02
I don't know whether nice people tend to grow roses or growing roses makes people nice.
-Roland A. Browne
Some people's morning start with a fresh brew coffee, while others starts with a good night sleep. For me, my day officially starts when the aroma of a new batch of cupcakes comes out of the oven. I started the early morning routine of baking the top ten sellers of cupcakes right at four in the morning. I rested the freshly baked batch of cookie dough to cool before I started working on my red velvet recipe. Baking at four in the morning has its merits, I get to miss the morning rush hour and have all ten top selling cupcakes decorated and displayed along with a few other pastries by opening at nine.
I tend to be able to bake, decorate, and display all by myself in the morning because it's became such a habit that I was a one person factor worker. I enjoy every part of the process and I get to watch my sweets to become something more artistic right in front of my eyes.
"Good morning Rose." Mia yawned as she dragged her feet into the kitchen. I glanced up at the giant clock hanging off the kitchen wall and it was a quarter before nine and I haven't even realized the time passing.
"Good morning Mia." I replied with a smile before I continued to decorate the last batch of cupcakes of my chocolate vanilla.
"I'm going to make an iced Americano." Mia dropped her stuff onto an empty counter. "You want one?" She asked.
"Yes." I replied and Mia disappeared to the front of the store.
As I finished my cupcakes, Mia was busy opening the store for me. I moved the cupcakes into the display window as soon as I was finished and the moment I flipped the open sign over and unlocked the door, I greeted my regular customers with a smile as they walked through the doors. My store is mainly a bakery but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to sell some morning coffee and pastries and make it into a small cafe as well.
"Good morning Rose," Carly greeted me as she approached the counter. "I always love the smell of this place." I laughed softly as I gathered her regular pastries and coffee.
"You say that everyday Carly." I replied.
"It's the truth though and everyone that knows of your bakery will agree with me." She continued and I gave her order to her while she gave me her bill.
"Maybe that's why I always seem to be missing a few cupcakes because of Mia." I joked and there's a truth to what I've said.
"Well I don't blame her one bit. I'm sure I'll be gaining weight like crazy if I worked here. Your baked goods are so delicious and worth dying for Rose." I laughed again but thanked her for the compliment regardless.
After a short conversation, Carly left and I greeted another regular customer. I would talk and joke around with all of my regulars and I already know what they were going to order and how they liked their coffee as well. That's usually how my mornings went at the bakery and I would return back into the kitchen when the morning rush is over to continue baking and inventing new flavours. Most of the time, both Mia and I were at the back of the store unless there were customers. Usually time passes by really quickly because in a blink of an eye, it was already lunch time.
"Hey," Mia popped her head into the kitchen as she watched the front of the store while I made more pastries. "You might want to come here for a second Rose." I arched an eyebrow at my friend, putting my icing bag down onto the stainless steel counter.
"Why? Is there a problem?" I asked, wiping my hands against my apron and Mia shook her head.
"We have a client." She replied. "A big order if you ask me." She added before she turned her heels and walked back to the front of the bakery. Is lipped my apron over my head and quickly rinsed my hands before heading out to the front as well.
The moment I stepped out, there was a woman in her mid thirties wearing office attires on the other side of the counter. Her glasses sat perfectly on the bridge of her nose and she had her curled dirty blonde hair flowing beautifully down her shoulders. Mia was casually talking to her and when the woman made eye contacts with me, she turned and smiled.
"Hi you must be the owner of Rosemary bakery right?" The blonde spoke and I returned a smile back at her.
"Yes I am, I'm Rose Starr." I extended my hands out to her and she immediately took it.
"Hi Ms. Starr, I'm Kristina Reese from Kingsley Enterprise and it's a pleasure to meet you."
