Chapter 1: When it all began

"Trace, have you seen my drafts? I can't seem to find them," I called.

"Cassie, you're an idiot! You have papers all around you. Look, I'm sorry but your office is very messy and you're wasting so much paper on such a simple task. Do you know what this would do to the ecosystem?" she scolded.

"the ecosystem? really?" I giggled.

"what? it's true!" she exclaimed.

"I just that I need this to be perfect. Mr. Lee is one of our biggest clients and I don't want to disappoint him."

"Here's my suggestion...we'll pick up all these papers, make a collage out of them and see what happens...maybe, you'll find what you're looking for if we do that."

"Thank you. I'd be willing to try anything at this time. My head's not working these past few days."

We started picking up the pieces of paper and Tracey made a collage out of them on my drawing board behind me. "well, that's probably because you hardly take a break. you're always busy and you don't even have much rest almost everyday."

This is Tracey Muller, my friend for all intents and purposes. We met when we were in college and now, she's helping me out in my business. She's kind of my secretary slash business partner. I just love this woman so much. She's organized and creative. She's also smart and enthusiastic. Her short dark red hair hung on her shoulders and she wore glasses - this get-up may make her look so fierce and intense but deep inside, she's really a softy. She's one of the sexiest moms I know so far. She's a mother of three yet she maintained her hourglass figure so well. She's in very good shape not like me. I'm, of course, not that fat; you could say that I am quite thick but definitely not thin or fit. I have a few extra pounds on the side but I don't mind. I don't have to care 'cause I got no social life. Don't get me wrong, I have a desire to settle down but right now, I'm trying to focus on my business. Tracey on the other hand is a single mom but she sure dates a lot. She may tell me she's no longer looking for a man in her life but I know she is deep down; she just doesn't know it.

"by the way do you know that crush of yours is back in town?" she teased.

"wow, for someone who doesn't know much about him, you sure know more than I do," I hissed. I didn't really want to talk about him. He's just a mere memory of the past. He's someone I don't want to get involved with.

"Well, I happen to know that because we are kind of looking for a party planner remember? I happen to know he is one of the best in the business so I took the liberty of spying. I didn't really know it was him until I got to talk to him over the phone."

"What?" I exclaimed. I was holding a pair of scissors while she was saying that and I didn't notice that my hand was in the way while I was cutting into a piece of paper, "ow."

Tracey rushed to my aid. Since she has three kids, she's always ready. This woman practically has first aid kits laying around. She went through her drawer and helped cleaned up my wound, "I talk about a guy you barely saw in so long and here you are already worked up all over his name, I should really be careful with my words around you. You are so careless."

"Why did you call him?" I asked.

"Cass, you have got to get over this. You keep saying he's from a past yet, ironically, you haven't even gotten over him;" she continued, "the reason I called him was that I realized how important Mr. Lee is as a client and I just wanted the best for him and well, there was an opportunity so why waste it."

I didn't really know what to say. We haven't talked with each other for quite some time. It hasn't been that long though. We did business together before. He's a really great event organizer so he's practically my go-to guy but somethings happen and then he went away. That was the last time I heard from him. Ever since then, he has been ghosting me. He wouldn't even answer my emails.

"Look Cass, I know how this makes you feel but I really think this is best for the business...remember when we used to have events left and right. Sometimes there were too many that we barely even had time to date. You and Miggy make an awesome duo. So can you work things out for now?" Tracey places her hands on my shoulders.

I nodded. What more was there to say? She's right. We did make an awesome combination. So, here's me powering through...hopefully. "fine! but I swear if anything, and I mean anything, happens, just know that I'm blaming you," I pointed at her.

"Point taken," she teased.

Tracey went back to making the collage with me. It wasn't an easy task but somehow we were able to get an idea out of this mess. "There you go. How's that? Does it even make any sense?"

Honestly, it didn't; I didn't know if it even made any sense at all. It was like an abstract painting coming together before my very eyes. But at this point, I had to rely on an idea based on what I see before me. I don't have much time. This has to come together by the end of the day. I looked at it closer. It was like puzzle pieces put together. I need to come up with something out of this. Why doesn't my brain work! Then it hit me. puzzle pieces...bag...make-up...jewelry... that's it!

