Chapter 32: Sweet as Sugar
Moana

The children all began to cheer once Edrick agreed to stay longer so that we could make cookies. I lifted my gaze from Clara to see the Alpha billionaire standing in front of me, but he wasn’t looking at me; he was looking at the children.

We all made our way down to the kitchen. I lingered at the back of the group, still in utter shock as I tried to wrap my head around Edrick’s sudden change in demeanor. Had the tour of the orphanage and seeing how disadvantaged children lived given him a bit of compassion?

Once we were in the kitchen, I put on an apron and started to get out the ingredients to make the cookies while the children watched hungrily, licking their lips in anticipation for the sweet taste of sugar in their mouths.

“Do you like to bake, Mr. Morgan?” Clara asked, standing on her tiptoes as she gripped the edge of the counter to see.

“No,” Edrick replied, avoiding eye contact with the little girl. “I don’t.”

“Not even cookies?”

“No, not even cookies,” Edrick said. Then, in a slightly lower voice: “I’ve never baked anything.”

The children erupted into gasps, causing me to stifle a laugh. “Here,” I said, grabbing an extra apron and tossing it to Edrick. “I’ll teach you.” Edrick caught the apron and gave me a puzzled look while the children exploded with a chorus of giggles.

“I think I’d just mess it up,” he replied. “You can do it.”

doesn’t help,” I said, to which all of the children began to protest loudly, some even going so far

the apron on, coming over to me. Without thinking, I reached out and rolled his sleeves up for him. Our eyes

gonna kiss!” Now, the group’s cries of protest became even louder as some of the boys even went so far

away from Edrick, shaking my head as I felt my face get hot. Next, I showed Edrick which ingredients to

into this

army. Sophia took half of the children as a group, helping them to roll the dough into little balls and place them on the trays, while Edrick and I helped the

seemed to have taken a liking to him,

he rolled a ball

have

“I do,” Edrick replied.

out to the side a bit as she focused on rolling a wa d of cookie dough into a misshapen ball between her tiny hands, then slapped it down on the tray with an unprecedented amount of force for such a small girl. Then, she turned toward

to speak, but

interjected from across the room, “That’s an

her shoulders and dug into the bowl

He bent down to Clara’s level and looked at her with unexpected honesty in his eyes. “My dad doesn’t always think that boys should do the same things that girls do,” he said. “So, I grew up

the boys and the girls to play however they wanted and to try new things. I grew up not only baking and doing traditionally feminine things, but I also had all of the opportunities in the world to try traditionally masculine hobbies. I couldn’t imagine not being allowed to try those things just because of my gender, but it explained so much about Edrick’s personality… And it made me dislike his

suddenly spoke up. “That’s dumb,” he said,

I shouted, running after the little boy. “Don’t eat raw cookie

the kitchen, evading me, and the children erupted into laughter again. When I looked up,

led Edrick and I to the door; we hadn’t realized it, but we had been

really been struggling lately — the government isn’t so generous with their money when it comes to human orphanages like this one. I really thought–” I watched as Sophia blinked back a few

Sophia’s arm. Edrick fell silent and appeared to be

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255