Once Upon a Cheesecake

🍽 IV: Cheesecakes In The Oven 🍮

Ashton and I had a past.

'Twas a memory I did not really want to go back into.

You see, growing up together sounded nice. But it also meant we had seen a lot of the clumsy and not so pretty stuff a maturing child undergoes.

Between Ashton and me were a bit more of the ugly stuff than your average childhood playmates.

Life was like baking. You'd gather ingredients, prepare it carefully, and then wait patiently until it has been cooked. The delicious reward was when you pull it out of the oven.

Without the struggles and the mistakes we made, we would be like a half baked pastry. Raw, unfinished, unattractive and maybe inedible.

We had to be baked completely. Sometimes with sides burnt, we would be even better tasting than the ones which had none.

Those were the words Coach Anna made me believe during the yoga class. Nevertheless, I still struggle to come into terms with what I went through.

Coach once said that life was not always a peaceful stroll under the rainbow. There was a need for a little rain for that rainbow to appear.

However, I seemed to have a talent in attracting misfortunes. And with a strike of bad luck, the little rain she mentioned could turn into a raging storm.

I learned that from experience.

Because, some years ago, Ashton became my living nightmare.

My raging storm.

Honestly, I don't remember the first time I met Ashton. Maybe that was when I was one-year old? Maybe when I was born? Or even when I was still inside ma's tummy?

All my life, I've known that guy.

He existed in almost every part of my life. We went to the same preschool, primary, and even high school. Just like our parents.

It was only until the last two years of my university education that Ashton left for the USA.

I was eighteen at the time.

"Better?" Ashton handed a bottled water to me.

I drank the contents and realized it was sparkling water. "Sparkling?"

"Yeah," he smiled as he leaned back on the sofa chair adjacent mine. "That's the only thing they got. Sorry."

"I wasn't complaining." I shook my head.

With a smile, I realized I should thank my arch-nemesis. After all, he sort of came to my rescue when Wes cornered me back there.

"Thanks," I uttered, staring blankly at the thin air.

Despite rehearsing my first encounter with Wes post break-up many times in my head, it still came as a shock. I couldn't pinpoint what I was feeling at the moment.

My arm and wrist, which he had grabbed roughly in rage, were starting to show some reddish marks. Those would turn quite purplish by tomorrow, I guess.

Ashton looked at me quizzically. "For what?"

I shrugged. "Everything awhile ago?"

He turned his gaze away to observe the view of the ballroom across from the lounge we were in.

For a moment, I was reminded that we could be seen together. I began to reconsider moving away.

It was a red flag, in my dictionary, to be seen this close with one of our bosses. I didn't want the other employees to think my hard work was laced with 'corporate politics'.