“Aren’t you super popular, Mr Andale,” I teased, closing the door and turning to face him.
“I don’t mind the fans when I’m in a match or something, but when I’m out minding my own business, it’s different.” He set the plastic bag on the counter. “It’s just…”
“Just a reason why you hate tennis?” I guessed. He certainly hadn’t looked comfortable this morning when Mrs Wong thought he’d seemed familiar, but he’d looked obviously annoyed when her son had actually recognised him.
Aiden winced. “Yeah. Sometimes I wish I was a normal person with a normal job.”
Poor guy wouldn’t be saying that if he knew what a normal job was like. “It’s not always a good thing when things are normal.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” He shot me an amused glance. “So, is it normal for your mum to set you up on a date?”
Damn, I’d hoped he hadn’t overheard that. “It’s not what you think,” I said, feeling the flush of embarrassment on my cheeks. He flashed me a look of disbelief, and I mentally crumbled. “Okay, it was for a date.” Ben had called it dessert with his family, but I wasn’t stupid. It was definitely a setup for a date. “That’s how my mum is. She’s always trying to set me up with guys. Nothing I say or do changes her mind. I’ve managed to avoid all that since I stopped working at the bakery, but this time she pulled a sneaky one on me.”
Aiden laughed. “Your mum is hilarious. But why didn’t you want to go out with that guy?”
“Because I don’t date,” I said.
“Why not?”
“It’s…complicated.”
He squinted at me. “Messy breakup? Pining over a guy?”
I glared at him, refusing to respond. He had things he didn’t want to talk about, and I had mine.
He raised his hands in surrender. “Okay. Sorry. Not my business.”
No, it really wasn’t. So why did it take all my willpower not to divulge all the details to him? He had some magnetic pull on me that rendered him irresistible to talk to.
And that was when he decided to pull a sneaky one on me that would’ve made Mum proud.
“Can I use this as my personal question?”
Oh boy had I been wrong to assume nothing could be worse than what he’d already asked me during dinner. “Do you really want to ask? It’s more sad than interesting.”
“I happen to be invested in your sad story. So yes, I really want to. If you want to answer. Not going to force you if you want it to stay buried. I know the feeling.”
I sighed, folding my arms in a poor attempt to hold my emotions together. “You’ve had a girlfriend before, right?”
“Right…”
“Did you ever really love her? So much that your whole world revolved around her? That you’d do anything for her? That you planned a whole future with her?”
Aiden pursed his lips, twisting them. “No. No to all of that.”
“Really?” I thought back to a magazine I’d bought with him in it. Him and that blonde model. Hadn’t he loved her? “It wasn’t true love?”
“Maybe I thought I loved her at the time, but now I know it was just the idea of love.” He looked me directly in the eye. “Real love shouldn’t demand that your life revolves entirely around theirs.” His gaze cut me deep, his next words a mere whisper. “What happened, Sere? Did someone break your heart?”
I gulped. “Let’s just say…the last time I had a boyfriend, I ended up losing him and my best friend too.”
“Woah, what? He left you for your best friend? She stole him from you?”
“No!” Just like that, my frail composure broke. “Oh my gosh, no. If that had happened…” I shook my head, not knowing what I would’ve done.
“What happened then?”
Oh, we were so not going there. “Sorry, but you already used up your personal question ticket.” Thank goodness he’d only had one question and not more. “Anyway, thanks for helping me out today. You’re a real lifesaver.”
Aiden’s lips puckered up in a pout, looking like he wanted to launch into a full-on interrogation with me. But then he smiled, tugging his hoodie up over his head. “No problem. I better get going.”
“Right.” I opened the front door for him and we both slipped outside. “You should drop by the bakery sometime. I’ll let you try as much stuff as you want.”
“As nice as that sounds, I don’t think your customers would be happy with me raiding your stock,” he said. “But I had fun, uh…” He rubbed the back of his head. “I never asked what you preferred to be called. Serendipity? Sere?”
