Melody put the tray of cupcakes in the oven. She closes it and breathes out in tiredness. Her hair is in a messy bun, and flour is on her face, along with her apron. She takes a seat on the bar stool and wipes the sweat on her forehead.
“Woah, no matter, I smell something nice here,” Matthew speaks up, appearing in the kitchen.
“Since when are you standing there?” she frowns.
“Just now. I came to send some report to Damian, and then I smelled a delicious smell…” he took a sniff, and it led to a bunch of cookies on the counter.
He licks his lips and leans on the counter, “You made this?”
“Yes. Taste one,” she nods towards the cookies.
Matthew grins and picks one before taking a bite. The crunchy sounds echo in the kitchen. Melody looks at him waiting for his words. She is not good at baking, but she always tries to make it and ends up with good results.
So, why not try it again?
“Hmm… this is the most delicious cookies I have ever tasted…” he moans in deliciousness. “You should open a bakery, Mel.”
“Yeah, no, thank you.”
“Why not? This skill of yours is useful. I bet you can be a popular baker,” Matthew grins.
Melody taps her chin, “Hm. When you say it that way… I start to think, it’s kind of a good idea, don’t you think?”
“Told you,” he grabbed another cookie and took a bite, “At least you got something to do than fooling around like a sack of potato,”
“Hey!” she glares at him.
“What? It’s true,” he shrugs his shoulder before grabbing another one.
She slaps his hand, causing him to pull away and pout, “What was that for?”
“You had enough,” she huffs. “I want to let someone else taste it too,”
“Geez, so grumpy,” he mumbles.
Then, he gazes at the oven. “What else do you bake?”
“Cupcake,” she went to clean the dishes.
“You know what? All these goodies remind me of the incident of you pretending to be a scout,” Matthew speaks out when he suddenly remembers the memory.
“Oh, that time! Where you get tricked by a girl like me,” she burst into laughter.
Matthew glares at the back of her head, “That’s because you do look like a child-an innocent child!!”
“Not only that…” she turns to face him, “You even got tricked twice!!” she laughs so hard, clutching her stomach.
He stares at her, getting frustrated when she laughs at his stupidest. Matthew rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.
“I got to admit it. You are a good pick-pocket. You know how to be in character,” he blurts out.
“Thank you for the compliment but I didn’t do it for fun. I did it to survive,” she wipes her hands and picks up the plate filled with cookies.
“This cookie is delicious for someone who pick-pockets like you,” he snatched one cookie and ran off.
She rolls her eyes.
“Oh, help me give the file to Damian!! Thanks!!”
Melody grumbles and grabs the file he left at the counter. She wish she could hit him but not now. She walks upstairs and is greeted by the servant who passes her.
She stops in front of Damian’s office. Somehow, the conversation of last night still repeating in her mind. She let out a deep sigh, not knowing how to act normally. She could feel they were already on good terms.
In the meantime.
Since she hasn’t said anything about the divorce thing. So does he.
She brings herself up and knocks on the door gently.
“Come in,” a deep yet husky voice answers from behind the door.
Melody pushes the door open and shuts it close. She turns to face him to see Damian staring at his paperwork. He is wearing a white button top that only button up below his chest.
It exposed his broad, muscular chest.
“Did I bother you?” she softly asks.
“No. What do you want?” he asks, not moving his gaze from the paperwork.
“Matthew ask me to give you this,” she put down the file on his desk.
Damian moves his gaze and grumbles, “Finally. How many times have I told him to be fast? I have no time to play around.”
He opens the file and starts to continue his work. Melody put the plate on the desk and sat on the chair. She watched him working diligently with a stoic expression. He seems like a workaholic person.
But, she notice he slowly change. Usually, he always is with his tab, doing his work, but now, he rarely does that.
Damian occasionally glances at her. Her appearance somehow endearing to him. Her hair was in a messy bun, flour on her face and her apron.
“Why are you here? Don’t you have something better to do?” he broke the silence.
“No need to be so grumpy,” she rolls her eyes before slightly pushing the plate towards him. “Want some? I bought you cookies. I bake it.”
He glanced at it before continue doing his work, “I don’t like sweet.”
“Oh, come on. Just taste it,” she confronts him.
“No, Mel. The last time I tasted something sweet, it made me cringe,” Damian firmly tells her.
“Well, maybe that sweet is not suitable for you. This one, I bet you will like it-no. Love it!” Melody grabs a cookie and gives it to him.
“No,”
“A bite? Please?” she blinks her doe eyes.
Damian stares at her for a moment then at the cookie. Then, he lets out a heavy sigh and closes his eyes. She smirks, knowing he finally gave up, knowing she wouldn’t back down, not until he tasted it.
“Fine. Give it to me,”
He grabs it from her and stares at it for a moment. It is just simple cookies. Homemade one. Melody puts her chin on her palms hands as she leans forward.
“There’s no poison, don’t worry,” she said.
“I know,” he grumbles.
Damian sighs and takes a bite. As it reached his tongue, he couldn’t deny the taste. It’s sweet, but the sweet he hates. The taste of the sweetness is not too strong. It’s just like the taste is balanced.
