I don’t think I can take my baking skills to the next level.

Why?

First, because I am not a professional baker.

Second, it feels like more of a chore to me.

I come from a baker's family. Sunday mornings were filled with Skillet Cornbread that has a beautiful texture of crackly crust around moist, decadent corn cake. Sometimes there will be Chocolate Babka stuffed with various delicacies. This is often surprising. Sometimes there will be chocolates and sometimes it will be just like a cinnamon roll. My mom learned from our Jewish neighbors.

No Sunday morning can start without a decent cup of coffee. I often go to A Cup Of Joy where my best friend Josie is working but I would rather stay at home today.

She is already busy with her… new boyfriend? I guess he is. I’ll know the updates soon.

I looked in the drawer and there was some paper bundle beneath a yellow file. The file has a label on it - “The Clearwater”.

I need to complete my manuscript which my agent is asking from the past few months. I feel sorry for her sometimes. I am lucky that I got someone who can understand me. Yesterday she called me and wished me luck for the future, followed by a very small request to complete the manuscript… soon.

I don’t think I can complete this. I cannot even complete a rough draft in a year!

I work mostly at night. Nightimes are really good if someone wants to become a really good writer. But again, it comes with its downfall as well.

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I don’t know about others but I now get easily distracted at night time. And it's mostly because of that owner of the bakery right across my street. My whole family loves to spend Sundays there.

The owner of the Bakery is Brad Clearwater. At first, I hated this guy and avoided him like a plague.

And this all started when he said, “You think writing is a job?”

That serious question in front of my entire family made my heart sink.

Not even my mother said that to me.

You can think of Brad as handsome but not a model-type of guy. Brown eyes, grey hair, and a masculine figure.

I could see him working in the kitchen on Sunday mornings. He would arise before anyone else does. He will work even when all his staff has left.

I and Josie went out for dinner three weeks ago. We decided to try out the most expensive restaurant which Josie recommended. I didn’t know back then the restaurant owner was very close to him. I see Josie’s fake boyfriend Mr. Nessman visiting the cafe every now and then.

It was surprising and confusing for me. A lot to take for someone who is known as a TikTok queen during her college days. I am not into mysteries that much. And of course, college days have ended as well.

I spend my night time looking at him working instead of filling my blank pages.

And this was also one of the reasons why I started keeping Binoculars in my old room.

Mom thinks I like to see birds from my window, just like I use to do in my childhood. Josie thinks I have nasty stuff on my mind… which is not true.

The more I watch him, the closer I get.

Now the condition is that after five months I don’t have to watch him anymore with the binoculars as I stay at his place. I don’t have to fight with my family as they mostly wanted to spend Sunday in his cafe rather than with me at home.

You must be thinking what happened to the book I was writing?

Well, it's still in the drawer. I know it will get complete, only when the time is right.