Baker - G. BLYTHE

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-ˋˏ *.·:·. [ONE WEEK LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

CHARLOTTE SUPPOSED SHE HAD CONTRACTED AN ILLNESS FROM A SICK CHILD IN THE BAKERY. Around a week ago, a child that sneezed ever so frequently came into the bakery with their mother in search of the famous warm honey drink that her Mother made. Charlotte had tried her best to avoid the child, as she hadn't been ill for a while and assumed that her body was due a cold, but it seemed her efforts were unnecessary. 

She woke one morning with a head full of pain, the very light that bore through her windows caused such pain in her eyes that she so wanted to stay in bed. But her mother's calls from downstairs meant that she had to pull herself from bed, stumbling slightly as a shock wave of pain passed through her head and went straight to her chest. From then on, as she slowly dressed, it seemed the pain from the cold only grew more intense.  When she swallowed the first morsel of her breakfast, pain blossomed in her throat and caused her to cough so violently that Mother nearly broke a bowl through her concern. 

"Are you sure you're okay to go to Gilbert's?" Mother asked as Charlotte cleared away her plate, splashing her face with some of the water to wake herself up more. 

"Mother, I'm fine. The food just went down the wrong way," Charlotte reassured, hoping it would remove some of the concern within her mother's eyes. She did feel somewhat awful for having to go to Gilberts with a cold but, knowing that Bash and Mary were out for the day with Delphine, knew that Gilbert would need the company and the food she could make. 

Charlotte wrapped up warmer than usual for the weather, making sure that the slight cold nip that the air had would not progress her cold any further. She walked all the way to Gilbert's without much fault, it just felt a little harder on her chest. Breathing was still easy enough, just had a certain spike of pain in her throat whenever she swallowed deeply. 

Upon arrival, she called out to Gilbert up the stairs whilst taking extra care not to sound too sickly. He called back, saying that he would be down in a few moments and she simply just assumed that he was busy with some book or work. Instead, she went back into the kitchen, where she had hung her coat moments ago and took out some paper and her sketching pencils from the cupboard. She had begun to leave things there (mostly by accident) and Gilbert had just started to collect the items and keep them in one place. The Charlotte shelf in the cupboard, as Bash called it. 

She sketched carefully at the dining table, fully focusing on the paper as she drew a collection of flowers held in a bunch by a hand. She sniffled and felt her eyes water with the urge to cough, a cough that she would not let out as that showed her illness too clearly. To her, it felt like she waited for hours on end while she sketched every small detail on the few flowers she had drawn. Focusing on the paper took such energy that it made her head spin.

"Lottie?" Gilbert called for the second time, attempting to catch her attention after he had walked into the kitchen from upstairs. When no response came, he walked further into the room and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.  "Charlotte."

"Mh?" she hummed, glazed eyes looking away from her drawing and over her shoulder.  "Sorry, what was it you wanted?"

His brow furrowed deeply, knitting with pure concern that also flooded from his eyes, "Are you okay?"

She smiled softly, attempting to be somewhat reassuring despite the glazed look in her eyes and the redness of her cheeks, "I'm fine." She went back to her drawing, focusing on a folded leaf on a stem of one of the smaller flowers of the bunch. While she peacefully drew, attempting to brush off Gilbert's concern, he crouched down to somewhat her level. He caught her chin with his hand, gently, and carefully directed her attention away from the drawing. While the surprise flooded her eyes, he placed the back of his hand on her forehead and almost winced at how warm she felt.