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Alette's POV

I stood barefoot in the back garden waiting for the sun to materialize in the distance. The beautiful early morning light made me sigh as I felt the wind dance around me.

Today was a good day. I could feel it. I smiled even wider.

"Faye! Come eat something before you leave for work please," my Grandmother's soft voice floated out to me. Taking one more deep inhale, I rushed back into the house quickly.

"Good morning Gramma! You should be resting you know, not waking up at such an early hour," I chastised her, it was only 5:00 AM after all.

"Hush my precious, you know I've always woken up early. Besides I'm not that old, I don't need to be sleeping all the time." She patted my cheek and handed me a bowl of strawberries.

I tried to give her my best reprimanding look but her smile made me burst into laughter. Gramma shook her head, chuckling, and busied herself with making tea. I quickly ate all my strawberries, washed the bowl and rushed to put on a pair of grey running shoes. Straightening out my long-sleeved white shirt and blue jeans, I grabbed my pink backpack and gave her a kiss.

"I'll see you later, don't work too hard! Tell Syl I love him! Have a good day, love you," I said my goodbyes and walked out the front door. I was running a little bit behind schedule, but the morning was so peaceful, I didn't want to miss any beauty along the way.

I biked along the path on my way into town. Gramma, Uncle Syl and I lived farther away from the city; it was more peaceful that way. I passed a few houses scattered along the empty path and enjoyed the morning dew.

Working at the bakery meant waking up early enough to bake some treats and start a batch of coffee before everyone else rose for the day.

Slowing down when I saw the first few shops in the town centre, I made a bee-line for the Flour Shop. The owner, Miss Gigi, who was a friend of my Grams', said she named it that because it was next door to florist, an actual flower shop. I thought that was hilarious.

I used my key to walk in through the front doors. The bakery was locked, even though I knew Miss Gigi was already there. She woke up even earlier than me.

"Morning Miss Gi!" I ran into the kitchen and she waved to me, elbow deep in dough for the morning pastries. I quickly sanitized, tied up my wavy hair, and donned an apron to get ready for work. Almost two and half-hours later we had made croissants, pain au chocolat, muffins, breakfast bars, cardamom buns and we had began prepping batters for more goodies for the rest of the day. Cupcake decorating time, which usually took place after the breakfast rush, was my favourite part of the day. While Miss Gigi tidied the kitchen a bit, I hummed while fixing up the main café. I opened the cash register, and got all the drinks ready to go. A knock at the front door caught my attention and I looked over to see my friend and co-worker Josephine waving at me from the outside. I smiled and ran over to the door to unlock it.

"Good morning Jojo! You look so beautiful! Your hair, my goodness it looks perfect! How are you?" I rushed out. She had a new hairstyle this morning: black and pink box braids. She looked absolutely ethereal with her dark glowing skin and almond coloured eyes. I couldn't believe how beautiful some people were.

"Good morning to you too cutie! I'm tired, I was up late doing assignments," she told me while walking inside and putting her stuff away. She yelled a hello to Miss Gi, and came to join me at the counter.

"Gross Jo, I still bet you did amazing on them," I giggled going back to the counter and placing the pastries in the display case. She groaned and gave me look, making me laugh again. Despite hating school, my Josephine was so good at it.

"Look lively ladies, we're opening now!" Miss Gi unlocked the front door, and made her way around making sure everything was perfect.

The next few hours went by in a rush as per usual, people sure loved a hot drink and a pastry first thing in the morning. Of course there were a handful of college students that ordered copious amounts of iced coffee to get them through their day.

Around one, Tai, our other co-worker walked in. He gave me a wave, which I returned with a big grin. I finished making my latte art of a beautiful flower, and walked carefully to table 9 to serve it to a customer. She smiled at me in thanks, and I beamed, walking back to the counter. I started wiping down the espresso machine when Tai walked up, tying his shoulder length hair into a bun.

"Hey Bumblebee, how has your morning been?" he asked grabbing a towel to help me clean.

"It was busy but it was wonderful! How was your morning? How were your classes? How are-" I paused, my eyes widening, "Tai! Is that a new tattoo?" I pointed to his forearm, where there was a fresh looking tattoo of a dragonfly with some kind of flower.

Tai laughed, "Yes Bee, it is a new tattoo, I got it done three days ago, you like?" he moved his arm closer so I could see. It really was so pretty and I told him so.

"It's so pretty Bow Tie" I said grinning, using his nickname. Tai chuckled, "So you're telling me it doesn't make me look super tough? Damn."

"You couldn't ever look intimidating to me Bow Tie, you're a big softie," I smiled at him, and it was true. While Tai was over 6 ft. tall, had hard muscles, and tattoos everywhere, he was way too sweet to be tough. He had sparkling dark eyes that he inherited from his Japanese mother, deep brown hair, and a sharp nose. Tai was very handsome, I made sure to tell him, and so did all the girls that came in to flirt with him. They always left upset because he would ignore them or turn away to talk to me; for some reason they glared at me before leaving. Tai was 24 years old, and worked at the tattoo parlour when he wasn't working his two shifts a week at the bakery. He was also an art student at the local college.

"It's not finished yet, I think there's something missing," he said, looking down at it. Tai was a perfectionist, and it showed in all of his work.

"Could I pretty please come with you?" I had been asking for Tai to take me to the tattoo parlour for so long. It seemed like such a cool place, maybe I would even end up getting a tattoo one day. Although, I'm not a huge fan of needles, so I'm not sure how that would work.

"You cannot come with me Bee, I've told you this a million times, you wouldn't like it," he said ruffling my hair.

"How do you know I won't like it, I've never ever been! Please, Tai! Just one time!"

I couldn't understand why he was so against taking me to see it one time. I tried to respect his wishes for as long as possible, but I truly just wanted to see it once.

Tai sighed, "Look, I'll take you this weekend, just, it's not a place I want you to be in Bee," he turns away, starting a fresh pot of coffee. I followed him, grabbing a coffee filter to help.

"I promise I'll be fine Tai and I'll stick with you the whole time. I just wanna go and see all the art," I said, getting excited.

Tai smiled at me, ruffling my hair again, and went to check on some cookies in the back. I sighed happily and finished brewing the coffee.

unedited