BAKING

Anna made her way downstairs where Dylan was already prepping what they were going to need while baking.

She couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips as she watched him try to make sure they had everything.

She had never baked before even though she always wanted to. He looked so concentrated she didn't want to disturb him so she just pulled a stool and sat down.

He knew she was in the room but they didn't always have to talk. The silence wasn't defending though. It was a comfortable silence.

She sometimes wondered if it was possible to love two people.

She knew what she felt for Vincenzo. What she felt for Dylan was a mystery though. She knew she felt something for him though.

There was peace when it came to Dylan. Something that she had never experienced with Vincenzo before.

"Come on ", Dylan said as he handed her an apron.

"What are we making ?" she asked him.

"A birthday cake ", he said as he helped her tie her apron around her waist.

She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips. Why did they need to make a cake when they could just buy one

"We could just buy one you know that right ?" she asked him as she washed her hands.

"I know but why buy, when we can just make it ", he said smiling.

She couldn't understand why he thought that way. He had all these things when he was growing up while she hadn't.

They were two different people and their experiences were different. Maybe there was something that came with growing up poor or lacking the things other entitled kids had all their lives.

She struggled to get certain things that she could now get easily without struggling. She was jealous. Jealous that they had.the lifestyle she had always wanted as a kid but never had.

She couldn't even remember the good memories of her childhood. All she remembered were the days she wished that she had a different life than the one she was leaving.

Dylan could sense the change of atmosphere and wondered why it was so bad for them to bake. He didn't understand her one bit.

"Why don't you want us to bake ?", he wanted to understand her more and know why she thought a certain type of way.

"I just think that if someone wants to buy a birthday cake they should buy one ", Anna shrugged her shoulders as she waited for him to start mixing the ingredients they needed.

"Well I think it's a wastage of money why just buy the ingredients and make it for yourself ?", Dylan said chuckling.

"Well you think like that maybe because you always had birthday parties as a kid and there never lacked a birthday cake ", Anna said forcing a chuckle.

She didn't want to talk about this. Why was he pushing her?

"You didn't have birthday parties while growing up ?", he asked her oblivious to the truth.

"I don't think kids have birthday parties in the orphanage, no one cares if you were born ", she said chuckling and Dylan tried to find something to say back but he couldn't.

"Please laugh so that things don't become weird ", Anna said as she burst out laughing.

"It's not funny why would I laugh ", Dylan asked chuckling.

"Because if you don't you'll start to feel sorry for me and I am going to break down in tears ", Anna said as she tried not to think about life at the orphanage.

"I don't mind if you cry, it's your birthday. I hear people cry on their birthdays ", Dylan said chuckling.

Anna couldn't think of anything that had happened to her in the previous year that could make her smile.

If anything everything that had happened had just ruined her. If she started to cry she would have thousands of things to cry about.

All of a sudden all the bad memories could come glowing and she wouldn't be able to top it until she got it all out.

"No I don't want to cry, I want to be happy today ", she said smiling but it wasn't a genuine smile.

She could feel the sadness creeping in and so did Dylan.

"Tell me about the orphanage ", Dylan said.

"It was horrible ", she chuckled as she remembered everything that happened in the orphanage and laughed.

"I was bullied a lot, I don't know if it was because I was tiny or they thought I couldn't defend myself ", she said smiling.

She was still small and couldn't defend herself but she was starting to learn.

She wasn't weak anymore.

"Tell me the things you loved doing forget about the bullies ?", he asked her and a smile spread across her lips as she remembered life at the orphanage.

When it wasn't horrible it had been good and she had enjoyed every second.

"I loved reading. Every time I ran into a romance novel I would get so engrossed in it until I finished it ", she said and remembered once when she had missed her meal because of reading.

"When I was reading I could escape my reality and forget how shitty my real life was. I used books to escape ", she smiled sadly.

"At least the orphanage had something you loved then, "Dylan said grateful that she was no longer thinking about the sad memories.

"Oohh no I used to steal them from the matron's office. When people found out they would take them and I would be blamed ", Anna said chuckling.

How she had wished she had a friend while she was in the orphanage. She had been the loneliest and now that she thought about it,her inner child was still hurt.

Why couldn't she have had a life like the other kids?Was she that bad that no one wanted to play with her?

Why hadn't they liked her?

She was the sweetest but somehow that got her stepped over by the older kids.

"Well, now you can even buy a whole library if you want to, how amazing is that ?", Dylan said chuckling and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah having money is one of the what things, I get to have what I want at anytime ",she said but at the back of her mind she knew it couldn't give her everything .