143 Kaoru’s Cake House CH 15

Chapter Fifteen : He who Loves

Your first love is also the greatest among all the other loves. Those beautiful memories are irreplaceable…if possible, relive them.

Four days have pa.s.sed since their date at Kelantan Delights; four days which Ginn Celes spent away from home. He had gone to Shanghai to see to the preparations of Berry’C’s up-and-coming fas.h.i.+on show there. As much as Jasmine missed him, she had to admit that being to communicate worldwide with the help of technology made things easier. Every day, she would get a message telling her his experiences in Shanghai. Sometimes, she would get pictures via MMS—including a selfie of him fresh out of the shower with nothing on but a towel. Embarra.s.sed but happy, Jasmine found herself more optimistic in life when she realized how much she was loved.

Depending on your capability to love and embrace your surroundings along with everything that comes with being loved, distance may or may not be an obstacle.

“What’s the happiest thing when you’re loved?”

That, was Jasmine’s question to Elle Cavier when the young man invited her out for lunch at Kaoru’s Cake House, and it was one that centered around the new, giddying emotions she was feeling inside her being. Though, these swirling emotions had only intensified after she noticed the chemistry after an hour’s conversation—after she agreed to be the new model of Berry’C for FUSE-FAs.h.i.+ON magazine, news that Ginn only found out a day after he arrived in Shanghai.

“I believe that it depends on the person,” Elle answered, sipping his coffee.

“Well, for me, love doesn’t need words. It happens on its own and doesn’t need to be repeated. Understanding can clear all the problems,” Jasmine said, full of emotions and p.r.o.nouncing each word clearly, impressing Elle. She looked so sincere and proven by her expression, she was in love. Does she have a boyfriend already? …Or has Ginn already made her his?

“Why do you say so?”

Jasmine shrugged.

“I just thought that it should be existent in love, not like any of those Hindustan movies or cheap romance flicks!” she laughed and added, “Like that movie ‘LOVE’ or something. It’s amazing what they revealed about love!”

In reply, Elle nodded. If her being in love wasn’t obvious before, it was as clear as day now. Plus, Jasmine was enjoying herself, raising questions about that particular emotion, and once again, Elle lost in the game. The person he was after was already caged by another, though whose cage was it? Only one name popped up in Elle’s mind and it was none other than Ginn Celes.

“Hey…how about I bring you around Shah Alam in my new ride?” Elle suggested while rising from his chair and Jasmine was dazed. Had she heard right?

“That’s only if you’ve nothing else to do of course,” Elle quickly continued upon seeing her expression.

“I’d like that, but I’m worried that you’d have your hands full entertaining me,” Jasmine followed Elle towards the cas.h.i.+er counter. Meanwhile, Denny who had noticed the approaching pair couldn’t help but felt slightly envious of how close they were. Noticing this, the corners of Elle’s mouth curled up. He handed a fifty ringgit note to Denny, telling him to calculate the total money they owed. He was sure that both his and Jasmine’s orders added up to no more than number. After all, he often came here.

Without telling them how much their total was, Denny handed Elle the balance and in one swift motion, Elle stuffed the cash into his wallet before slipping it into his back pants pocket. He gave Jasmine a brighter smile.

“Let’s go. There’s nothing worth to entertain but you.”

It was a dangerous sentence spoken by a male to a female—a sentence that showed that Elle was trying to beguile Jasmine and that didn’t sit well with Denny.

“Come again!” he called out to the backs of Elle and Jasmine. The both of them turned their heads, smiling back.

“It’s impossible not to!” Jasmine replied before stepping out of the building. Elle had held the door open for her but Denny didn’t care about that. The girl’s answer lifted his spirits again…until he realized something: who was he when compared to Elle? Or even Ginn? Would Jasmine even consider seeing him as someone more than a friend?

“Hoi! Daydreaming, seriously? Didn’t you notice the customers standing in front of you?” Wing suddenly popped out as though he had materialized out of thin air. Immediately, Denny snapped back into reality and found a middle-aged couple smiling before him. Embarra.s.sed, he quickly apologized but the husband waved it off, giving a glance filled with adoration to his wife.

Sensing that his job was done, Wing returned to his real one in the kitchen. He had noticed the look the man gave to his wife and somehow, he was affected by it. The chef thought that the world of love was truly beautiful as long as one has found his or her true love.

Wing’s gaze landed on Izz who was busy was.h.i.+ng the dishes alone, unaware of—or just ignoring—the former’s presence.

‘Still, it’s painful when you’ve already found the right one only to…’

At once, Wing shook away the thought. It wasn’t really his business so he averted his attention to his first love instead; Kaoru’s Cake House.

Absence is less of a danger to love compared to the test of staying together forever.

Once the middle-aged couple left the place, a new customer came in and the sight of the newcomer stunned Denny.

“Jenny?!” her name managed to slip from his lips. On the other hand, Bob, who had been concentrating hard on arranging the flowers on one of the corner tables, turned his head when he heard the familiar name.

“Hi!” the bobbed-hair girl waved. She quickly closed the distance between Denny and herself—only the counter kept their bodies from touching—before she asked the blonde man how he was doing.

“I’m great,” Denny grinned. At once, Jasmine vanished from his thoughts that were now occupied by the girl in front of him. She had once stolen his heart but their relations.h.i.+p had never taken a step further from friends.h.i.+p. Though, her present reappearance, just a year after her last, brought a new hope to Denny. Jenny, the girl, had been in his life for a whole year after all. Every day last year, she visited Kaoru’s Cake House just to see him. Once, she even told him that he brightened her days. He had a hunch that he had helped her recover from her breakup with ex-boyfriend, Roy to some degree.

“Thanks for remembering me…” Jenny’s expression softened. Her eyes followed Denny as he slipped out of the cas.h.i.+er counter and stood beside her.

“Where did you disappear off to all this while? Gone with the wind, did you?”

Jenny could only smile. Denny was still the jokester she remembered.

“Could you not ask? I’m back for good now. I want to start afresh.”

Hearing that, Denny could barely hold back his sigh of relief. The corners of his mouth turned up into another grin as his eyes gained a mischievous twinkle.

“I’m surprised how you still know how to thank people.”

“Puh-lease, its common courtesy.”

And, laughter erupted from the both of them. Seeing them, Bob smiled from his spot while Wing, who had just emerged from the kitchen, was surprised to see Jenny.

‘Love has never been selfish,’ Wing mused to himself after Jenny flashed him her pearly whites.

The ties of love that has been accidentally severed is an incident that fools separation itself for there is always fantasy which holds figments of reality within it.

Denny was entirely sure that Jasmine no longer held his interests. He had realized that loneliness had tricked him. It allowed Jasmine to draw a path towards his heart when he already had a person who completed it to begin with.