I didn't know what to make of this because Kingsley Enterprise is currently the big shot in the business world and even I knew it because my parents have talked about this company before at the dinner table. The only thing I really know about this company is that it's very new, probably around four or five years. The reason why this company is such a big shot is because of how quickly it grew and developed. No one expected such a strong competitor in such a short period of time to be on the market. It's like it just flew under the radar and hit all the big companies without a warning, putting them all on edge. It's impressive to be honest, to establish such an empire in a short span of four or five years.
"Pleasures all mine." We returned our hands back to our sides. "What can I help you with?" I asked.
"My company will be having its fifth anniversary in a week and we would like a cake for the event." Kristina started. "I've heard great reviews and your reputation to deliver is well known amongst my colleagues."
"Thank you for considering us. But what kind of cake are you looking for?" I asked.
"I don't think chocolate and vanilla could go wrong." She smiled.
"I couldn't agree more." I replied.
For the past hour, we went over the details of the cake while Mia watched the store for me. We settled for a three tier cake as all the employees from the company would be attending. There will also be about a hundred of our top seller cupcakes are the venue just in case guests prefer other flavours instead of chocolate and vanilla. Kristina has also mentioned having some customized chocolate as well and Mia talked to her briefly within the hour. Afterwards, I drew a quick sketch of the cake design to show Kristina and when she added a few details here and there, we were officially finished.
"I look forward to see the final product." Kristina and I started walking towards the front door. She had all the paperwork and had took some cupcakes I offered her to take back all tucked away in her arms.
"It's going to be a great pleasure working with you." I started.
"Yes it is." She replied and she started to study me. "Please forgive my rudeness, but you look very familiar."
"I think you're thinking about my identical twin, Lily Starr. She's been on the front cover of Vogue a few times." I explained and she blushed slightly at her embarrassment.
"Oh my, I never knew Lily had an identical twin. There's never anything mentioned on the papers about her family." I laughed.
"Don't worry about it, Lily is very independent and private so it's not anything to be alarmed about."
Kristina and I exchanged a few more words because she walked out of the bakery. I stood by the window and I walked her flagging a cab down by the curb and then disappearing in it.
"I think we should hire someone." Mia spoke as she leaned against the counter. I folded my arms across my chest and tapped a finger against my chin.
We've done plenty of catering jobs before and we've even received orders even larger than this one before. However the amount of money Kristina offered before I even gave her a quote on the price was more than what I was asking for. And if there's money, I wasn't going to say no to it. When I had asked Kristina if she was sure she was okay with paying me that much, she simply said that money isn't an issue with her boss as he's the one paying for the entire party.
"You still have that bridezilla sample cake to bake and now we have this big order. You're going to be killing yourself." Mia added.
"I know what you're saying." I replied. "So who's the person you want to hire?" I already knew what Mia's intentions were as soon as she opened her more and I'm hundred percent sure who she's going to want me to hire.
"Well you know my little sister can earn herself some cash to pay for her collage." Mia replied and I laughed.
"Well then consider her hired already. You know she's always welcome." I replied as I headed back into the kitchen to continue the job I love doing.
(-)
"I'll bring that last batch of cupcakes in from the van!" Michelle, Mia's little sister called to us before she disappeared through the front doors of the banquet.
Mia, Michelle, and I were currently at the venue for Kingsley Enterprise's anniversary party. We were placing the cupcakes onto circular tables with the cake directly in the center. Kristina and her team were currently finishing up on last minute decoration and confirming the menu for dinner as well as all the refreshments.
"Hey Rose," Kristina suddenly appeared by my side. "Are you going to be long? Guests are already arriving." I stared at my baked goods in front of me, I was only missing about another tray of cupcakes which Michelle went to get and Mia was finishing up with her chocolates on a separate table.
"Sorry Kristina," I told her, blowing away my bangs that were covering my face. "We should be done in another fifteen minutes or so."
"Okay great, is it okay if I let the guest in before it gets too hectic later on?" She asked and I nodded. She quickly disappeared from my side and I continued to remove my cupcakes from the tray to the table.