Serendipity, I wanted to say. But because I couldn’t stomach the rush of flutters I felt whenever he said it, I just told him, “Sere is fine.” Anything was better than Not-Serena.
“Sere,” he said. “Thanks for today. I’ll see you when I see you. Good luck with the bakery.” He waved a hand in farewell and started walking down the same path Ben took.
All I could think was, That’s it? After all these years and coming back into my life for one day, he was going to leave again? Just like that?
“Wait!” I shouted. Against my better judgement, I ran after him, arm outstretched. My fingers managed to grasp the back of his hoodie and pulled.
He jolted backward, coming to a complete stop. Releasing my hold on him, he righted himself and whirled around. The look of surprise written on his face was probably equal to the amount causing my heart to hammer against my chest.
I urged myself to think of something—anything—I could say. “You…” I faltered. You can’t just leave like that. You don’t really know how much your help meant to me today. “You never explained how you knew my name wasn’t Serena,” I finished lamely.
The surprised look on his face morphed into a mischievous smirk. “No need to explain. I think you’ll find out pretty soon. See ya.”
And with those enigmatic parting words, he walked off again, leaving me more confused than before.
Chapter 18
I rang the Miller’s doorbell, and it punctuated the air with a loud ding dong. With my hand now free, I bent down to pick up the large containers I’d left on the ground, hugging them to my chest.
A thick beam of sunlight warmed my back like my own personal heater. Ah, this was nice. Not too hot to be out, but warm enough to ditch my cardigan in the car. Fortunately, I’d dressed accordingly in my favourite sleeveless floral dress, the hem billowing just above my kneecaps as I shifted restlessly on my feet.
Worried thoughts gnawed away at me after a minute passed and nobody had answered the door. Did I come too early? Had I gotten the address wrong? Surely not. I eyed the right side of the house where blue balloons decorated the front porch, attached by ribbons to the bushes bordering it. Highly unlikely I’d accidentally gone to the wrong house with another birthday party going on.
A faint rattling from inside, followed by a muffled shout of, “Wait a sec!” finally eased my concerns. I took a careful step back as the door creaked open on its hinges. Rose appeared from behind it, a smile lighting up her face. “Ah, Sere! Sorry for the wait. I was in the middle of getting food ready for the barbeque. Come in, come in.” She pushed the door open wider to let me through.
“No worries. Can you take these in for me first?” I jerked my chin at the two stacked containers I held.
She lowered her head to peer inside them. “Ooh, the cake pops! Isaac will love these!” She clasped her hands together, then promptly hoisted the containers off me.
I shook my hands a few times, wriggling my cramped fingers. “Thanks. I’ve got a few more things to bring in.” I hadn’t wanted to risk piling up too many and dropping them by accident. It had taken a few hours of solid work yesterday and this morning to prepare everything. “I’ll go grab them now.”
Without waiting for her reply, I jogged back to my car. I already had the car door open when she said, “Do you need some help?” I was about to answer no when she added, “Oh, Aiden. Good timing. Can you be a dear and help her?”
My hand froze on a container on the floor of the passenger seat.
Aiden? Was it a coincidence? Aiden was a common Australian name after all. It might not even be spelled Aiden. It could be an Aidan or an Ayden, or even an—
“Hey, Sere,” a familiar voice said, instantly grounding my theory into dust.
I slowly turned around. Lo and behold, as if the universe wanted to prove me wrong, there he was. Aiden Andale.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” I whispered. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since he’d helped me out at the bakery days ago. “Did you know I was coming here?”
“Maybe.”
Seriously? “Did Isaac invite you?” That sounded impossible. But then again, other things I’d once called impossible had already gone and happened; Ming had fallen sick, and a pro tennis player had worked for my family bakery. It really couldn’t get much more impossible than that.
“Yeah, Isaac invited me.” I waited for him to elaborate, but he changed the topic. “Woah, you sure brought a lot of stuff. Let me grab some of that for you.”
