Of Broken Hearts and Tears

Chapter 38

The lawn was adorned with strings of multi-color light woven around the trees. The lights made everything look serene and magical. The red, white, yellow, pinks of the flowers brimmed with brightness as the lights sparkled over them. 

 The lush green grass was trimmed to perfection and felt like a soft carpet.

Colorful balloons were hung around the lawn leaving a festive atmosphere. 

"Maya, is the cake ready?" Her mother shouted across the house.

"Almost done, Ammi." Maya stopped the whipping machine and yelled back over the noises of the children. She added some blue food coloring to the cream and mixed it together incorporating air into it.

When the cream was ready, she decorated the cake creating an ombré effect. The bottom was the darkest shade with the colors getting lighter till the top of the cake. She angled her head and stared at it and then blew out an inaudible sigh in satisfaction. It had turned out the way she wanted.

Her shoulder and neck muscles were aching from all the work but it was worth it. That day it was her nephew, Uzair's second birthday and that bundle of joy had captured her heart with his toothy smile.

"Can you pass me the piping tips." Maya requested the maid as she covered the top of the cake with cream and spread it out evenly with a knife. "The petal shape ones."

Putting the cream in a piping bag, she carefully decorated the edges of the cake. She was making a cake after a very long time, so she had been a little doubtful of her skills. Upon Areesh's insistence she had acquiesced and decided to go for it. 

She was surprised that she hadn't baked anything for a long time. Maybe it was because she onky baked when she was feeling happy. She wasn't sure of the connection but she hadn't made any cakes after that inicident.

She blew out a heavy sigh and shook her head focusing on the task at hand.

"This looks yummy."

Without turning around she smiled slightly before moving her concentration back to the cake.

"I'm going to make a mistake if you're going to keep staring." Maya mumbled, feeling his eyes on her.

"How do you know I'm staring?" Zayan said incredulously.

She turned to loom at him and took in his appearance. He was wearing a black leather coat on a white T-shirt and paired it up with casual jeans. 

"I can feel  your stare." She said.

Zayan chuckled. He wasn't staring. He was just looking. Her sleeves were rolled up till her elbows and her hair was in a loose messy bun with a few strands coming out and falling on her eyes. That was her typical hairstyle he had noticed.

Her forehead was creased in concentration as she carefully garnished the cake.

 "I never knew that you could bake." He verbalized his thoughts. Maya irritatingly moved her bangs away from her face as she piped the cream. Noticing her annoyance, he stepped closer to ber and moved the strands away from her forehead and tucked them behind her ear. He could feel a slight change in her demeanour at his action, but she didn't comment.

"What do you know about me anyway?" She said with a small smile without looking up at him.

"A lot." He replied without much thought.

"Yeah," she said slowly, her hand pausing in mid-movement as she met his eye. "That's true. You know things no one knows."

He sighed. He knew what she was hinting at but didn't say anymore. When he stayed quiet she averted her gaze and bent her head again continuing to pipe dollops of the cream on the cake.