeah, but I know you're ordering more stuff online. You've been a bit addicted, you know." I commented, wrapping the bread. I smiled at the customer as my mum took a few seconds to think to herself.

"I'll allow you to bake all by yourself in the kitchen for a week." She pleaded, giving me the puppy eyes.

"I already bake by myself."

"Then fine, I'll allow you to run the bread cart by yourself for a whole week. Deal?"

I nodded and headed over.

"Here you go." Mr Hwang smiled at me as he handed me the boxy package. "Your mum sure does like to order a lot of stuff."

I nodded and laughed. "She's been a bit infatuated with the idea of buying stuff without having to go around people to get it."

He gave me a smile and I headed off, with him waving me goodbye.

I flicked over to look at my wrist, with my watch latched onto it. 16:47. My mum should be heading over to the East wing of the mall now.

As I made my way to the East Wing, I spotted my mum's cart. She seemed to be talking to a few other girls, and they seemed really interested in the conversation.

I neared the cart, only to hear a familiar laugh from one of the girls.

My mum locked eyes with me, and waved her hands.

"Tzuyu, come over here!" She called out. I sheepishly walked over to the stand and bowed to the girls. There was one face that gave me a shock though, as I looked up.

"Sana?" My eyes locked with hers. She seemed to be shocked too.

"Tzuyu? Why are you here?" She asked me, walking over to me as her two other friends continued on talking to my mum.

I rubbed the nape of my neck and nervously chuckled. "Just helping my mum out occasionally."

There was a bit of silence between us as we both looked around the spacious mall.

"So about last week," she began. "Thursday, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"I'm sorry for ditching you like that. My dad called me and I had to come home immediately and—" she seemed to be all over the place.

"It's fine. No worries." I tried my best to give her a reassuring smile. "So who are your two friends?" I asked, diverting the conversation to something that wasn't about us two.

Sana smiled and pointed over to the taller one of the two, with red hair. "That's Jihyo. She's younger than me by a year, but we get along just fine." Sana's hand moved over to point at the shorter one, with blonde hair. "And that's Dahyun. She's quite loud and rambunctious, but you'll love her."