Sweet on You

by Carla de Guzman

  “Is that coffee for me?” he asked, leaning against the railing beside her.

  Sari looked down at the cup in her hand, and there was a moment where he legitimately thought she would throw it in his face. She wouldn’t. Would she?

  “No,” she said instead, lifting the mug to her lips, leaving a shiny, pinkish red lip print on the rim of the pure white mug. Gabriel inhaled. The coffee smelled delicious. “Clearly you have enough going around in your shop.”

  “To what do I owe the pleasure of this weirdly intimate assembly?” he asked. The moment he’d seen Sari do a double take at his little piece of chalkboard art the day before, Gabriel had felt all of his cells rise and his competitive streak kick in. It was hard not to have one, not in a family where if you didn’t stake your claim at something, you got nothing. Plus, he was the oldest, he had to be the most competitive so his sisters didn’t walk all over him.

  Not that he thought of Sari as his sister. Oh no. Sari was the enemy, the evil witch behind the extremely tempting coffee that wafted into his nose every time he walked by Café Cecilia. He knew a good brew when he smelled it, and the café didn’t seem to have a bad coffee day in its life.

  “This is just an acknowledgement.” She shrugged, her lashes fluttering as she looked up at him from her coffee mug. “I see your declaration of war, and I return it with one of my own.”

  “Giving away the coffee is a Simbang Gabi promo,” he argued.

  “Simbang Gabi is at four in the morning, and is six days away,” she pointed out, which, to be fair, was true. She saw right through the little lie he told himself. “Is this because I didn’t agree to go on a date with you?”

  “No, it’s because you didn’t eat my muffin,” he said, and he made it sound very dirty, even if it wasn’t because he figured that if there were any buttons to press, it was the fact that Sari had not stopped staring at his face. “What are you planning on doing with all of those sugar cookies from South Mart?”

  “Oh, I’m testing a theory,” she said breezily. “Are people more willing to pay 150 pesos for a good coffee and a free cookie, or 150 pesos for a sugary sweet and a free bad coffee?”

  “That sounds like a false analogy.” He frowned, because of course his old debate team skills still came up to him in the least convenient moments.

  He was a model kid in high school, getting good grades, captaining the debate team, joining the student council. Back then there had only been one path to pursue—good grades so he could get into a good college. But the moment Gabriel stepped into the hallowed halls of the Ateneo, he realized just how huge the world could be. Since then, he never could seem to stick to anything, to commit to anything.

  He was determined not to let that happen. Not to Sunday Bakery, not to this little rivalry he had with Sari. He was going to do it because it was here, and he was serious about this being his life now.

  “Hm. We’ll see about that,” she said, and he didn’t miss the little smile that was playing on the corners of her lips. Then she pushed herself off the railing and opened the fire exit door, keeping it propped open with a weight that she’d placed by the hinge. Gabriel saw into her coffee lab, but didn’t make a move as she put her mug aside and started to make another espresso. It was mesmerizing, seeing her work. She had a deft hand with the machine, and worked like there was nothing about the process that surprised her anymore, and that was a good thing.

  He was still watching her when his side of the fire escape opened to reveal Ransom, his manager, looking at him with slight panic on his face. Gabriel had worked with Ransom for a little over a month now, bringing him in just before construction started. He was a good employee, but had a tendency to panic when it wasn’t needed, Gabriel was just learning.

  “Boss, have you started on the ensaymada?” Ransom asked. “We’re out, and Faye isn’t here yet, so we could really use some help in the storefront.”

  “Ransom, it’s not ensaymada.”

  “Whatever, boss, we need it!”

  “Okay, I’m coming in,” Gabriel said, reluctantly pulling himself off the railing as well. He was about to take one last peek at Sari’s lab when he realized she was walking toward them with a beatific smile on her face, holding a paper cup with Café Cecilia’s logo on it. The coffee smelled so incredible that Gab could almost see it—the curls of deep and dark scents, twisting with the sweetness he brought to the table.

