The Other Side

Chapter 2

I let out a huge sigh as I straighten up in my seat and stretch my muscles.

Peeking at my phone, I see that there is a message in my notifications list.

Quickly grabbing the phone, I unlock it and open the messenger app. But my luck is so rotten that it is not even a personal message.

No, it is a message in a group. Unfortunately it is a group of my college friends whom I am not even in contact with anymore.

Some enthusiastic people keep messaging in it once in a while. Forwarding jokes and general news. However I never even checked those messages before. My inbox used to be filled with Daniel's messages.

Lately, my inbox is empty. No messages from Daniel. No missed calls as well. It is as if I was never in his contact list.

Gritting my teeth so that I do not end up screaming in frustration, I keep the phone aside and get up from my chair.

Looking around the bakery that is now silent with only a few lights on, I feel lonely all of a sudden.

I am not alone. No. There are people in here. Basically the staff of this bakery. Our best pastry chef, Alice, is here, cleaning her side of the kitchen counter because she doesn't like anyone else walking in there.

Apart from Alice, our chef; Jeremy is also present at the back of the bakery, helping Mariam to clean all the utensils.

And what am I doing?

Well, I am the owner's daughter and this bakery is where I grew up. I always knew that I would end up taking over my father's business.

But things didn't go well for me. My father, Fredrick Stone, decided to make my brother, Eric, the sole owner of this bakery. I never held any grudge against my brother but knowing that our father gave his only source of income to his son and not even divide it in half, leaves behind a sore spot.

My brother is older than me by 9 years and is a Cardiologist. He is busy touring the world, learning and treating people in need. In turn, forgetting that he has a sister, his only living family in this world.

We might not be the best of friends but he does check up on me once in a few days. He knew how much I love this bakery and that's why when mom and dad passed away, he handed over the reigns of this bakery to me.

Looking at how much I loved Daniel as well, my brother had warned me to not let my career take a backseat.

And look what happened!

My career definitely took a backseat when I was busy cheerleading for Daniel so that he could become a lawyer.

Well, at least he became a lawyer. My cheerleading and sleepless nights didn't go to waste.

But I don't have a career. I have this bakery that my brother left as a charity. I run this bakery or at least try to with the help from Alice who's like a second mother to me after my own mum passed away.

At the moment, I am just handling the business making sure that we make enough profit to pay the bills and salaries of each of the bakery staff.

Looking down at my laptop where I keep all the sheets updated, I heave in a huge breath.

It's not like my bakery is not running well. It is doing okay. We have some regular customers and some of my old school friends drop by for a pastry.

But otherwise, I am lonely. I no more go out with Daniel for dates or weekend vacations. My day begins with opening my bakery, helping to clean it as I am a little do-it-yourself type of a girl, then greet the customers and help in serving them a bit if the staff is preoccupied with other customers, then after the bakery closes, we all help clean the bakery and then at the end of the day, I calculate the profits myself and then go to sleep.