Belle's Bakery

Chapter 6

Monique hadn't wanted to meet her phone friend like this. She knew it was selfish. Arun could have died and here she was thinking about herself. Doctors and nurses frequently flitted about tending to different patients and speaking in hushed voices. Not one of them paid her any attention until now when a doctor had come baring good news.

"What's your good news?" She asked as politely as she could, trying not to appear desperate. 

"You will be able to visit your friend and we are confident that he will recover soon"

"That's brilliant" she stood up, a smile gracing her features for the first time since she'd entered the hospital. She followed the doctor to a room where she was told Arun would be. She was allowed half an hour before she had to leave. Thanking the doctor ,she raised her hand to knock.

"Come in"said a drowsy voice 

She turned the handle and walked in spotting Arun lying on a bed. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, it's just the medication. I'm glad to see you, it's nice to have someone I know for a change "

"Have your parents not come?" She asked carefully 

"No, they said they're really busy. They said they wished they could have come but no one else will manage the shop for them"

"Oh... Never mind. I'm sure they'll  come when they have the chance. " 

"Yeah" A silence followed for a moment until he spoke up again "Don't think that they don't care about me though. They do"

"Oh... I wasn't... Sorry if you thought that..." she said awkwardly all the while meaning what she said. She looked down in shame.

"That's okay then" Monique sighed in relief. "Hey uh..." Whatever he had been about to say was interrupted by a nurse.

"Excuse me Miss..." the nurse looked at her clipboard "Earle is it?" Monique nodded "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. Mr Kapoor needs his rest. You could come back tomorrow if you want? I'm sure your parents must be wondering where you are." 

"Yeah sure, if that's alright with you Arun? " He smiled in agreement "I'll see you later then"

"Bye Monique " She picked up her bag and left, preparing herself for the walk back to Arun's house to get her car. She waved goodbye to the receptionist and opened the door, taking a much needed breath of fresh air. As happy as she was to be away from the cloying hospital smells, she wished to be able to go back in their and spend more time with Arun. The half an hour she had been allowed had flown by and they had barely spoken. A curious feeling consumed her at his unfinished sentence. What would he have said had they not be interrupted. She supposed it would remain a mystery yet rather hoped it wouldn't. She had enough to deal with without creating more mysteries. 

When she finally reached her car and drove home, she saw her mom Karen cooking some goat water stew, a dish that they ate in her home country, St Kitts and Nevis. Smiling at the delicious scents flooding through her nose, she kissed her mom on the cheek. "Hey mom, when's this ready?" Her mom jumped in shock, eyes wide with her hand on her chest. 

"Monique! Where have you been? I was so worried about you, so was your dad! You have a lot of explaining to do." Her dad chose this moment to come down the stairs. He too fired off questions about her whereabouts. 

"My friend called saying he needed help and when I got there I saw he'd hurt himself. He had to go to hospital so I stayed with him." She summarised, unsure of how much she should reveal. It wasn't that she had something to hide rather she respected Arun's privacy and guessed that he wouldn't want it spread around, even to her parents. The little amount of information satisfied them though.

"Him?" Her dad burst out. Her mom gave him a look and he shut up.

"While I wish you'd have called or texted us, that was a very nice thing to do. Is your friend alright?" Karen reasoned. Monique shrugged

"I don't know. He might have to stay a bit longer. He seemed tired when I saw him." Her mother smiled sympathetically. 

"Well dinner's ready." She said brightly and the conversation was over, a fact which Monique was glad for. She happily took a bite of her stew, savouring the rich flavours. There was nothing better than her mom's home cooking, passed on for generations. She hoped that one day she'd cook like her mom and pass on these dishes to any future children and grandchildren she may have. Almost like Tiana from the Princess and the Frog, learning to cook from her father. She stifled a laugh at that thought. 

She proceeded to become lost in thought, trying to imagine what her future children would look like and trying to create their 'dream man' father. Unfortunately she had no look. At the moment their faces were either blank or identical to her's. In her mind neither were desirable but to an outsider they would have said that someone who looked identical to her wouldn't be so bad. With her beautiful sepia skin, warm hazel eyes that welcomed you and made you feel wanted and her black hair currently in box braids but occasionally left as soft waves, which both looked equally as nice, she was gorgeous. Her style consisted of casual clothes and little to no makeup, all representing her simple tastes. She saw no need to spend lots of money on material items. 

She snapped out of her thoughts as her back was beginning to hurt from the uncomfortable chair she was sitting in. She grabbed a book from the side and make a cup of tea, taking both up to her room and getting lost in the thrilling storyline.

Author's note : Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Belle's Bakery. Please let me know what you thought by voting and commenting, as I really appreciate it. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. Let me know if there's anything I could improve on. Thanks for reading.