"I love it, Tracey! Thank you!" I gave her a tight embrace and went to my desk to make a new draft of my cake.

"Glad I helped, I guess. It didn't even make much sense to me," Tracey said, confused.

It would be a three-tier cake and I'll be using the three-tier "S" shaped silver chrome stand to make it unique. Since the theme is black and pink, The base will be chocolate with black fondant icing and fondant jewelry designs. The second layer will be mocha covered in pink fondant and edible make-up designs and last, but not the least, the third one would be a red velvet shoulder bag with black and pink fondant icing. And then, I'll just add whatever else would suit it like flowers forming like a bouquet. It's a bit over the top but wouldn't it look great if we can execute this?

Tracey went near me and looked at my draft " that's beautiful. Do you think we can put that together in such little time? It's quite complicated, you know?" She commented.

"I'm sure we can. If I have to work twice as hard, just to make it happen, you know I would."

"Ms. Beckett you have a phone call," the front desk knocked.

"Who is it?" I anxiously asked.

"It's Mr. Lee," she answered.

I hurried to answer the call, "Good morning, Mr. Lee," I greeted.

'So how's everything going? My daughter's debut party is in two months. I'm hoping everything is going smoothly with the preparation," he reminded.

"Everything is going smoothly, Mr. Lee. I had just finished the draft for the cake but I can't let you see it just yet. We are still going to do a trial run today. If our attempt will be successful, this will be the final product. But trust me on this, you'll love it and so will your son;" I went on, "it's something that is very unique and very unpredictable."

There was no answer. I stood there, one hand holding the phone pressed against my ear and the other clenching the end of the table. There is a possibility he won't approve of it or worse, go to a different supplier.

"Alright, I trust you with that. I'll be waiting for an update from you then and hopefully, soon," he finally answered.

"Thank you, Mr. Lee. I promise I won't let you down," I assured him.

"We need to start moving! Trace, can you call Miggy and ask him if he can come over to talk about the plans for the venue? If not, can you ask when he would be available? I'm going to go to the kitchen and start making the cake," I instructed her.

She did as she was told while I hurried to the kitchen to make a head start.

"Mich, I need you to sculpt the cake exactly as planned and Lara, do the fondant as for the superheroes, ask jeff to buy one of each," I commanded the kitchen staff.

Minutes later, a black BMW parked on our storefront. I knew who was driving it...Miggy! It seemed like my throat had tightened when I knew he was there. It was as if I could not breathe and that I could not move and that the world stood still right before my very eyes. Everything seemed like it was in a movie. Everything was in slow motion. I still could not comprehend the fact that Miggy is here.

Miggy a.k.a Miguel Lewis Easton is one of the hottest guys I know. He's 6 feet tall with messy gelled hair. He's got a gorgeous body because he loves the gym. He has those dark brown eyes and luscious light pink lips. His fashion sense was always on the right edge with a hint of formal. This guy is what every girl would dream of having. There's just one exemption, he likes boys. But don't get me wrong, he's not like every other gay you know. His hips don't sway when he walks. His voice is not high pitched. In one look any girl would swoon over him; It's just that he can't reciprocate it because, let's face it, both of you would have the same preference.

"Welcome back to me," he sang.

"Miggy, why can't you just be a normal guy?" tracey shook her head.

"really? with that argument again..." he exclaimed. "why are you so against my gender? it's not like I killed people."

"I'm not against anything, dumbass. It's just that your perfectly good looks is a waste," she teased.

"it's not a waste! I'm still entitled to become good looking...f.y.i. Otherwise, how can I ever get a man if I look horrendous?" he continued, "so, what can I help you with? where's Cassie?"

"I'm here," I greeted him. "welcome back, Miggy."

He went near me and embraced me, "why are you being so formal? get over it, will you!"

I hugged him back, "Thank you for coming. We really need you;" I pulled away from him. Oh, how I wish I didn't have to. I really missed him. He's like family to me. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

"So, how may I be of service?" Miggy snapped.

