Hello! Cupcakes

"Violet, you're late." 

When Violet entered the bakery, her friend and employee, Evan Xiao, greeted her without looking up. When Violet turned to look at him, that tall guy was pulling out a tray of chocolate cupcakes from the cooling rack.

"You shouldn't be setting a bad example for your employees," Evan continued. He pulled out a piping bag of vanilla buttercream and started to frost the cupcakes swiftly.

"I'm sorry," Violet said with a sigh. "Something came up yesterday. I barely got any sleep last night.

Violet pulled her baby pink apron over her head. On the apron, the word, 'Hello! Cupcakes' was written in hot-pink script and in white bold. Violet was dressed in her usual running shoes, jeans, and a black T-shirt. Her long hair was neatly tied into a ponytail.

Once she was dressed in her uniform, Violet walked over to Evan and raised her eyebrows when she noticed that he was wearing a plain black apron instead of the bakery's pink apron. "You're wearing the wrong apron again; Evan. Everyone wears the same pink apron. Why can't you wear them like everyone else?"

"Me? In pink?" Evan shook his head and snickered. "Never in a million years. I don't do pink. It doesn't fit my personality."

Violet rolled her eyes in response to Evan's comment. "Why not? Steven and Brian wear them too, you know! Guys look hot in pink!" she stated, gaining another snicker from him.

"Exactly!" Steven, another of Violet's staff yelled from the front of the bakery. "Evan Xiao! If you're a man, you should be brave enough to wear pink!"

Violet's cupcake bakery, Hello! Cupcakes were neither too big nor too small. Usually, when it was not packed with customers, those who were at the front would be able to hear everything at the back and vice versa.

"That's bullshit," Evan rolled his eyes.

Violet laughed, knowing that Evan would never wear that pink apron no matter what others would tell him. "You do realize that you're breaking the rules," she clicked her tongue. "I can fire you for refusing to follow the company's dress code."

Evan took another cupcake off the tray and looked at Violet with a smug smile on his face. "You won't do that. You know very well that you can't fire me."

"Really? Why are you so confident?" Violet cocked a brow, daring him to answer her.

"I bake amazing cupcakes, and you know that. You wouldn't want me to work for your competitors. It would be bad for your business. Besides," Evan paused from whatever he was doing and wriggled his eyebrow. "Violet, you love me. I know you do."

Violet burst into a hearty laugh. "Fine. You win. I must admit that I do love your baking skill and I don't know how I will ever survive if you weren't around to help me."

Violet Xu and Evan Xiao met five years ago when they both enrolled in a culinary school. They were paired as a team the first time they met and have been best friends ever since.

When Violet decided to open up her bakery, she immediately thought of Evan. He was great at baking and pastries. In the past, Violet had sampled his cupcakes and knew that he could bake great cupcakes. Every cupcake he made turned out perfect.

Sometimes, Violet wondered if he had some kind of magic to be able to bake perfect cupcakes for every, single, time. She trusted him and he was the only one who knew the bakery well enough to manage the bakery when she was not around. That was why she had offered him to work with her.

Violet walked away and began her morning routine. She took a clipboard hanging on the wall and started with the inventory. Flour, check. Sugar, check. Baking powder, check. Baking soda, check. Cocoa powder, check. Butter, check. Cream, check. Assorted chocolate, check. Assorted coloring, check.

"Valentine's Day is coming," Evan said when he appeared beside her. "What are we baking? And please, not too much pink. I think we have enough pink in this bakery."

Violet smiled. "Well, I was thinking of vanilla cupcakes with raspberry filling and white chocolate buttercream. Or maybe chocolate cupcakes with red and white swirled frosting. It's going to look pretty. What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?"

Evan tapped his fingers against the stainless steel work table. "How about rose-flavored cupcakes? We could make vanilla cupcakes with rose-flavored buttercream. You know, since it is Valentine's Day. It could be our cupcake of the day."

"That's a great idea, Evan!" Violet clapped her hands enthusiastically. She pulled out a notebook and a pen from her apron and jotted the idea.

Evan smiled. "I'm glad that you like my idea. What about the decoration?"

"Let's use the heart-shaped sprinkles. We could use some chocolate-covered strawberries too, but that might be a bit expensive," Violet said with a sigh. Naturally, fresh fruit was a bit more pricey than artificial flavoring.

"We could use rose petals as decoration," Evan suggested. "You know… the one that people used to make tea. I saw them in the market once. It is not that expensive if we buy it in bulk. Or else, we could make those rose petals from fondant or gumpaste to save cost."

"I like that idea. Rose petals huh? It will give the cupcakes romantic looks. I'll survey the price for that tea flower first and decide which one we should use for decoration."

"Violet!"

Just as the two of them were discussing the cupcake decoration, Violet heard a familiar voice calling out her name. When she turned in the direction of that voice, Violet found her cousin, Sarah, standing at the back door entrance. Sarah had a paper bag in one hand and a cup of coffee from Coffee Sanctuary Cafe in another.

Sarah Wu was Violet's maternal cousin and they were only two months apart. Currently, Sarah is training to be a singer in one of the entertainment agencies called Orange Entertainment. Because the training center was quite close to Violet's cupcake bakery, Sarah had come often to hang out with her cousin.

"Violet Xu! I can't believe that you didn't tell me about what happened last night. I can't believe that I have to hear this news from your brother," Sarah said as she walked over to her cousin with anger in her expression.

Hearing the words that Sarah had sprouted, Evan was suddenly curious. He turned to Sarah and raised a brow. "What happened last night?"

Sarah glanced at Violet and turned to Evan. "Your friend, Violet Xu got engaged," she announced.