chapter 4 (part one)

Maya could very well be projecting here, but there was no convincing her that Rose didn’t order everything for herself. I mean, the evidence was completely laid out before her; The lounge clothes (that were too small might she add), the takeaway boxes that seemed to have collected over the course of a week, the bed/sofa set up for a lazy night in...It all added up.

The next course of action was how in the ever loving fuck was she going to address this?

It’d be highly unprofessional for her to use her home address as an excuse to knock on her door and she doubted Rose would appreciate her going, ‘Hey, by the way, I also like this and I’m more than happy to make you fat’ the next time she went into the bakery. That is, if Rose even dared to step foot in the bakery ever again.

Maya’s heart sank. There could very well be a possibility that she’d be far too embarrassed to show her face. If one were to consider this to be a very normal situation then Rose would look like a greedy pig, and not as a compliment.

Her train of thought screeched to a halt as the office phone rang. It’d been a few days since the party incident and unless it was a scam call, there’s only one person it could possibly be.

“...H-Hello?” Maya croaked out, her mouth feeling incredibly dry all of a sudden.

There was silence on the other end of the line long enough that she mistook it as a misdial until she heard the same distorted voice that belonged to Rose. “Maya? It...It is okay if I call you Maya, right? I’m not stepping on any business toes there?” She was trying to be jokey, yet her tone was laced with anxiousness.

Still, hearing Rose say her name made Maya need to sit down in the office chair. “Uh--Yeah. That’s...That’s fine. Do you need another delivery?” she asked.

“No I...I actually just wanted to talk to you. I feel like I owe you an explanation,” Rose’s voice wavered and a large inhale could be heard. “I ah--I think it’s pretty obvious that I wasn’t throwing a party, huh?”

Where was she going with this?

“...I’m sure it looked pretty weird and I’m sorry that I lied to you.”

Ah, so she wasn’t going to address the elephant in the room then.

Maya shook her head despite being fully aware she wouldn’t be able to see it, “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. Whatever a customer does with their purchase is none of my business once it leaves the store.” She paused for a moment, having to pick her next words carefully. “...Moving is a very stressful experience. Unpacking boxes, organising your things...It works up an appetite.”

She had thrown the bait out there, now it was just whether Rose bit onto it.

A stifled giggle could be heard on the other end, “You know, you’re right...Why don’t we discuss it over dinner?”

Maya froze. Wait. What?

“I-I’m sorry?”

“Dinner. You and me, do you know a good place?” Rose sounded a lot more like her usual self now, clearly feeling a little better about how the conversation was going.

While she could hardly believe any of this was happening, Maya managed to arrange a time and place for them to meet. For a date. She was going on a date with Rose. She slumped back against the chair once she put the phone down, allowing herself to have a well deserved breather.


(Having to split this chapter into two parts due to the character limit unfortunately.)