"Well, we have a client whose daughter is having a debut in two months. We were only supposed to do the cakes but the event planner, he had previously hired, backed out. We took over the whole thing and we're running out of time," I rushed to my office and he followed.

"Sure! No problem. Can you give me the details of the party?" Miggy asked and sat down.

I sat opposite him and handed him the folder of the plan for the event. Miggy looked at the board behind me, "What's that?"

"That's the idea I had for the cake," I answered.

"Um... isn't that too-messy? I mean frankly, I don't get it."

"No silly! That's just a draft;" I hand him the final design of the cake, "This is the cake."

Miggy looked astonished."Wow! This is beautiful. It would be amazing if you can execute this."

"I know right? We'll start working on it as soon as possible."

He opens the folder containing the plans for the event and I could see the look of horror on his face, "Are you sure the previous planner quit or was fired? These are some pretentious plans. I mean look at this, the florist has to create an arc of flowers by the entrance? and the flower pillars along the pathway? and there are even torches? what does he plan to do? burn the place down?"

"I don't really know what actually happened but all I know is we need your help. Maybe you can talk to Mr. Lee about it. Although, if it is true, that is what the debutant wants and she could honestly dial it down if she even wants this debut of hers to happen."

"You guessed that right! I would most certainly talk to them," Miggy agreed.

"Thank you so much. All other personal and business-related details are there. While you do the planning, we'll do what we need to do for the cake and cupcakes. And just like before, I'll be helping out in anyway I can possible."

"That's settled then, Let's do this;" he stands up but before he can head to the door, he turned to me and smiled, "I missed this, you know...working with you. I missed you. I really do."

I smiled back, "I missed you too...very much and I swear to you, that's never gonna happen again. Friends?" I reached out my hand to shake his.

"Best of friends," he shook my hand and left.

I'm glad we can patch things up. I really missed him big time.

"So, is he going to help us?"

"yes and I'm so glad that he is. I've been so stressed out by this whole thing;" I continued, "I'll be out for a while. I'm just going to check some ingredients and look at designs perhaps for the cake. I might not be back in time, so can you close up?"

Tracey nods, "sure;" she makes her way to my office, "So, now that everything is settled between the two of you, what exactly happened?"

"Trace, I'm trying to move past that."

"So move past it! Do you know that by telling people, you can get over it faster?" she teased.

I took a deep breath, "I'm leaving." I said, frustrated.

"oh, come on! Don't be such a buzzkill, please!" she clasps her hands together.

"Remember the last event we handled with him before all hell broke loose? After that successful event, we went out for drinks, and well, I got...a bit drunk. and...since I couldn't drive, Miggy had to do it for me, and all throughout that time, I kind of...made a pass on him...sex-ually. Since I was too drunk, Miggy didn't want me to be alone in my condo so he brought me to his condo instead, and um...unfortunately, his boyfriend at that time saw me doing those unspeakable things, and the next day, they...broke up...all - because of me. When I woke up in the morning, I barely even know what I did, and when I realized what I had done, I did try to apologize to him but well...you know the rest. I know I really humiliated him that day and I guess, that was...it."

"wow. That red wine really did pack a punch on you, huh? It had like five percent alcohol...you didn't even drink the whole bottle but still, you got drunk."

"I know! I'm pathetic but what happened, happened, so can we move past that now?"

Stacey crossed her arms, "But I come to think of it, you were the one he saw fooling around with Miggy, and well, considering their relationship, obviously, the guy knows Miggy is gay so why should he be mad at him in the first place? I don't believe that's the reason he got mad at you."

It got me thinking. That fact didn't even cross my mind. She's right though. Now, I'm even more confused. "I don't... you know what, he says he's okay with it so we should be too. There's no point bringing it up again."

"I guess so. We really need his help right now," she agrees.

"Alright;" I clapped, "as I have mentioned to you a while ago, I'll be gone for a while maybe the whole day to get supplies we need for the cake. So you are in charge while I am gone."

"Be careful," Stacey heads out of my office while I packed up before leaving.