a thousand paper cranes - xiaoven au short

.chp1.

"173 , 174 and 175. that's a lot now , don't you think , venti ?"

no reply.

"hey , how about i bring those apple pies from the bakery across the street tomorrow ? you love those , as well as their fruit tarts, right?

 once again , there was no reply. however , the room was not silent , not with the heart monitor steadily beating . sighing to himself , xiao looked at his phone screen , reading the time.

"well , it's 3.30 pm. i'm gonna go to work now . bye venti , i'll see you tomorrow , my love."

xiao stands , picking up the chair and placing it back in its original position. looking back one last time , he walks out the room and closes the door shut behind him.

as always , the hospital is busy. the busy doctors hurry to rooms , holding either meds or clipboards in their hands , muttering to themselves. nurses follow closely behind , holding either more meds or frantically explaining the situation to the doctors. however , some of the nurses that aren't so busy recognise him, waving at him.

as he is about to leave , he stops by the receptionists table.

"hey xiao ! here to see venti again ?" the nurse asks with a smile on her face.

"yeah. how are you , ganyu ?" xiao replied, a small smile resting on his lips.

" good , good. now hurry on , i know you have work at this hour." ganyu laughs softly , shooing him away.

nodding , xiao turns and walks out of the hospital.

looking left and right , xiao crosses the street and walks into the bakery. the smell of fresh cookies and breads fill the air, and the sound of the busy customers are somewhat comforting to his ears. walking behind the counter , he quickly slips on an apron and walks into the kitchen.

metal bowls and whisks are neatly arranged on a shelf , accompanied by a tray full of food colourings and flavourings. laid out neatly beneath it were trays that had already been lined with parchment paper , as well as boxes of cling wrap next to it. grabbing a bowl and a whisk , he set off to the station the co-worker before him had prepared. on the counter was a list of pastries he had to make , ranging from cakes to tarts.

stretching , he grabs the bag of flour and starts working. cracking eggs, stirring ,humming to himself. his hands move as if they were programmed to this , and it all just seemed like second nature. pouring the batter into the muffin liners , he gently pushes the tray into the oven , closing it. a few hours later , the muffin were ready , and the smell of chocolate filled the air. carefully, he picked the tray up with mittens , and walked out to the display counter to assemble the muffins , as the old batch had started to run out.

as he carefully arranged the cupcakes , every once in a while a regular would call out his name to garner his attention , resulting in a simple nod and a smile between the two. however , he was approached by an old lady , who had knocked on the glass window to grab his attention instead.

"hello ma'am. how may i help you ?" he asked , setting down the almost empty tray.

"young man , don't you seem to be too young to be working here ? you should focus on school, instead of busying yourself like this. why are you even working here anyways?" the older lady asked judgmentally , not even stopping to allow xiao to answer himself.

letting out a chuckle , he replied. "ma'am, i'm 23. i'm no longer in college. also , ma'am, to answer your last question , have you tried the apple pies here ?"

"yes , and what about it?"

"well, he likes them. and i made a promise to bake for him for the rest of my life."

smiling , he turns away , picking up the tray and walking back into the kitchen.