“Uh, thanks.” I passed him two containers and carried the remaining two, following him back to the front porch. He opened the door for me and I stepped into the main entrance. The first thing that caught my eye was a bright silver Happy Birthday! banner sparkling over the front archway. Aiden led me straight down the hallway, passing by multiple closed doors on both sides.
At the end of the narrow hallway, the house opened up to a spacious area. The left side resembled a dining room, occupied by a long table and chairs. What looked like a doorway to the kitchen was off to the side of it. Across the dining room to the right was a living room area, with a cosy sofa and a large, flat-screen TV. Beyond that, curtains parted to reveal a window into a backyard.
I spotted Isaac outside. A net was set up across a mowed lawn. He and another boy stood on one side of the net, with two other children on the opposing side, hitting the ball over to each other. It was like a mini tennis court, minus the proper markings.
I chuckled. It was so Isaac to live and breathe tennis on his birthday. I’d go say hi to him later when he wasn’t so busy.
“Is it okay if I leave your stuff here?” Aiden asked, drawing my attention back to him.
He pointed at the containers sitting on the dining table. The cake pop containers I’d given to Rose were also there.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said, making my way over to him. I deposited the containers I carried beside the others and motioned for him to step aside. As I pulled the lids off one by one, the scent of the cookies wafted out, followed by the freshly baked smell of the cake pops and cupcakes.
“Holy cow.” Aiden stepped forward to take a closer look. His T-shirt grazed my bare shoulder, eliciting a shiver from me. “They look so good.”
I glanced at the round sugar cookies topped with green sanding sugar and white chocolate, then at the cupcakes and cake pops fashioned in a similar style. I’d made everything resemble tennis balls. Because I hadn’t known what to get a boy turning eleven, I had decided to bring more baked goods in the theme of his favourite thing. My insides did a little happy dance at how perfect they’d all turned out.
“How did you make these?” Aiden asked, the awe unmistakable in his voice.
“It’s ea—”
“Don’t say it’s easy.”
I bit back a laugh at his ability to read my mind. “It’s not too hard,” I amended, launching into a step by step explanation of the recipes I’d half thought up, half followed online. “…and you finish it off by piping the white chocolate on, and voilà, they’re done.”
Aiden studied me with the same rapt attention a baker would give to their finished masterpiece. I tugged at the ends of my dress, suddenly self-conscious. “What is it?”
He smiled. “It’s just… You do make it sound easy, but I know it can’t be.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He was giving me way more credit than was necessary. “Honestly, it’s not that hard. If you practice, it’ll become easy.”
“I’ll take your word for it then,” he conceded. “But you’ll have to prove it to me sometime.”
His statement confused me. Less than an hour ago, I thought I’d never see him again. Now he was suggesting we should see more of each other? Or was he just making polite conversation? I honestly didn’t know anymore.
Before I could mull over it any further, the glass door to the backyard slid open. A man came inside, carrying a distinct, mouthwatering aroma of barbecued sausages with him—which made sense when he placed a plate full of them onto the table. Mmm.
The man grinned when he caught sight of us. “What’s up?” He slung an arm around Aiden. “Who are you charming here, Aiden?” He fixed his gaze on me, scanning me up and down. “Hey, you’re the peace girl!”
Peace girl? What the heck did that mean?
He scratched his scruffy chin. “Oh. Am I wrong?” His question earned a glare from the pro tennis star that he ignored. “She is the girl, right? The one from that photo in your wallet?”
The one from that photo in his—what?
“Ehhh.” Aiden’s mouth twisted into a grimace.
The man elbowed him, either completely oblivious or purposely disregarding Aiden’s look of personal torment. “Go on. Show her.”
Yeah, show me, I would’ve said if my mouth had been working. But I’d completely blanked out. The idea of him having a photo of me was super weird. Was this some deranged dream I was going to wake up to tomorrow morning and laugh at?
