Jhanvi, let me be very frank, yes I need money, but I’m very afraid, I have never done baking before even for a single fellow. And you believe I can run the whole bakery?
It’s very simple, cakes, cookies, bread, doughnuts, pies, pastries, sweets, and your magical hands, said Jhanvi grasping her hands.
I’m leaving by tomorrow…please remember to shut the doors exactly at 8:00 at night…the recipes are on that book inside the drawer and what’s more?
Yeah, but before I leave let me beware you!
Of what?
Are you seeing the trucks with chairs and tables right in front of us? Anything scary with them?
No no, that gent, that brown hair, is the owner of that new shop ‘Heaven bakes’ and thus our closest competitor.
You mean that curly-haired man, OH don’t worry, his shop will not affect our sales for we are…are
Colors and cakes and the best!
They chuckled.
Apples 5…1 ½…all-purpose flour…sugar…how much? 2 cups…then 4 eggs…½ cup milk…what? 2 teaspoons salt…what the hell salt can do in an apple cake?
Miss, may I come in?
The customer sat on the chair and the girl couldn’t resist staring at all of him, and apple cake waited.
What should I bring for you sir, asked the girl downcasting her eyes, to keep the boy unaware of his beauty?
The costliest and the cheapest of your recipes. That’s it.
The girl placed the costliest ‘Chocolate Mocha Cake’ and the cheapest ‘Cherry Pie’ on the blue tablecloth and held back for him to taste.
And how was it?
Let me taste it, Miss!
“WOW, it’s a tasty art”
Really?
Praises from the enemies, oww, she murmured.
The moon and the stars shine a little brighter and the night grew older with the clock stuck at 8:00…
I should leave, thank you, Mam.
WAIT
The girl sprinted towards the boy who was about to pull the door.
This is our special gift for our special customers, she said forwarding a glass box full of cookies.
HAHAHA, I’m grateful for this.
The colors and cakes shut and the apple cake’s batter rested in the fridge.
Peanut butter, Whoopie, Sugar, Molasses, Biscotti, Snowfall…and Gingersnaps cookies, the menu is incredible.
The boy found a bit of paper below the cookies.
“HAPPY COMPETITION SIR, ALL THE VERY BEST FOR THE SWEET WAR”
~Dhriti
Dhriti…Dhriti…Dhriti…such a lovely name…Dhriti. She knows.
Did he come yesterday?
Yes, that owner of the so-called Heaven bakes. You know that big shop looks very rich from the outside, only the boss is a fool.
But…why did he come to you?
Jhanvi, I’ll call you later, customers have come…
The whole day, the girl’s mind and soul whirled around pies to pastries, cakes to cookies and muffins to mug cakes, yet she was searching for ‘the boy’…
Didn’t the board outside the shop read- “10:00 to 10:00”…Why is he so late? Did he meet with an accident? Or people have beaten him after having his cookies? Or he is on a date with his girlfriend? Or that bakery will never run? No No No… Her breaths were on hold looking for him and her body was devoted towards her customers.
Dhriti, why are you thinking about him? It’s his bakery, he can open it anytime, after all, slothful people like him can do nothing. What’s this behavior girl, grow up… I’m looking whether the bakeshop is open or not…nothing more…HAHAHAHA.AAAA-need-uuuu…shoo away boy. Is he doing some kinda magic on me? A Wizard
Her eyelids were heightened and then lowered in the other moment, it pains nonetheless some waits are worthy. The boy came on his black racing motorcycle and would fall if not saved by a group of good people however his sack was brutally injured bleeding the sugar all over the road.
“God, youngsters these days think of themselves heroic speeding the vehicles, they don’t even think of their parents”…
“It seems cool for them”
“Some do all these to impress girls”
The girl listened to the tittle-tattle echoing the shop but kept quiet for the Apple Cake matters.
Mobile, recipe book, all tables, and chairs cleaned, current account did…anything more…Ummm…
Miss, may I come in?
The boy came with an empty bowl in his hand.
Will you come with me to taste my cookies?
Why should Dhriti come to you?, it’s already 8:00- closing time, I need to hurry up.
Dhriti should come to me for commenting on my sweets and this man has no one other than her.
OH…she said rolling her tongue inside her mouth.
And please give me some sugar, in this bowl… my black beauty fell on the road…and
I know…if you don’t know how to drive why do?
IT WAS AN ACCIDENT
Sorry, some other day. Here you can’t find a cab after 8:00 and Mr. you’re taking my time. LEAVE.
I will drop you then, the boy said smiling.
And Dhriti should have the reliance on a stranger?
He clasped her hands and she landed on a chair of HEAVEN BAKES, involuntarily smiling all the way.
Stubborn girl, let me add the sugar in the sugarless cake until then please have our special “Heavono cookies”…
He not only served the cake with utmost perfection but also fed her with his hands as she was half-asleep.
Aaaa…full mouth… bigger…some more
Are you, my mom?
Competitor baby, an enemy I’m.
Then, take me to my home, Now!
