Chapter Thirteen : The Awaiting Aroma
It is a pleasure to be with the one you love, but it is also heart-wrenching to accept that the one you love cannot be yours.
That was what Liyana said after her meeting with Izz four days ago.
Yesterday, Jasmine stopped by Kaoru’s Cake House to send a new bunch of chrysanthemum bouquets. She gave Izz a few glances but the black-haired waiter did not give any reactions she was expecting. He smiled wider and talked with her as if his meeting with Liyana that day had a happy result. Jasmine hadn’t even seen a trace of happiness from Liyana’s expression after her best friend’s meeting with Izz that day.
Today, Siti was helping Jasmine’s mother at Maria’s Bouquet. Suki, her mother’s helper, was there as well. Their presences were a relief as the burdens of work for both Jasmine and her mother were lightened.
Currently, the sun was high in the sky. It was already noon. Maria busied herself at he back of the shop by arranging the fresh flowers while Suki attended to the customers. Meanwhile, Jasmine sat alone at the living room area located at the right corner of the shop near the entrance. She was taking a short break after the tiring job of arranging the vases in front of the shop. The rubber gloves that she wore had been removed and carelessly placed on the table while the plastic ap.r.o.n she had on was quickly removed as well. Jasmine wiped the sweat on her forehead away with the small towel draped over her shoulder.
“Will you be having lunch here, Jasmine?” Suki asked after suddenly appearing in front of the girl’s eyes.
“Of course I’ll be having lunch here! Don’t tell me that I should be having it at Kaoru’s Cake House,” Jasmine answered with playful glare.
“How would I know? According to the rumors, your desire is there?” Suki teased while taking a seat on the chair facing Jasmine. Jasmine glared again but with a sweet smile this time. It was definitely her mother who whispered about her going back and forth there.
“My desire there is to eat for free!” Jasmine exclaimed. The two girls broke into a fit of giggles but their fun had to be paused when another customer entered…
Ting Tong!
Immediately, Jasmine’s expression brightened up seemingly ten times more. After all the customer that just entered was the man she harbored a crush on. The young man strode into the shop and smiled when he saw Jasmine who was sitting there and gazing at him. She looked more disheveled compared to the other days. Her clothes were slightly wrinkled, her hair was a little messy and the sheen of sweat on her forehead could be seen although the shop was air-conditioned.
Suki watched the young man with full interest. Who wouldn’t when he was very handsome and extremely stylish at the same time? He was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger Navy Pinstripe 2B suit with a collared, b.u.t.ton-up striped blue shirt matched with a Black Striped Cotton Kit tie and a Logo Khaki Web belt which was also by Tommy Hilfiger. On his feet was a pair of black shoes which Suki recognized as ‘Be Cool’ Kenneth Cole.
“Ginn!” Jasmine quickly stood up and greeted the young man. Suki followed in suit but excused herself to the back of the shop instead. In her mind, she was wondering about the handsome, young man. Was he Jasmine’s boyfriend?
“What are you doing here?” Jasmine asked Ginn after Suki left them.
“No real reason. I was pa.s.sing by when I remembered that I wanted to find you. Want to go for lunch with me?” he replied, stunning Jasmine for a moment. Her mind was registering the moment. Ginn was asking her out! Her dream was becoming a reality! Still, she didn’t immediately jump at the offer.
“Mmm…I have to ask my mother first,” she answered calmly although her heart was really beating a hundred beats a second.
“Ok,” Ginn answered casually even though he was actually worried about his offer getting rejected.
Jasmine headed to the back of the shop to search for her mother but before she could even pa.s.s the cashier counter, Maria emerged with a cheerful expression—one that Jasmine understood very well.
‘Suki must have told mom something!’ she thought.
“h.e.l.lo, sweetie! Where is he?!” Maria questioned.
“Huh?” Jasmine tilted her head to one side. She knew who her mother was implying but she felt no need to answer her. She was a little irritated at her mother’s eagerness.
Before Jasmine could receive a reply from her, her mother saw the young man standing near the entrance of the shop and hurried towards him.
“Ginn! I’m glad to see you here in my shop,” Maria exclaimed cheerfully. Ginn on the other hand, barely had time to be surprised by the presence of the mother of his neighbor. She was the woman he met months ago before meeting her daughter.
“I just was pa.s.sing by. I wanted to ask if you and your daughter would like to have lunch together with me,” Ginn’s answered puzzled Jasmine. Didn’t he want to go out for lunch with her only?
Suki announced her presence by lightly pinching Jasmine on her shoulder. The girl turned around to see her mother’s helper wearing an expression of raised eyebrows in a suggestive manner. Jasmine’s eyes narrowed into a glare—a warning to Suki to mind her own business, but Suki shrugged it off and pinched Jasmine’s cheek instead.
“Oh? Well I’m afraid I can’t, Ginn. I have a lot of work that needs to be done here. I’ll just have lunch with Suki. Ginn, you should go out and have lunch with Jasmine only instead,” Maria said in a tone of disappointment to which Ginn replied with a nod. His left arm was the patted by Maria as if he was her son. The scene touched Jasmine, but Ginn’s earlier reply to her mother was nagging at her in her mind. He wanted to invite her out for lunch—only her, and yet after her mother appeared, he changed his invitation.
‘What a sycophants!’ Jasmine exclaimed mentally.
“Jasmine!” Maria’s voice brought the girl back to reality. She was about to approach her mother when a quiet ‘Ahem!’ from Suki’s direction made her freeze for a moment. She sent one last glare to her mother’s helper which earned a small giggle in return. Jasmine resumed heading towards her mother’s side.
“Yes mom?”
“Accompany Ginn for lunch, will you? I can’t go along and leave Suki here all alone,” Maria said. Jasmine’s nod in reply was watched in relief by Ginn, although he noted the hints of dismay on her expression.
“Thanks a lot, Ginn. It’s sweet of you to come by and take proper care of my daughter, alright?” Maria told Ginn who happily nodded back. The situation was like the one where the mother was giving her child’s lover her full consent. Jasmine who was getting embarra.s.sed by each pa.s.sing second, wanted to leave badly. Perhaps this was interesting to her mother and Suki because she harbored feelings for the young man. Still, there was no denial that she wanted to question Ginn’s honestly too.
Ginn opened the shop’s door and allowed Jasmine to exit first. Maria and Suki watched them leave while waving. There were gleeful to see those two together.
“I knew that they would be good friends,” Maria stated once Ginn and Jasmine disappeared from their view.
“They look perfect for each other,” Suki added chirpily. Maria replied with a smile before heading back to work. There were too many things that needed her attention like arranging the fresh flowers at the back of the shop.
Ting Tong!
It was time for Suki to continue her work of attending to the customers as well.