  “Why thank you,” Gabriel said, smiling as he reached for it, but Sari moved right past him to place the coffee in Ransom’s hands. Both he and Gabriel looked at Sari in surprise, as she smiled sweetly at his manager.

  “For you,” she said to Ransom, giving him the most stunning smile Gab had ever seen grace her face, all sweetness and light. Even Ransom looked momentarily stunned, accepting the cup. “I know your boss works you really hard. You deserve a little break.”

  Gab narrowed his eyes. He knew tactics when he saw them, and he was sure this was part of Sari’s ploy to get under his skin. The coffee was just too tempting, strong and seductive, it was the kind of smell that both lulled you to sleep and jolted you awake, depending on what you needed.

  But no. Gabriel wasn’t about to let her win. It wasn’t that kind of Christmas.

  “I need a little help here!” one of his shopkeepers from downstairs yelled, probably standing at the bottom of the stairs. Clearly their new wave of 3-in-1 customers had come to claim free coffee with their purchases.

  “Ransom, put that coffee down and get to work,” Gabriel said, holding his hand out for her cup.

  “But Miss Sari...”

  “Is not your boss, remember? I am,” he said, and he meant it to sound threatening, but it only came out as a little exhausted and pleading, and he heard Sari stifle a laugh next to him. Ransom was glaring murder at Gab as he handed over the coffee, threw up his hands in surrender and marched back into the kitchen, muttering something about Gab not making the not-ensaymada and this being way above his pay grade.

  “Oh great, you’ve turned him against me.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Sari before he took a sip of the as-of-yet untouched coffee. It was sweet but didn’t have a bit of sugar in it, and it was actually warm and comforting, perfect against the cool, overcast day. Gabriel pressed his mouth shut so he wouldn’t accidentally moan, it was so good. Way better than his 3-in-1 for sure, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.

  “Good?” Sari asked, and there was a look on her face that made him wonder if him drinking her coffee had been the plan all along.

  “Mm, it’s...okay,” he said. He stopped drinking and shrugged. “I guess.”

  “You are such a liar.” Sari rolled her eyes and walked back to her coffee lab, but not before he noticed that she was smiling. “I look forward to our next encounter, nemesis.”

  “See you then, Big Deal,” he said, giving her a little mock salute and watching the way her hips swayed as she walked in to her lab.

  One batch of the freshly baked not-ensaymada later, Gabriel had just come back downstairs to the shop floor when he heard the sounds of a ringing bell. Every single head inside his store turned to the direction of one of Sari’s baristas standing outside, holding up a sign that had much prettier hand lettering than his chalkboard had.

  “Free yema roll with every coffee purchase! Get your free yema roll with every coffee purchase here at Café Cecilia! Only 150 pesos for a coffee and a cookie!”

  “What the—” he began, but remembered Sari had told him that this was exactly her plan. Apparently, despite the false analogy, her little idea worked out in her favor.

  If there was anything Filipinos loved more than a reason for snacks, it was free snacks that came with good coffee. Gabriel’s crowd cleared the bakery faster than kids on Christmas morning.

  “I’ve got to hand it to her, boss,” Ransom said, shaking his head as he served the last cup of 3-in-1 to the customer who was al
ready at the counter. “She’s really smart. And really pretty. You sure you can handle being her nemesis?”

  “Why does nobody in this city think I can handle a little friendly competition with Sari Tomas?” he asked out loud.

  “Because clearly, you don’t know Sari Tomas,” Ransom commented, slinging a bimpo over his shoulder. “I’m taking my break! Do you have a 50, boss, I think I’d like coffee and a cookie.”

  “Traitor!” Gab yelled over his shoulder as Ransom kicked himself out of the running for employee of the month by laughing as he headed to the café next door.

