"What would would like to order, Ant-man ?" I asked Antonio, a regular customer and a good friend. He comes almost every week and to order chocolate chip cookies with hot chocolate. Always.

He chuckled at the nickname and said, "The usual."

I smiled and started while packing the cookies while simultaneously talking to him, "So, how are you ? Work been keeping you busy ?"

"Tsk, tsk." Antonio said and shook his head. "You're never going to let that go, are you ?"

"Nope." I replied, stirring the hot chocolate. "I'll take every chance that I have to ask you."

I still don't know where Antonio works, although I've known him for almost a year now. Every time I ask him, he dodges my question and changes the topic.

"It's a secret." He whispers.

"Come on, it can't be that much of a secret." I said, pouring the hot cocoa in the cup and then popping the lid of it. "Are you a spy or something ?"

"Even better." He winked.

As soon as he said those words, a voice spoke, "Pick me. I can't see."

Antonio looked down and smiled. A moment later, a small boy, not over the age of four, rested on Antonio's hip.

My first thought was that he was Antonio's son. But when I looked closely at them, I concluded that he wasn't based on their contrasting looks.

The boy has dark brown eyes with curly black hair, as compared to Antonio features whose eyes are a dark brown shade.

"No, he's not my son. He's my nephew." Antonio clarified, before I could even ask him what I was thinking.

I smiled looking at the boy in his arms. "What's your name, little guy ?"

He smiled, making his adorable dimples on either side of his cheeks appear and said, "Nicolas Ramir-rez." He said, struggling to say his surname.

"Hello, Nicolas. I'm Xia, it's nice to meet you." I smiled, reaching my hand out for him to shake.

He glanced at Antonio, as if asking for permission and when he nodded with a smile, Nicolas held my hand in his tiny one and shook it gently. Cuteness overload! I screamed in my head.

Pulling my hand away from his, I gave the bag of cookies and the cup of hot chocolate to Antonio. He handed the bag to Nicolas and held the cup with his other hand.

"So, Nicolas likes chocolate chip cookies, huh ?" I asked.

"Yeah, he likes them; they're his favorite." Antonio said, glancing at the boy in his arms.

"You make my favorite cookies ?" He asked me. "The chocolate-chip ones ?"

"Yeah, I do. Your uncle buys them from here." I answered.

"Uncle Toni always steals my cookies." Nicolas pouted, looking at Antonio sideways.

"Oh does he, now ?" I said, raising my eyebrows at him.

Antonio smiled sheepishly in response. "I can't help myself. They're really good."

I smiled at his expression and took out another cookie from the tray. I placed it on a small square-shaped tissue paper and handed it to Nicolas. "Here you go."

His face lit up when he saw the cookie and reached his hand out. "Thank you so much, Xia !" He beamed.

"No problem, kiddo." I replied, content with the fact that I made him happy. I've always loved children and enjoyed their company. They're like tiny little people who are less annoying and just....so pure.

"Hey ! What about me ? Where's my cookie ?" Antonio asks, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"You, mister, don't get a cookie because I've heard that you kept stealing Nicolas' ones." I said, teasing him.

He huffed and shook his head in disbelief. "Alright then, Ms. Rude Pants. We have to go now. If I don't get him home in the next few minutes, his father will literally kill me. Anywho, bye."

"Bye." I replied.

"Bye, Xia !" Nicolas bid goodbye, waving one of his hands and eating the cookie with his other. I chuckled at his adorableness and bid goodbye to both of them.

"Ahhh..." I sighed in relief, falling onto my bed after having a long awaited shower and eating dinner. It is almost 9:30 PM now and I was exhausted.

Just then, my phone started ringing. I groaned and stretched towards the bedside table and manged to get a hold of it. When I looked at the screen, I saw Adrian's face and name flash on the screen.

As soon as I accepted the call and put the phone to my ear, his voice shouted, "Helllloooo !"

"Jeez, stop yelling." I said, moving the phone a little away from my ear. "So, how was your vacation ?"

"It was the best wedding reception that I've ever been to. And it was so fun !" He squealed. I could hear the excitement in his voice.

Adrian's sister, Layla, got married this weekend so he took the weekend off. I wasn't able to go with him because there had to be one of us here to run the bakery.

"I heard that there is going to be a thunderstorm in a few days. Be careful, alright ? And don't worry about coming back soon." I said, worried about him.

"Aww, is someone worried about me ?" Adrian cooed.

"No." I lied. "Just making sure that you will be there to run the bakery next month."

"Mmmhm....shore." He said, not convinced about my lie.

"ADRIAN ! Get your ass down here, right now !" A voice shouted. I would know that voice anywhere; his mother.

"Coming Mom !" He shouted back. "I'll call you later."

I chuckled. "Alright, bye. And tell Layla that I-" I stopped speaking when he disconnected the call. Ookaayy...

Keeping my phone back on the table, I laid down on the bed and cuddled into the sheets. In no time, I fell into a blissful sleep.

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