Chapter One

She kept tossing and turning, then stirred up from her beauty sleep. Her eyes fluttered open, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the brightness the morning sun was emitting.

She sat up, stretched and yawned, and then made way for the bathroom. She quickly undressed and threw her clothes to the ground. She stepped under the shower and twisted a knob. In a split second, water came running down her fair skin. She enjoyed every bit of it.

After spending almost an hour in the bathroom, Sydney rushed out after remembering that she had work. She slipped her jeans on, wore her pink work shirt, and grabbed her bag. She heard her phone ringing-- that was her alarm, but she didn't know where it was.

"Don't stress me, silly phone." She cussed out loud in search of the phone. She found it all wrapped up in her duvet. And by the time she found it, it had stopped ringing. She mistakenly pressed a button while searching invisibly for it.

"How did you get there?" She groaned and threw it inside her bag. She grabbed the bag and quickly ran out of the room. She closed her door and made for the kitchen when her eyes caught the clock.

"Oh no.... past seven." She exclaimed. "What am I gonna do?" She thought helplessly as she rummaged her brain thinking of what she could make in ten minutes.

"Don't worry dear, you can go to work. I'll make my breakfast today." She heard her father from behind. He turned to him and smiled and surprisingly to her, he looked cheerful.

"Good morning, dad. Are you sure about that? I can just think of something easy to prepare." She opted.

"As I said, don't worry...." He held her shoulders with both arms from her back and began pushing her slowly out of the house. "I'm not so old. I can take care of myself."

She heaved. Deep down, she didn't want to leave but she had to get to work.

"Okay, daddy. Take good care of yourself. I'll see you in the evening." She pecked him. He embraced her tightly to her surprise, again.

"Dad, are you okay?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" He questioned.

"Nothing."

They disengaged and she ran off. Before she went out of the yard, she turned back and waved goodbye to her father.

Her father stared at her for a very long time.

"Goodbye, Sydney."

Sydney boarded a cab to work and luckily for her, she was just on time. She was on probation and thanks to her father, she didn't ruin it.

"Good morning, sir." She greeted her boss.

He just hummed, he couldn't even spare her a glance.

Sydney didn't take his action to heart as she was already used to him. He was a mean man and in order not to lose her job, Sydney did everything possible to please him. She just ignored his behavior, went to the back, and wore her apron.

Sydney is a homeschooled chef. She makes all kinds of desserts, foods, and confections.

After dressing up fully, she went to the kitchen to start her day.

"You'll be working in the lobby." The manager said while walking out with a cup of coffee in his left hand and his right hand adjusting his glasses.

"What?" She exclaimed. "I work in the kitchen, I'm a chef." She said calmly reminded. She didn't want to seem rude.

"Then change your environment for just today... I want you to work in the lobby. If you don't like the idea, you can as well leave." He said. "You all know your positions. To work, everyone." He dismissed all of them and went back to his office.

"Don't mind him, Sydney. He just doesn't like you." A colleague of hers told her.

"Well... he should stop being mean because it doesn't suit him."

She grumpily walked out of the kitchen.

"Way to start my day."

The rest of the day seemed boring to her. She loved working in the kitchen, cooking, and baking but her manager just seemed to be a demon who was after her happiness.

Middle of the day and Sydney was behind the counter, sulking as though she was an ice cream being melted. She felt as though she was gonna die if she didn't enter the kitchen.

"Why that miserable look on your face? You look awful."

Her mood lightened up a little the moment she heard his voice.

"Hey, Anderson." She waved solemnly at him.

"I thought you're always in the kitchen. Why are you here?"

"My boss. He wants to frustrate me."

"Don't feel bad... It's just for a day... Or two."

She stared daggers at him.

"If your eyes could kill, I'm pretty sure I would be dead by now. Okay, how about we go out for dinner? I know of an amazing place. You'll love the food." He suggested.

"You know I don't eat food that is not being cooked by me. I don't think that's a good idea."

"Come on babe, it'll be fun. Trust me." He pressed.

Sydney thought for a while before muttering an "Okay.".

"Great. I'll pick you up at eight."

"Sure."

"And hey, cheer up... You look like you'd die anytime soon."

She hit his shoulder and he chuckled.

"Was just joking. But seriously, smile. You don't wanna scare your customers, do you?"

That's it, you can leave now. I'll see you at eight." She pushed him away from the counter.

"Bye...." He waved before disappearing through the door.

Sydney sighed tiredly and sat down. Working in the lobby was nothing but a boring job. She missed mixing flour with other ingredients and chopping onions.

********************

Anderson and Sydney were walking on the streets, with each of their hands in their pockets. It seemed like a cold night.

"How was work?" He asked.

"Like you don't know. I spent my whole day in the boring lobby and behind the counter. I wasn't allowed to even help out in the kitchen. To cut the story short, it was actually hell." She concluded.

"Your boss doesn't like you. Do you know why?"

"Honestly, I don't know why. I haven't done anything wrong to him." She explained.

"Bummer.... that's awful. When are you gonna quit? I can help you look for another job since you don't want to take on my offer."

"Thanks for the offer but you don't expect me to just accept it like that. And I ain't quitting anytime soon. I love where I work. It's like my dream job. I want to save up enough money to open up my shop where people will come from all walks of life just to taste my food."

"You sure have big dreams. I want to help but you don't want to let me."

"I'll work for myself, Anderson. You don't have to do anything for me." She patted his shoulder. "Thank you for trying to help but I'm pretty sure I'll be fine."

He sighed and then smiled.

"Luckily for you, the place is quite close to your house."

"Wonderful."

They got to the restaurant and he ordered the food.

"This won't affect my stomach, will it? I'm quite allergic to ginger." She said, staring strangely at the food before her.

"Don't worry, there's no ginger in it." The attendant said and walked away.

"Okay then." She took a bite of the food. Then she nodded her head a little in approval of the food.

"Is it great or what?" Anderson asked enthusiastically.

"It's okay." She simply said.

"I knew you'd like it." He bragged and took a bite of his food.

Anderson started babbling about how he found the restaurant and was seriously talking about how great the food was to him but her attention was divided. She wasn't listening to what he was saying.

"Anderson, can I go home? I have a feeling my dad's not okay."

"You know, you should be given an award for always changing the topic." He teased.

"Seriously. I'm sorry... We'll talk tomorrow. And yeah, we'll also have dinner together."

Her dad had been on her mind since she left the house. Her dad was kind of emotional earlier that morning and so, she felt he wasn't doing well. She needed to go home.

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll eat up your food. More for me." He grinned widely and Sydney smiled.

She stood up and walked out of the restaurant.

She walked as fast as she could through the bushy path that led to her house. She didn't know why she was so worried. Maybe it was because of her father's behavior earlier that day. She just wanted to see that he was okay.

But her heart broke in two when she saw...

"Fire...." She whispered.