Aiden sighed in resignation and shoved a hand into his shorts pocket, digging out his wallet. Opening it up, he withdrew a palm-sized photo and held it out to me.
I blinked, taking a moment to steady my shaking hand before I took it. My pulse raced full speed ahead as I stared at the photo. And stared some more.
It was the photo. The one from seven years ago that Liz had taken of us. The one I’d never seen.
“I did promise to show you the next time I saw you. I just didn’t realise how far off next time would be,” Aiden murmured huskily.
“Me either,” I whispered, still staring at the small rectangular slip.
“It’s still mine, you know.” He tried swiping the photo off me, but I dodged his hand.
Not yet. I needed to sear the image of this photo into my memory. It was perfect. Like I’d guessed all those years ago, I smiled naturally in the photo, with my signature peace sign that explained the man’s nickname for me. Aiden was grinning too, but his eyes were focused on me instead of on the camera.
“You kept it in your wallet this whole time?” The knowledge struck me numb. “Why?”
In my daze, Aiden snatched the photo from me. He gave it a cursory glance before stuffing it inside his wallet again. “I lose things pretty easily. It just made sense to keep it there.”
I supposed that sort of made sense. I personally hoarded all my receipts in my wallet until it overflowed and I was forced to clean it out. But as I took in Aiden’s sheepish smile, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was really the case.
“You forget that you lose your wallet too,” the man remarked, looking smug. “It’s how I always see that photo.” He flashed me a grin. “This boy loses his things so often, I’m surprised he hasn’t lost himself.” He guffawed at his own dad joke, but I was too stuck on everything I’d just learned to laugh with him.
“I’m Mike, by the way. Rose tells me you make a mean custard tart. Any chance you brought some today?”
“I—uh,” I stammered, my mind finally coming back down to reality. “Sorry, I only made cookies, cupcakes, and cake pops for today.” Had Rose ever mentioned a Mike to me before? Mike, Mike… “Oh, you’re Rose’s husband!”
Mike showed off his impressive grin again, full set of neat white teeth glinting. “The one and only.”
Rose had once told me her husband travelled internationally and was hardly ever home. I put two and two together. He travelled the
world and seemed chummy with Aiden. That couldn’t be a coincidence. “Do you work with Aiden?”
“Yep. I’m his personal trainer. But lately you can say I’m more like his personal babysitter. These days, I’m buying his groceries and feeding him more often than training him.”
This time when he laughed, I joined in.
Aiden groaned loudly. “Stop embarrassing me, Mike!”
Mike playfully shoved him in the side, nearly knocking him into the table. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Aiden glared at him again while my brain struggled to find clarity, flailing to piece together the various bits of new information with what I already knew. It was such an unbelievable it’s-a-small-world scenario.
Aiden’s personal trainer was this man, Mike Miller. A guy who happened to be the husband of a woman who frequented my family bakery. A woman who I’d met by chance because…I’d once happened to randomly help her sister out at a supermarket checkout.
Oh no. There was a word for this. The same word Mum had decided to name me when she unexpectedly fell pregnant with me against all odds.
A good thing that happened by chance.
Serendipity.
“Mike!” Rose’s voice boomed, jarring me from my revelation.
Mike looked in the direction of the kitchen. “Well, duty calls. See you lovebirds later.”
Before I had time to dwell on the fact that he’d called us lovebirds, the glass door slid open again. I turned to see Isaac coming toward us.
“Hey, man, did you win?” Aiden asked.
Isaac nodded excitedly. “Paul and I are undefeated.” His huge smile left no trace of his usual shyness to be seen. I’d noticed long ago that this happened whenever he talked about tennis.
“Nice.” Their hands smacked together in a loud high-five.
Isaac was still smiling when his gaze met mine. “Serry! You came.”
“Happy birthday, Isaac. I baked some things for you.” I gestured at the containers on the table.
He made his way closer to them, his eyes widening. “Nice. Thanks, Serry. Can I try one now?”
Chances for Serendipity Page 14