The Crown | myg

one

As usual, I open my bakery at nine in the morning, something I have done almost daily since I opened the place a year ago. Since I own the place, I can make my own hours, but I like to stay consistent for the sake of my customers and open my shop at the same time every day.

Work has been the same for the past year; open at nine, spend time baking, spend time sitting at the counter, take orders for customers, take a thirty minute break at noon, close the shop at five.

My bakery is the most beloved bakery in all of Seoul. I was gifted the title from a multitude of newspapers, magazines, and news channels all throughout the country. Gaining the title wasn't easy, but staying consistent surely helped my case. This publicity has drawn people from other countries to my bakery for the sole purpose of saying they visited the most beloved bakery in Seoul, South Korea.

Located on the busiest street, my bakery gets hundreds of customers a day, bringing in a large amount of money to keep my bakery running smoothly. Originally, the place was called The Cake Lair. But, that was back when I was a smaller business and only baked cakes. Now, with my great success and publicity, I have changed my bakery's name to Sugar Momma Bakery. This was an idea suggested to me by an American journalist when he came to review my baking. He called me a sugar momma because the things I bake are perfectly sweet.

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The doorbell to the bakery rings and I emerge from the kitchen to greet the customer as I usually do. With a wide smile on my face, a fake one, of course, I stand behind the cash register as I wait for the customer to finish looking around to complete their order.

"Hyuntae, what happened to those little cookie things?" The customer, one of my regulars, says as she approaches me at the cash register. Her fingers curl together to make a small circle. "The colourful ones."

My smile clears from my face, there is no reason to pretend to be all happy and fake when the woman standing in front of me is someone who's been coming to my shop since opening day.

"The macarons?" I ask, imagining the colourful array of batters I put into my macarons to make them more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

She nods.

"I have a batch in the oven as we speak," I gesture to the kitchen with my head and her eyes follow my movement. "They won't be ready for a while. I can drop them off at your house after I close if you'd like."

A wide smile spreads onto the woman's face, but she quickly shakes her head. "Actually, I work late at the office tonight. Could you drop them off there?"

"Of course, Jiwoo," I nod as I write a little note to myself on the notepad I keep beside the register for orders. I look back up at her and smile. "I'll drop by after I close."

She returns the smile before bowing, in which I bow in return. "Thank you, Hyuntae."

With those final words, Jiwoo leaves the building, the bell above the door chiming with the movement of the door. I pivot on my heel before walking back into the kitchen, preparing the orders that others have put in throughout the day to be ready for when they come to pick them up in the morning.

As the bell rings again, I quickly wash my hands and scurry to the front, making sure to serve the customer as fast as possible so I can finish these orders within the next hour.

Upon approaching the front, I see my best friend, Chanyeol, peering through the glass display cases with determination in his eyes.

"Scar, can I have this?" Chanyeol asks, his eyes never leaving the food safely secured behind the glass casing. "Whatever this is."

"It's a chocolate macaroon," I say as I open the case and take out a few of the chocolate clusters. Gently, I place them in a bag and set it by the cash register.

"What is it?" He asks as he grabs the bag from the counter. There is no time to tell him the ingredients before he shoves the cluster into his mouth, a large smile forming on his face. "This is amazing!"

I chuckle. "It's mostly chocolate and coconut."

"So simple," he pops another one into his mouth. "Yet so delicious."

"That'll be five dollars," the cash register dings and I read him the total, his eyebrows narrowing in confusion.

"You gave me ten of these delicious things," Chanyeol speaks, his hands throwing another one into his mouth. His cheeks puff up as they fill with the chocolate coconut goodness. "And I only pay five dollars?"

I nod.

"In that case, I'll take the rest of them."

There are no questions to ask when it comes to Chanyeol and his continuous craving for chocolate. It's like he's addicted to sweets. He practically lives in my shop.

I dump the remaining macaroons into a bag and walk back to the cash register, placing the bag in Chanyeol's hand, his wallet already out.

The cash register dings once again and I read the total aloud. "Twenty dollars, please."

Chanyeol shoves the money in my hand and quickly opens the new bag to shove more macaroons into his mouth. "Thank you, so much, Scar."

"You're so welcome, Chanyeol," I smile and bow to him. "I assume you're coming in to work tomorrow?"

"I always come in on your super busy days," he smiles. "Plus, it's tourist season. It's gonna be a disaster."

"Thank you, Chanyeol," I say as I bow again. "I'll see you at eight thirty tomorrow morning."

Chanyeol salutes before leaving the building. "Aye, aye, Captain."