I knew the party was already getting started when I heard the chattering of the employees of Kingsley Enterprise echoing through the venue. I glanced down at my watch and it was nearly six in the evening. I still needed to get back to the bakery to bake the sample cake for the bridezilla that's coming early tomorrow.
"Sorry!" Michelle exclaimed, with the last tray of cupcakes in her arms. "I didn't expect that they're already letting people in before the party starts."
"There's going to be hundreds of people here tonight," I told her, removing the protective screen over the tray and began moving the cupcakes one by one. "They didn't want things to get too hectic later with everyone coming in all at once. We should hurry up and get out." Michelle nodded and then we worked twice as fast.
Even when we tried to finish as fast as we could, it didn't help when employees came to our table, talking to us and asking about what flavours all the cupcakes were. But despite all of the distraction, we finished twenty minutes later.
"Oh looks like you're finished." Kristina came back. I didn't notice that she was in a beautiful navy pencil dress with a pearl necklace hanging around her neck.
"Yes, sorry we took longer than expected to set up." I apologized and Kristina laughed.
"Don't worry, it's okay. Though Mr. Kingsley did mention that you can join us for the event." Kristina offered.
"That's very considerate of him, but I must decline the offer."
"Oh really? That's a shame. He did mention that he'll like to personally see you and tell you how much your pastries taste. I did give him a sample from the batch you gave me a week ago." I smiled.
"Please tell him I said thank you. But we should really get going on, we don't want to disturb the party any longer." I gestured Michelle to start cleaning up our equipments.
"Are you sure you and your staff aren't able to stay for the event?" Kristina asked once again and I nodded.
"Unfortunately we aren't in partying attires." I stared at my bakery's t-shirt and jeans. "Plus we do have other orders to take care of."
"Well then, I'll say thank you on behalf of Mr. Kingsley." Kristina and I shook hands before she disappeared in the crowd.
Mia and I gathered the remaining things we left and I followed behind her, multiple trays in hand as we left the venue. We headed towards our van and Michelle was stacking up all the trays together and Mia and I opened the hatch of the van and placed our load of trays in.
"Oh crap!" Mia exclaimed, "I forgot a few more trays under the table I was setting up at.
"I'll go get it for you." I told her.
"Are you sure? I can-"
"Don't worry." I told her, tossing her the keys to the van. "Just get everything packed and ready to go. I'll be back in a flash." I turned and jogged back into the venue.
The moment I stepped into the venue, there were more people than there were just five minutes ago. I quietly made my way over to the Mia's table of chocolate, trying to make myself invisible as best as I could. There were a few people by the table, already snacking on her chocolates.
"Excuse me," I muttered with a smile. I crouched down by the table and pulled the three remaining trays out of the table. Giving another apologetic smile to the people I disturbed, I made a quick exit. I walked through the front doors of the venue and let out a breathe that I didn't even know I was holding.
"Hey you." I heard a familiar, husky voice calling from behind me. I stopped in my track and looked over my shoulder to see a man standing there. He was in a grey suit, with one hand in his pocket and familiar dark hair. He also had the most captivating hazel eyes that I swear I've seen it somewhere but I don't remember where I've seen them.
"Um hi." I smiled at him. Did I know this man or something? Or does he somehow know me?
"Shouldn't you at least say hi to me if you know me?" He asked and I arched an eyebrow.
"I know you?" I asked. Did I somehow get amnesia over the past week or something?
"What kind of trick are you trying to pull here?" He asked.
"I'm not trying to pull any tricks here or anything." I continued my confused stare at him, this was definitely not going anywhere. "I really have no idea what you're talking about." I added.
"Aiden!" A voice called out and the man in front of me held back the words he was going to say to me before he turned to see who was calling him. Immediately, his lips turned upside down and I could tell that he was a little bit irritated. I turned to see the source of the voice and I saw a beautiful blonde lady coming towards us.
