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nOne of the few enjoyments in Christian's life was going to the bakery on the first floor of the building he worked in. He had a serious sweet tooth and flying burned A LOT of calories. He went there during his lunch break every weekday.

nAdmittedly, he didn't only go there for the food though it was delicious. The real reason he kept going back was because of one of the girls that worked there.

nHe didn't know her name at first. He saw her sitting at a table in the corner of the room closest to the employee entrance and the first thing that struck him was how white she was. White hair, completely white uniform from her hat to her shoes, white skin. The only bit of color on her was her violet eyes.

nChristian had never seen eyes like that before. Or hair like that on a person under eighty.

nShe looked young and full of vitality considering how much she talked with her hands while showing what appeared to be cake decoration options to the person across from her. She had a rather expressive face too.

nHe was curious about her but didn't see her again for another few weeks when she happened to be manning the counter as he bought his lunch. She smiled sunnily at him and tucked a loose strand of white hair behind her ear. She wasn't wearing her usual uniform now. The pants and shoes were the same but she had on a white t-shirt with the bakery's logo on it and no cap.

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"Hi there! Welcome to Carmine's. What can I get for you today?

" she asked.

nChristian momentarily forgot how to speak once his eyes locked on her purple ones. They were mesmerizing.

nWhen he finally remembered how to be a normal human being he dropped his gaze in humiliation. He had been standing there for over a minute at that point.

"…I'll have a croissant, two cream puffs, and two chocolate-covered strawberries.

"

nShe didn't seem fazed by his spacing out. Probably because there wasn't anyone behind him in line.

"You got it! That'll be $17.82.

"

nHe paid, took his food, and fled back to his table in shame. That was over a year ago. If not for the fact that he did like the food he never would have come back to avoid any further awkward encounters.

nThe purple-eyed girl didn't work the counter often so he was able to relax. He discovered over time hanging out there and listening to people talk that her name was Avery and she was a cake artist here and did popular decorating videos that were posted on the bakery's social media pages.

nChristian decided to check those out one night after a particularly rough fight with Nox and found both the visuals and choice of music soothing. He ended up subscribing to the page so he would get a notification when a new video was up.

nThat was the beginning of the end for him. Before long he had a full-blown crush on the girl without ever having a proper conversation with her.

nSo when he felt that someone was in danger in the alley behind his building he straight up abandoned his work by locking his office door and flying out the window to see what was happening. He would have stopped the creep assaulting someone anyway but when he noticed that distinctive white hair he saw red.

nAvery had fought back hard and seemed physically shaken but not in hysterics. She managed to retain her sense of humor, which he previously knew nothing about. He was impressed.

nChristian may have taken slight advantage of the situation but he would have made sure she got home safe anyway. The hot dog was because he was worried about her specifically.

nAfter that his curiosity about her grew but since she was usually behind the scenes he didn't get a chance to talk to her again until an idea struck him. Liam's birthday was coming up so why shouldn't he spare their mother the task of making him a cake this year and use this as an opportunity to talk to her?

nHe ended up booking the consultation to order a custom cake but once he had her attention he had no idea what to do with it. He didn't know anything about cakes aside from the fact that they were delicious.

nAvery's eyes lit up as she introduced herself. It was clear she loved custom cake consultations.

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"So, tell me what you're looking for! Wedding cake? Anniversary cake? Baby shower cake? Birthday cake?

"

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"It would be hard to do any of the others considering how single I am,

" Christian said dryly.

"I'm here for a birthday cake for my brother. My mom didn't want to make him one this year because she's busy and I come here a lot so I figured doing it this way was a good bet.

"

nThat wasn't entirely true. He offered first and then she said that would be nice because she had been busy lately. But little white lies never hurt anyone as long as they were a one-time deal.

nAvery barely managed to remain professional and hold back her laughter at his first comment. She cleared her throat to refocus.

"Okay then! What does your brother like? Are you looking for something made with buttercream only? A drip cake? Covered in fondant?

"

nChristian barely understood what she was talking about because of all of the decorating videos he had watched.

"A drip cake would be good.

"

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"That's a good starting point! What do you want on top? Do you want the words 'happy birthday' anywhere with your brother's name on it or would he prefer the top to be covered in candies or chocolate-covered strawberries?

"

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"Probably both knowing him. He's a chocoholic.

"

nAvery smiled and flipped through the binder she brought out.

"Would something like this work? I could potentially write the 'happy birthday' bit in front of the cake on the cardboard.

"

nChristian's mouth watered at the sight. That cake looked amazing.

"Yeah! That would be great. His name is Liam, by the way.

"

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"L-i-a-m?

" she asked for clarification.

"I always double check to be safe. The last thing someone needs on their birthday is for their name to be spelled wrong. I got a birthday card from a classmate one year where they added an extra 'e' in my name. Totally killed the mood.

"

nHe found himself smiling at the way she said that. It was almost conspiratorial. He had a feeling she was a fun person to be around. Goodness knows he could use more fun in his life.

nAt least he had introduced himself properly to her now and could say hi if she ended up running the counter again. It was better than nothing. Buying this (rather expensive) custom cake had been worth it. And Liam did love it; he didn't want their mother to go back to making his cake next year, which she wasn't too pleased about.

nAfter that Christian said hi and made small talk with Avery every time he saw her, which wasn't often enough, but he still went to the bakery every workday in the hopes of seeing her.

nHonestly, it was a bit pathetic how sad his life was that this girl he wasn't even friends with was the highlight of it. Yet here he was, aimlessly drifting on as usual burning himself out between unfulfilling work and dealing with villains in the hopes that he would get one small glimpse of her to motivate him to keep going.

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