  Chapter Five

  December 11

  If I were the one running this prank war, what would I be doing? Sari asked herself, kneeling on the daybed and glaring out at the street below like it was going to provide her with the insight she needed. Despite being an excellent strategist for agawan base, and being well-versed in Pokémon battles (she made the Elite Four several times over, fact), she didn’t feel she was equipped to handle this. But she was sure as hell going to pretend that she was. Sari found it twice as exhausting to keep herself sharp in case of a prank than to actually execute one, but she was going to do it anyway.

  Executing a prank was easy, especially now that Gabriel’s bakery manager had basically defected and could be found at Café Cecilia on his breaks, sipping a free cup of coffee that Sari was only too happy to provide. And while Sari wasn’t familiar with prank war tactics, she did know that there were three tour buses of a religious group stopping at the Laneways today for a pasalubong run before they resumed their local pilgrimage tour, and that was an optimum time to pull a prank. So she stood by her window, watching menacingly and trying her hardest not to blink. “Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead,” at least according to Doctor Who.

  “Anyway, Ate, I’m picking out bedsheets today, I could really use some help,” Sam was telling her over the phone, but Sari was not ashamed to admit that she was only half-listening to her sister.

  “Mhm,” she said, squinting through her window when she saw movement by the entrance of Sunday Bakery. “Good for you.”

  “Are you not coming? I’m in the department store, the salesladies are going to get me and I will come out with three plates but no bedsheets! Help me!”

  “You’re a grownup now, remember? You can doitIbelieveinyou,” Sari said quickly, hanging up on her sister because Gabriel was dragging something to the front of his bakery. She found herself sprinting down the stairs, nearly tripping over her feet as she did so. Her staff jumped in surprise when they saw her, and as Sari was about to open her mouth and explain that things were Totally Under Control, “Take A Chance On Me” blared out from a set of luggage-sized speakers that someone had rolled out to the street. Gabriel was peeking inside Café Cecilia with zero subtlety whatsoever; Sari didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t dare blink.

  “M’am Sari, nililigawan ka ba?” one of her baristas asked her, and she tsk-ed and denied it right away, marching outside to a group of slightly bewildered titas in varying states of amusement that someone Gabriel’s age was playing an ABBA song.

  “Oh, there you are!” Gabriel exclaimed, his entire face lighting up with glee as the music filled the air. Then he smugly looked over his shoulder. “Ransom, bring out the brazo.”

  Sari gasped as Ransom came out of the shop carrying the bounty. Immediately Sari seethed, and she could almost feel steam coming out of her ears at the sight of the perfect, bouncy, caramelized log of sugar and eggs.

  “You traitor,” she exclaimed at Ransom like they were caught in the middle of a telenovela, but she didn’t care. “I told you about my favorite cake in confidence!”

  “Ransom knows who his boss is at the end of the day,” Gabriel said, whipping out a knife as Ransom placed the cake on a previously unnoticed table that had a tablecloth and a small stack of paper platitos and those biodegradable forks.

  “Please leave me out of this,” Ransom begged them both politely. “I literally did not sign up for this.”

  “In for a penny, in for a pound, Rans,” Gabriel said, patting his manager on the back, even though it was clear from the confusion from Ransom’s face that he had no idea what the very English expression meant. “Now who wants a free slice of brazo de mercedes?”

  “I need a raise,” Ransom said miserably, and Sari was treated to the sight of her customers leaving her store, literally dropping bags of coffee beans back into the little outdoor selling area she’d set up, to exclaim over Gabriel’s cake. She could see it from where she was standing too—frothy, slightly toasted marshmallowy meringue with a just runny enough, sticky and sweet custard center. The cake looked absolutely perfect, with a lovely crust of sugar on the outside. Sari’s stomach growled, and she could almost taste the brazo de mercedes in her mouth, only to be sorely disappointed because her pride was in the way.

  “You cheat.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You dirty, rotten cheat.”

  “All’s fair, muffin,” he teased, winking as he took a bite of his own slice of cake. “Now are you sure you don’t want a taste of my...brazo?”