She immediately linked her arms around his hand and stared at him with a huge smile on her face. She was gorgeous with her platinum blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. She also had a semi formal white cocktail dress on her and I couldn't help but smile at her because she looked so much like a doll.
"What are you doing here Hailey?" The man, Aiden asked.
"Of course I'll be here, it's the company's fifth anniversary and my father will be here too later." Hailey replied and I just stood there watching them.
"Rose!" I heard Mia's voice and I turned to see my best friend running towards me. "What's taking so long? We still have work to do you know or do you want to stay up all night for that stupid bride?"
"Sorry, I got held up." I replied with a smile. I turned to look at Aiden and gave him an apologetic look. "Well it's nice to meet you even though you've mistaken me from someone else." I added and then giving him one last apologetic smile before I dragged Mia out with me.
"Who was that?" Mia whispered into my ears as we walked out and towards our van.
"Someone probably mistaken me as Lily again, there's no way I would know anyone without remembering them." I replied.
"He's hot, did you at least get his name?" Mia cooed and I rolled my eyes and shrugged.
"Nope." I replied. Technically he didn't really introduce me to him, so of course I wouldn't know his name. Aiden...Aiden... It could be a nickname right? I doubt it.
(-)
Typically I don't open the bakery on a Sunday but seeing how the bridezilla is a difficult client, I was pleasing her by coming to the bakery just for her. Mia was still sleeping in back at the apartment and Michelle wasn't scheduled to come in because technically we are closed. I took a very small sample sized of cakes for the bridezilla and groom to be sitting in the client room. I was beyond exhausted, the order for Kingsley Enterprise took a toll on me. I've stayed up for the entire night baking cupcakes and the cake for the party. And then I stayed up the entire night to bake the cake for this bride.
I hurried back to the client room because I didn't want to make them wait any longer. I'm usually good with dealing with people and I could always smooth talk my way into the difficult client to make them more reasonable, but a bridezilla and a very tired me, I don't know how well I'll be able to perform.
"Sorry about the wait," I smiled brightly at the couple sitting at by the table. I placed miniature cakes right in front of them and I slid into the seat directly across from them. "You mentioned before that your wedding is going to be held outdoors so I've decided on this passion fruit lime chiffon cake, tell me what you two think." I watched them as they picked up their forks and put a forkful into their mouths.
"It's delicious," The groom, Kenneth said. I smiled at him and mentally thanked him for not being difficult like his bride. I turned to face the bridezilla, wondering what she thought about the cake. Their wedding is supposes to take place in a month and wedding cakes tend to be a big job and very time consuming. I really hope that she likes one of the cakes I've prepared.
"Not bad," She muttered, wiping her lips with a napkin.
I proceeded on telling them the other flavours I've prepared, including a blueberry coconut, raspberry and cherry blossom cake. I watched anxiously as they took bites out of each cake, wondering what they were thinking about. The groom was much more easy going than the bride, but I didn't blame her because she wants everything to be perfect for her big day. Ultimately the passion fruit lime chiffon cake was decided.
We went over the last minute details and I've shown them the sketch of the design for their wedding cake. All that's left to do now was to get them out of here so that I could at least sleep a little bit on my day off. I escorted them out of the bakery and let out a breath as soon as they stepped out. The past week definitely took a big chunk of my energy because I was too lazy to even go back into the client room to clean up.
I dragged my feet across the tile floors and made my way towards the empty table and seat. I folded my arms and placed them on top of the table and rested my head on top of my arms. I wasn't going to be expecting anyone to be coming into the bakery because the closed sign is still up and I did lock the doors, I should just take a quick nap, five minutes only and as soon as I told myself that, I immediately fell asleep.
I woke up with my back aching from being arched over the table for so long. I didn't know how long I fell asleep but it sure felt good. I slowly opened my eyes and yawned while stretching out my back and throwing my arms up in the air. I looked out of the window and the sun was already up in the sky which told me that it was way past noon. I sat in my chair for a little longer before I got up and went back into the client room to clean up the mess I left out earlier. As soon as I was finished, I gathered all of my things, locked the bakery and headed back to my condo.