And where do you stay?
In the park, I sleep on a sea-saw.
The boy guffawed. Miss, you look drunker than drowsy…
The ‘Heaven Bakes’ and the ‘Colours and Cakes’ only saw blooms of success and savors of love. The people loved the ‘Heaven Bakes’ for its cookies and ‘Colours and Cakes’ for its cake and the happy wind blew in the town. Nevertheless, her heart wasn’t calm for Jhanvi had commanded her to keep the boy away from the bakery and now she can’t ignore the fact that he was a usual visitor. She knows that if Jhanvi will know about it she will never think twice before throwing her out. All she wants from this bakery is money, money, and more money. She followed her and the summer and spring season passed without the boy, only she watched him while cooking.
Christmas was coming and kids started writing their WISH LIST to Santa, and the girl was engaged in making the new ‘Christmas pastries’ for the poor children.
May I come in?
NO
Why?
No means N–O
Hey, I have come with a family, they were asking me about your shop.
I….I…Please come in sir and madam.
The couple ordered an apple cake for their child who was celebrating his first birthday, the very first time in Mumbai.
Can I help you? Asked the boy.
No getting lost in your Heaven Bakes.
The boy chortled and she hated it.
Ok mam, try to be nice with the apples. Goodbye!
Darling, If you’ll leave apples will cry, and then how will I bake it.
Sweetheart, you mean I should help you?
I don’t know the recipe!
He teed-heed for more than moments and less than hours and she stood watching his fathomless eyes.
Two hands worked on one apple cake. The girl was smelling the boy and the boy was looking for vanilla essence for its smell. He mixed the flour with the butter and sugar and repeatedly asked her for cream until he found her asleep on the sofa. The customers kissed the boy for his cake and assigned him the job of making cakes for all his birthday parties.
“How beautiful you look, my lady. How lucky is this red apron to touch every part of you. I’m so much in love with you, there’s nothing more and no way to be out”
“I love you too”
Did you say something? HAHA, how can you when you’re asleep?
He smoothly kissed her lower lips and neck and sat beside her holding her hands tightly.
Pick the phone…come on!
Hello, Good morning, Miss.
Can you please come there’s a robbery inside my bakery? Please.
The boy didn’t waste a second and ran to her. The crowd was standing idle making stories of robbery and she was standing helpless in the middle. As soon as the boy entered the shop he firmly hugged her.
“Don’t worry, I’m here with you, always”
“From when?” roared Jhanvi coming abruptly
“You cheap man, you think of me as a blockhead not to know who stole the money? It’s you! What’s your name moron?
“Sarthak”
“Jhanvi, you’re wrong! It’s not him”
“OHOHO, Dhriti dear how characterless you have become! You have sold your body to him and you’ll speak only his words. You are his whore! Did I deserve this girl? I have done a favor on you and in return, you tried to rob my bakery with this man”
Dhriti couldn’t stop her sorrows and they fell unstopping as she walked out.
“ENOUGH”
He slapped Jhanvi, burning the crowd in anger.
“Friends, let’s burn his bakery. He doesn’t know how to respect girls. Throw him out of the town” declared the crowd.
The boy hastened to her.
“Dhriti stop, please”
…but she walked and continued.
More than a week passed, there were no traces of Dhriti and Sarthak in the whole town yet only up to “NEW YEAR’S PARTY” became visible to the people who were sorry for their deeds.
“We are disheartened. It was our sin to burn HEAVEN BAKES. When we had learned of the real culprit we felt very bad. We will be thankful if you’ll again start to bake in our town”
“I thought you would not come. Did you miss me?”
“No! See, why will Dhriti miss a guy who looks much like a doughnut?”
“Hmm…you’re right”
“Did you miss me?”
“Why should I miss a girl who looks exactly like a pastry”
“Really?”
“Haa…Miss pastry can we create our cupcakes for the night’s fest?”
They baked the sweetness and the whole town danced and sang to their sweetness. The town illuminated, and people started counting down 10…9…8…
“Come”
“Where”
“Where I go”
“Where will you go?”
“First, I’ll blindfold you”
“Why? I want to see the glowing crackers here”
She questioned him all through the way but he lifted her and took her to the top of the hill. He unwrapped her eyes and she saw him on his knees.
“What a wonderful scene, how glamorous the city lights are from here. Look my favorite star Venus there”
“Can’t you see me?”
“Then say?”
“My life, will you be my wife?”
“More romantic I had dreamed”
“Can you hold my hands on the long journey of life? Can we create our little creations?”
“MORE”
He stood up and pulled her closer and gently kissed her lips and sucked them until he could taste her soul. The girl hugged the boy strongly.
“I’m already yours, I love you Sarthak, be my husband”
“Happy New Year 2021 Jaan”
“You know I had even decided the name of our first baby- a girl?”
“And what is it?”
“Cookie”
“Really?”
Ever since then, the tale of Dhriti and Sarthak remained on every corner of the town, not as a story about love but as an implausible narration of how love finds its home and how souls get filled with it.