  He made a show of holding out his arm, twisting it and flexing it for maximum muscle exposure. And Sari would never, ever admit this to anyone (who would she admit it to, really?), but Gabriel had a very nice braso. It was the kind that could carry things, formed by the work of his own hands.

  She gulped. Sure, most of the aunties eating cake were utterly confused as to what was going on, but still, Sari knew she had to retreat. So she huffed, and flounced back into her café without a slice of her favorite cake.

  “I’m going to kill him,” she announced to her staff as she passed them on her way back up to her coffee lab. “I’m really going to kill him!”

  “We think he’s nice, m’am!”

  “Sagutin mo niyo na kasi, m’am Sari!”

  Chapter Six

  Thanks to Gabriel’s brilliant tactic, he was sold out of the brazo de mercedes, the not-ensaymadas and all his cookies by the end of the day. The fact that he’d managed to do that was actually a lovely bonus, he didn’t even know the consortium of titas would be walking through the Laneways. Who knew that the combination of ABBA and cake would be the perfect marketing strategy for the bakery?

  God, he was really good at this pranking business.

  “I’m exhausted,” Ransom groaned as he and Gabriel closed up the café for the evening. The rest of his staff had gone home with still bright and happy faces, which told Gab that Ransom was groaning and grumbling because he could.

  “You should be happy we’re doing well, Ransom,” Gabriel pointed out, throwing on his cardigan as Ransom dragged down the metal sheet that kept the store locked and safe. “I never thought we would do this well on our soft opening.”

  “You didn’t?” Ransom asked, slightly confused. “Why not?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Gabriel said, although thinking about it now, it probably wasn’t a good thing that he hadn’t thought that way. If he was aiming for an optimum level of success, he should expect optimum levels of success, shouldn’t he? “I could have forgotten to put butter in something. Or used confectioner’s sugar instead of granulated, and turned the cookies into dry polvoron. Any number of things.”

  “Yeah, that’s funny, boss,” Ransom chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re a really good baker.”

  That made Gabriel stop. Had anyone ever told him that before? Sure, hearing his customers go “mmmm” every time they bit into something he made was validation, but it wasn’t quite the same as being told that he was good at this. Like it was just right that he was exactly where he was at this moment.

  “Even if you did engage in the most immature prank war I’ve ever seen,” Ransom grumbled. “Look, Miss Sari’s even glaring at you.”

  Gabriel turned just in time to see Sari looking down at him from her coffee lab. He gave her a smile and
a little wave. She fumed and huffed, immediately abandoning her post. Gabriel was sure he hadn’t imagined the blush that colored her cheeks before she’d left earlier that afternoon.

  And that made all of this worth it.

  “Sorry, Ransom,” he said, his determination stronger than ever. “I need all the help I can get.”

  “Sir, I really like you, but I really don’t want to be your go-between just because you managed to guess which cake was Miss Sari’s favorite. Now I’ll never get free coffee again.”

  What Ransom didn’t know, and Gab never told him, was that talking back to your boss, rolling your eyes and protesting everything he did was akin to insubordination. Had he done any of this back in New York where he trained, he would have found his ass on the street faster than a flipping pancake.

  It was one of the reasons why he loved being here. Here, he didn’t have to be tough, he didn’t have to pretend to be the smartest guy in the room, didn’t have to have a huge ego that he couldn’t pull off. He didn’t have to shove anyone aside or step on anyone else’s toes.

  Here, being exactly who he was, was enough. Which was a nice change, after everything his father had told him.

  But this isn’t a mall spot, or a franchise, he reminded himself, snapping himself out of his own feelings. This isn’t going to be enough to satisfy Dad, and you know it.

  He shouldn’t get too comfortable. If all went well, he would only be here for a year.

  “Goodnight, M’am Sari!” Ransom’s voice cut through Gab’s thoughts just in time, as Sari walked past them, a swirl of dark hair and soft pink fabric as her skirt swished. She gave Ransom a smile, but fixed Gabriel with a look that could kill dragons dead.