Violet placed the jar on the table and turned to her cupcakes. "Why are you so sure that he likes me?" She cast a glance towards her cousin and raised an eyebrow.
Sarah let out an exasperated sigh."It's called a woman's intuition. And from what I observed, I think he likes you."
"That doesn't sound very convincing," Violet said and chuckled. She took some shaved chocolate and sprinkled them on top of the cupcakes.
"You should have seen him when you fainted," Sarah said.
Evan nodded. "He was much more frantic than your mother was."
"Violet, trust me on this," Sarah convinced. "If he didn't like you, he wouldn't have suggested for both of you to play along with this pretend dating for another week after he breached the contract. And he definitely wouldn't have kissed you."
Violet's cheek turned scarlet at the mention of the incident. She looked away and focused on her work—topping the cupcakes with maraschino cherries. "It was an accident."
"He kissed you?" Evan asked. His eyebrow arched. "When did that happen?"
"A few days ago," Sarah said with a smile. "It happens somewhere between inventory and cake experimenting."
"I don't want to talk about it," Violet said when she noticed that Evan was eying her suspiciously. She took the black forest cupcake and handed the tray to Akari. "And you two should stop prying into my love life."
Sarah raised an eyebrow and turned to Evan. "Her love life, she says."
Violet rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm done for today," she said as she took off her apron. "Evan, you can manage the rest, right?"
"Sure," Evan nodded. "Where are you going? Finally decided to listen to my advice to head home and rest?"
"She's got a date with her 'boyfriend,'" Sarah answered, finger quoting the word boyfriend as Violet ignored them and started to wipe her work table.
Evan raised an eyebrow when he saw Violet pause and pull out her cell phone from her pocket with a smile on her face. "She seems unusually excited about it," he commented. "And I thought we agreed not to interfere with Violet's relationship," Evan said when Violet was out of earshot.
Sarah turned to Evan and smiled innocently. "I'm not interfering with anything."
Evan chuckled at Sarah's comment. "I thought you were worried that she was going to fall for him," he said. "But, you seem too calm about all this."
"Yeah." Sarah nodded and turned to her boots. "I was worried that he didn't have the same feelings towards her. But now that I think he likes her too, it's a whole different story."
"Are you going to meet him in the hospital?" Evan asked when Violet walked out of the locker room with a bag hung on her shoulder.
"No." Violet shook her head lightly. "I'm going home."
Evan frowned and glanced at Sarah. "I thought you had a date."
"Yes," Violet said. "But I'm not going to let him pick me up from the bakery. He's going to lecture me for hours if he finds out that I showed up at work today," she continued and shuddered. "Do you know how dreadful it is to be lectured by him in the morning?" Violet started to shiver as she recalled how Ryan had nagged her when she was discharged.
xxx
"Cupcake," Ryan said with a sigh when he ushered Violet into his car. "You went straight to your bakery right after you were discharged from the hospital, didn't you?" he said with a frown. "I thought I told you to stay home and rest."
Violet blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She was too scared that Ryan would nag that she had not heard how he had called her Cupcake.
Ryan shut her door and slid into the driver's seat. "You can't fool me, I can tell from the way you smell like vanilla and…" He paused and leaned forward, leaving a few centimeters gap between them. "A bit of cinnamon."
Violet inched back and stared at him. Her face turned red. For a moment, she thought that he was going to kiss her again. "You're imagining things," she said. She probably caught the scent while popping out a few trays of vanilla and apple cinnamon cupcakes from the oven a few hours ago.
Ryan raised an eyebrow and gave her an 'oh, really' look.
"Well, it's either that or maybe something is wrong with your nose," Violet suggested. She shrugged and gave him an innocent look. "You're a doctor. You should have known better."
"Violet..." he called her name gently.
Violet stiffened and bit her lip. "What?"
He sucked in some air and watched her fidgety expression. "Just admit it."
"Fine," she said after a while. "I admit it. I can't stand to stay home and do nothing. So, I went straight to work after I was discharged," she said. "But I promise you, all I did was simple work."
"What did you do, exactly?"
"Frosting and sprinkling."
Ryan nodded and smiled.
Violet took a deep breath and faced him. "Are you going to give me another hour of lecture?"
Ryan chuckled at her question. "I haven't thought of that. But, now that you mentioned it, it seems like a pretty good idea."
"Oh god," Violet muttered, "Not again."
"But," Ryan paused as he shifted his gear and pulled the handbrake. "I'm going to let it pass if you agree to spend the rest of your day with me," he said with a smile on his face.
"Don't you have to work?"
"Half day," he briefly explained. His eyes focused on the road.
"And if I did that." Violet paused and wrinkled her nose. "You promise me that you won't start your speech on me?"
Ryan nodded. "I promise."
"Alright then," Violet said with a light nod. "I don't mind as long as you promise that you're not going to lecture me."
Ryan sighed. "Cupcake, if you hate to be lectured so much, you should have listened to me in the first place," he said, casting a glance towards her. "And I wasn't lecturing you. I was advising you to take good care of yourself like any doctor would."
Violet pursed her lips as she listened to him. He had promised her that he wouldn't start lecturing her, and now, here he was going at it again.
"And what about you?" she countered. "I remember a few weeks ago you worked for almost thirty-six hours without sleep."
"I was trying to save a life, remember?"
Violet raised an eyebrow. "By jeopardizing your health?"
"I'm not jeopardizing anything. I know my body's limit. And I certainly didn't faint like you did." Ryan stopped when they reached traffic and turned to Violet. "Why are we having this argument?"
Violet shrugged. "You started it."