Chocolate Love (Willy Wonka Love Story)

Chapter Nine

Aurora p.o.v.

A few hours later we had successfully all snuck back into the wash house without Mrs. Scrubbit noticing.

"See you downstairs." He whispered before he slid down the laundry chute. We then hurried to put the cart away and meet him down in the wash part of the wash house.

"...I'm a chocolate maker." We caught the last part of the exchange as we walked down the stairs.

"Not just any chocolate maker."

"He's the best in the world." We complimented him.

"The girls are flattering me...but they're right. They're exquisite." He states with a smile.

"The plan is to sell chocolate and pay off Mrs. Scrubbit." Noodle said. "At least that was the plan until..." 

"Let me guess," Mr. Crunch started with a cross of his arms. "You had a little run in with the chief of police."

"How do you know that?" Mr. Wonka asks.

"Because I was Mr. Slugworth's accountant, for a week at least. His regular bookkeeper was off sick, so I was called halfway across the country to take his place. It seemed a straightforward job until I realized there were two sets of books. One for the authorities, and one which told the truth. Slugworth, Fickelgruber and Prodnose have been in cahoots for years. A sort of Chocolate Cartel, if you will."

We were all on the edge of our seats as we listened to him talk.

"They've been watering down their chocolate and storing the excess in a secret vault deep beneath the Cathedral, guarded round the clock by a corrupt cleric and five hundred chocoholic monks. The only way in is down a secret elevator and past the Mistress of Keys - a subterranean sentinel who hasn't seen sunlight in years. There's thousands of gallons of chocolate down there, and they use that chocolate to bribe, blackmail, and bludgeon the competition." He took a breath.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wonka, but they've got you right where they want you. You can't get a shop without selling chocolate, and you can't sell chocolate without a shop."

Later that night, Noodle and I laid in my bed. We couldn't really sleep, so we just talked.

"So, you and Willy huh?" She smirked.

My face flushed hard as I recalled the moment we shared. "M-maybe? I just don't know how he feels...and I wouldn't wanna pressure him or anything..."

"Ahuh...but you like him, don't you?"

"Yes. Yes, I do, a lot actually..."

She squeals and sits up to look at me properly. "Yes, I knew it!!!"

I didn't have a chance to shush her before we heard Mr. Wonka's voice from outside the window. "Girls? Girls! Psst!"

My heart dropped and I prayed he didn't hear us as we climbed to look and saw him by his own window.

"What is it, Willy?"

"Watch out." He swings a line to the bars on our window, and we jump out of the way as it sticks. We watch as he slides a basket our way and inside are two large glass jars of chocolate. One for each of us.

"What's this for?" I whisper yell to him.

"Your wages. A lifetime supply, remember?" He says with a smile.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that."

"You really didn't..." Noodle agrees with me as she peers at her jar, but he waves it off.

"Course I did. I gave each of you my word."

"Well thank you. We actually have something for you, too." Noodle goes and grabs the piece of paper we wrote on, rolls it up, and sends it back in the basket. He opens it to discover the letter 'A', but he's holding it upside down, so it looks like a 'V' with a line through it.

"What's this? A glass half full?"

"Other way up."

He flips it right side up. "Glass half empty."

I giggle. "It's an 'A'. Your first letter. We're teaching you to read."

"We can't have our business partner eaten by a tiger."

He opens his mouth, but Noodle get there first. "Or nearly eaten!"

"So, we're still partners?" He smiles.

"Well, yeah! But I don't know how we're going to sell any chocolate." Noodle said. 

"Every time the police show up, you'd have to vanish into thin air..." I stated, tapping my chin to think.

"Like a magician?" He asks.

"Right!"

"But it's one thing on stage. You've got ropes, pulleys, trapdoors...and there any of those in the street."

A light comes on in Ms. Benz' room and she appears at her window. "As a matter of fact, there are. There are trapdoors all over the city. They're called storm drains. I'd be happy to show you around, if you cut me in on the action." She requests.

Mr. Chucklesworth's light came on next and he appeared in his window. "If you're recruiting, I'd do anything to get out of here and make up with my wife. I don't have any practical skills, but I can talk like I'm underwater!" He says the last part in a silly voice.

Ms. Bell turns on her light and appears in her window. "And if you need someone to handle communications, I'm your woman." She said confidently.

We all looked at her, shock evident on all of our faces. She can speak!

"Lottie?"

"What? Why are you all staring at me?"

"I did not know she could speak!" Ms. Benz admits.

"Me neither!" I agreed.

"I thought you were a mime." Mr. Chucklesworth sheepishly says.

"No. U actually used to work the telephone exchange. Back then I was quite the chatterbox. But since I came here, I haven't had much to chat about." She explains, sadly. 

Finally, Mr. Crunch turns on his light and comes to his window. "Far be it from me to pour cold water on all your fun, but if Mrs. Scrubbit catches you trying to escape, you'll all get six months in the coop. So just think about that before getting involved in this hairbrained scheme." He was not amused.

"But it's not hairbrained, Abacus!" Noodle defends the treats and the man who makes them. "Willy's chocolates are incredible! Try one." She takes a chocolate from her jar and expertly tosses it to the skeptical man, and he catches it easily.

"That's very kind of you, Noodle, but I don't care how good his chocolates are, I-" He pops it into his mouth, and his face immediately changes into one of surprise.

"When do we start."