When I stepped into my condo, it was empty. Usually on Sundays, Mia is back at home to spend time with her family and I usually use this time to run errands or relax. I went into my kitchen to prepare some lunch, as I sat down to eat my phone rang. I stared at my hot warm soup and sighed before getting up to search for my phone in my purse.
"Hey mom." I pressed the phone against my ear and walked back to my delicious soup.
"Where are you?" My Mom sounded a little angry and slightly annoyed.
"I'm at home, why?" Slipping a spoonful of soup.
"Didn't my secretary call you?!" She nearly screamed. The only time my mom gets edgy and easily pissed off is when she's doing business. She expects everything to be perfect and ends smoothly and when something isn't right, we'll all feel her wrath. It's like she has two completely different personalities. "We have a charity dinner to attend tonight."
I dropped my spoon into my soup and gave it a confusing look. We have a business dinner? Since when? I bit the bottom of my lips and wondered if I really had forgotten about it, but I didn't because no one mentioned it to me.
"Oh shit Mom! I forgot, I am so sorry." I lied, not willing to get anyone in trouble especially not my Mom's secretary because I actually like her a lot more than her previous one.
"Well you need to get here within an hour to get your dress fitted." My Mom raged and I was too afraid to ask her where the place I was supposes to get to was. So I bit my tongue and said that I was on my way before hanging up. As soon as the call ended with my Mom, I dialed Lily's number, hoping that she could save me.
"This better be good," My sister said as soon as she picked up.
"Where are we supposes to meet mom for the dress fitting?" I asked.
"Rose! Did you forget? It's a huge charity event that we can't miss." I kind of figured that out if Mom sounded so pissed off.
"No Lily!" I protested. "No one told me. Mom just called me a second ago and I didn't want to tell her that no one told me-"
"So you took the blame for that useless secretary of hers? She forgot to tell you didn't she?"
"Emily's not useless!" I defeated my Mom's poor secretary. and I heard Lily's heavy sigh.
"She's useless." She repeated. I wanted to protest once again, but Lily ended up beating me to it by telling me where the boutique was before telling me that she needed to finish her work before heading over there as well.
I drank my hot soup as quickly as I could without burning my tongue and dumped the bowl into the sink and rushed out of my condo. The drive to the boutique was almost half an hour, I wanted to get there as soon as possible seeing how I'm already 'late' to something I wasn't aware of.
I parked my car in the parking lot and rushed into the boutique, receiving a few stares from staffs and customers. I gave them an apologetic look and front my Mom near the back of the boutique, sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea in her hand as she flipped through a magazine.
"Sorry Mom, I forgot!" I apologized as soon as I saw her. I sat down beside her and I realized that the model on the page was Lily. It was the Vogue photo shoot she had last week and my sister was absolutely stunning. "Wow Lily looks so good in these pictures." I took the magazine away from my Mom and flipped through the magazine myself.
"Lily will be here in ten minutes." My Mom started, "You need to get yourself fitted first." With a quick wave of her hand, service were right by my side. I was sad to let the magazine go but sighed as I held it back to my Mom and was shortly escorted into a change room.
I arched an eyebrow when I saw a dress already pulled out for me and it was completely not my style of dress. It was meant more for Lily because it was way too sexy for me. The dress had a dress V neck and just from a glimpse of it, I knew it was going to show cleavage. I picked up the dress and twirled it around to see the back of it, and the entire back was bare without a single piece of fabric!
"I can't wear this." I turned to the sales, looking at her name tag reading Pat. "This dress is more of Lily's style."
"We are aware of that." Pat replied and I arched an eyebrow, if she's aware of that then why am I wearing it? "But seeing how the two of you are twins, we believe you'll look just as stunning as your sister."
