Desserts & Dramas

Chapter 23

The brunette lady was handling a puff pastry while the other employee stared more at the store than at the sweets she was adorning. Mrs. Maria was short, had a generous shape, a friendly look, and strong arms for stirring large bowls of filling. She was an excellent cook, and Sofia was grateful to have found her to be part of her team.

"I don't need a lot of attention to do something I repeat almost every day." Gisele complained.

Gisele, on the other hand, was the opposite of Mrs. Maria. Tall, slender and blond, Gisele used both her looks and her talent in the kitchen to get what she wanted. Instead of friendly eyes, her face was almost always filled with determination. At many moments, she displayed a ferocity that contrasted with her delicate forms. Her goal was to have her own bakery, like Sofia.

"Yet, you must be careful with the quantities. Sofia doesn't like to waste material." Mrs. Maria warned.

"Sofia is not here to see if something goes wrong." And she said more quietly to herself, "She never is."

"But you know she controls everything."

Gisele thought that Sofia's absence did not allow her to control everything. Although she strictly controlled the raw materials, the amount of stock, and, mainly, tasted all the recipes she or Mrs. Maria prepared before serving them to clients and events, it was not humanly possible for her to control everything. Gisele couldn't do it, and she thought she was as good and talented as her boss. Tired of the precision of decorating the sweets, she decided to take a break at the counter. Yasmin had already served four more customers after the drama of the old man and the boy, she might as well wash some things in the back of the kitchen.

"Yasmin, I'll take over here. There are some basins and spatulas for you to take care of. "

"Yes, Gisele."

She had no choice but to obey Gisele, who was in charge when Sofia was not around.

Yasmin was not so bad for a young and squalid girl. Hired because of her mother, like a combo, Gisele thought. At least she was not shy and disobedient. She could deal with customers and follow orders, which were huge qualities for a youth more interested in show off on the Internet than working. However, her biggest flaw was that she was clumsy. She was always dropping things, knocking utensils into the sink, and making annoying noises, which only made Gisele's small patience even smaller. Occupational hazard, everyone had their problems with co-workers.

For Gisele it was a little worse. Coming from a dysfunctional family, with no father and a mother full of addictions, no job and a variety of men and children that came from them. She wasn't the oldest daughter, and she certainly wasn't the youngest. Everyone who achieved their independence did not go back or look back. And in this environment, Gisele learned early on that she should only take care of herself and work hard to have the life that for some people was too easy.

All this shaped her personality and made it difficult for her to interact with her colleagues from school, technical classes, or the kitchens where she worked. At least, all that effort paid off, and Gisele did manage to learn from many chefs in jobs fought over by candidates with far more titles and experience than she had. She was good at what she did as long as she did it alone. And in Sofia's kitchen it was clearly no different. Yasmin had the love of her mother, who would surely do everything to protect her, but Gisele had ambition. And in a career, it was ambition that drove a person to conquer his or her goals, not love.

Not even her boyfriends stayed around for long. Her last relationship lasted only a few months, which only reinforced her beliefs. Not to depend on anyone and always move forward. With that, she headed towards the front of the shop.

"Gisele," Mrs. Maria called her before leaving the kitchen, "you still need to make a few more sponge cake molds before Sofia comes back to try the fillings."

"Yasmin can take care of this, it's about time she applied some of what she learned here."

" Those are not Sofia's orders." Mrs. Maria replied.

Yasmin just looked from one to the other waiting for the order to follow. Finally, Gisele resigned herself and returned to the kitchen.

"This won't take long, you will take care of the oven time."

Yasmin nodded to Gisele and returned to the counter.

And she was right. A few minutes later, Yasmin called her over to serve a customer. What a handsome male specimen had entered the shop.