Fit to his taste.
Melody looked at him, waiting for his feedback since she had baked it for him. “So… how was it?”
“I have to be honest…” he sighs quietly, “It tastes good.”
“Really!? I told you!!” her eyes light up.
He rolls his eyes and finishes the cookie with one bite. He grabs a tissue and wipes his hand, even though it is covered with gloves.
“Yeah, whatever,”
“Matthew give me an idea. I think… I want to open a bakery,” she blurts out.
Damian glanced at her, “Open a bakery?”
“Mhm. I know it costs a lot and is tiring, but… at least I got something to do. Something that I enjoy in doing it,” she explains further.
Something she enjoys?
“You mean… if you open up a bakery… you will be… happy?” he asks slowly.
She nods. “Yup. It’s not my dream, but I want to let everyone in this world taste my homemade sweet!”
He fell silent. He gazes back to the paperwork. Something that will make her happy. Something that will bring a smile to her face even if she is tired. Not only that… maybe he could see her in this appearance even more.
Maybe every day?
That thought made Damian shake his head slightly. “You want to open up a bakery?”
“Yes. Maybe I can use the money from my father’s property,” she thinks to herself, tapping her chin.
As much as it was a good idea, Damian wouldn’t let her use it. He wants her to keep that money for emergency use. Why did she bother to use her own money when she got him in front of her?
“If you want to open up a bakery, I will help you,” he grabs his phone.
“What do you mean by that?” she frowns, she didn’t like where this thing led them.
He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he calls someone on his phone, tapping his finger on the desk, waiting for that person to pick up.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice answers.
Melody furrows her eyebrows.
“Celestia, I want you to find a rented store that is empty. Find as many as you can. I want it by tomorrow,” he demands.
“Right away, boss. You can count on me,” Celestia answers.
By that, Damian hangs up.
“Who is Celestia? I never heard of her,” she frowns.
“She is one of my strong members, too. You never heard of her because she’s outstation, doing her mission,” he explains.
“Mission?”
“Yes, mission. Celestia is my spy. A good assassin in my clan. She just got back from the mission yesterday… I think, not sure,” Damian explains.
Melody nods slowly. She knows Damian’s got a lot of strong members. Then, she just remembers what he did.
“Wait, why did you tell her to find a rent store!?”
“You said you want to open up a bakery, didn’t you?” he said nonchalantly.
“I do but-”
Damian raises his hand to tell her to stop talking, “I don’t want you to use your own money. You got me in front of you. I got a lot more than you that made me not knowing what to do with it,”
She forgot he owns a lot of companies, too. Melody sighs, “I didn’t ask for your help. I can do it by myself,”
“I know you can do it, but I still want to help,” he gets up and ruffles her hair before going to the shelf to find documents.
Melody huffs, crossing her arms on her chest. She knows he wouldn’t listen to her no matter what.
Damian grabs a document and remembers something, “You seem close to… Riccardo.”
“Who?” she frowns.
“Riccardo. You both seem close,” he continued, trying to sound nonchalant about it. He knows that if he lets her look at his face, she can detect his hidden emotions.
“Oh, that guy….” she mumbles.
If it was not for Riccardo, she wouldn’t be here. Because of his words and pleading for her to stay a bit longer with Damian, she managed to understand Damian even more. Even she didn’t know what happened between them.
Yet, she could see how much Riccardo cared about this grumpy guy. She should thank him for advising her a lot.
“I’m not close to him. Just… a friend close,” she shrugs.
“Friend…” he mumbles.
His tone makes Melody slightly arch her eyebrows. Did she just hear… jealousy? Or she is delusional about it?
“Yes, friend. There’s not much between us. Why do you ask?” Melody leans on her chair.
Damian pauses for a moment before speaking, “Nothing. Just… I wouldn’t be surprised if you attached to him. He is good at snatching someone’s heart.”
That’s when she finally, confirmed it. Did she just witness Damian D’ Angelo being jealous? She wants to tease him, but at the same time, she doesn’t want to ruin this moment. A moment where he expresses what he felt.
In his way.
“If you let me choose between you and him, of course, you. I can’t keep up with that energetic man,” she giggles.
A small smile tugged on his lips, “Yeah… guess so.”
“I wouldn’t leave someone who been with me in the first place,” she added.
Her words make him relax a bit.
“If I attached to him… I wouldn’t be with you right now, give you a taste of my cookies,” Melody says.
Damian chuckles. He controls his face before turning to face her, “It’s not like I care if you’re attached to him.”
She smiles not saying anything. It’s cute to see this guy think she wouldn’t notice anything from him. Yet, she still could see everything through him even his expression stoic and hardened.
“Anything you said, Damian.”
Then, the door bursts open. “Ma’am!! Your cupcake is burnt!!”
Melody’s eyes widen. She forgot about her cupcake in the oven. “Ahhh!!! I forgot about it!!!”
She rushes out of the office. Damian who witness it just shakes his head with smile on his face.