"But-"
"It's Mrs. Starr's order." Pat informed me and I looked over her shoulders and stared at my mom at a far distant, sipping at her tea. "Seeing how the Starr sister's are twins, Mrs. Starr didn't want one of her daughter to outshine the other, so she ordered the same dress for the two of you." Ouch, a direct hit in the heart.
I stared at my Mom again and I fought back the hurt of Pat's word. I knew my mom meant well because I knew she loved both Lily and I. But my Mom wasn't blind, she knew that Lily shined more than I did. Especially for functions like charity dinners or what not, Lily was use to the spotlight and the social meetings, while I was more reserved and rather eat in a corner without being noticed.
I sighed in defeat before obediently locking myself into the fitting room. I stripped out of my clothes and slipped into the black cocktail dress, putting my arms through the straps and then letting the skirt flow all the way down to the floor. I adjusted the top a little bit to see if I could cover some skin, I cursed the design of the dress when I knew that nothing was going to help.
I felt exposed. The V neck of the dress showed a little bit of cleavage and I was more comfortable about it than I thought when I first set eyes on it. However the back was a problem. I turned around and stared at my bare back from the reflection. The only fabric on the back was from the straps of the dress and lower back which formed the skirt.
At least my Mom had decided to pick a full length dress instead of those mini cocktail dresses which would expose more skin. The dress itself was gorgeous but it just doesn't scream Rose on me. I wasn't confident in the dress and believe me, I already lack a lot of confidence compared to Lily. Even if we are identical twins and we'll be wearing the same dress, we could easily be told apart. I didn't want to show anyone this dress I'm in because it wasn't flattering on me. I sighed, letting out a frustrating grunt before sitting down on the sofa inside the fitting room. I'm planning on locking myself in here until I was looked for. I patted the silky material underneath my finger and I sighed again.
"Sorry dress," I talked to it. "It's not you but me. You're gorgeous and everything but I don't think I'm the right owner for you."
Suddenly there was a knock on my fitting room door and I jumped.
"Miss Starr? Are you alright in there?" I heard Pat on the other side of the door and I stood onto my feet.
"Um-um yeah." I replied. "I'll be right out." I stared at myself one last time in the mirror and sighed before unlocking the door and stepped out.
My mouth jumped when I saw my sister in the exact same dress as I was. I never knew she even arrived but clearly she didn't waste any time to change into her gown. Lily has always loved to dress up, maybe that's why she became a model because of all the fancy clothes she got to wear. My sister twirled around in the dress, doing a three sixty turn in front of my mom with an approval smile on her face. Lily wore the same dress with pride and confidence and this is what I meant when I said Lily shined. She literally shined.
All of a sudden I felt disgusting, I felt disgusting for being jealous of my sister. What was there to be jealous about? I'm proud of her, I love her, she deserves it. But why do I feel a jab of pain in my heart when I look at my sister in her stunning dress? Was it Pat's words that hurt me early? I shook my head clear and pushed the words out of my head.
"Oh Rose you look absolutely stunning!" My Mom caught glimpse of me and my sister turned to look at me as well. I never expected any reaction from my sister because I never received anything from her, but this time her mouth dropped. For the first time in twenty five years, my sister's mouth dropped at what I was wearing.
"Oh really?" I clasped my hands together in front of me and made my way to my sister and mom. "I-"
"I knew I picked the right dress for the both of you." I don't like it. I swallowed my words and smiled softly. "Oh come here Rose." My Mom walked towards me and I stood next to my sister in front of the mirror.
I stared at our reflection and so did Lily. I tried to study what she was thinking about but I was never good at reading people. I returned my attention back on our reflection, my eyes flickering back and forth between Lily and I. No matter how much I looked at our reflection, it's clear that Lily looked way better in the dress than I did. Our height were the same, our physique were quite similar, and we looked exactly the same. Pat's words wiggled their way back into my head and I felt disgusting again. I fought back the words and smiled at my sister and our eyes connected through the mirror.
"You still look way better than I do." I told her and I was speaking the truth.