Chapter 25
THREE YEARS AGO…
A za wakes restless. Unwilling to stay in her room, and even less willing to be followed by guards.
Her sleep had been riddled with nightmares.
Her guards were meant to protect her, but they couldn’t protect her from what haunted her most. So, she didn’t feel bad when she tricked them and snuck off to the kitchens.
When she snuck in, a delicious smell caught her attention, and when she crept in farther, she saw a small chocolate cake sitting on a plate in the middle of a table. Aza can’t resist swiping a finger through the frosting and tasting it.
Instantly, she’s a child again, tasting the rich, deep chocolate that came from her Jiddu. She remembered having it smeared all over her face, how much Mama giggled.
"What are you doing? Stop!" a man entering the room yells; however, he quickly goes pale when he sees the person he just yelled at was the Princess.
He quickly bows, "Princess, please forgive me. I did not know it was you. Please eat all that you want."
Aza is surprised by how handsome the man in front of her is.
Aza hadn’t had interest in men, not since Mama passed.
As a child, Aza believed in the fairytales of finding the perfect man and living a perfect life with him, as it had seemed with Mama and Baba, but after Mama ended her life, Aza stopped believing in those fairytales .
"It is alright, you may stand. This is absolutely delicious. Did you make this? It tastes... just like the cakes Mr. Almasir made. He used the special chocolate my Jiddu sent to us."
"He... was my father. Today... was his birthday. I still wanted to make him a cake. Silly, I know. And I’m so sorry I used your special chocolate. I didn't realize. It was just his favorite thing to make. Sorry, I'm rambling. I apologize, Your Highness."
Aza can't help but smile at this kind man and the gesture he made for his father despite his passing.
"I don't know if you know this, but this was my…
my Mama's favorite cake. Your father used to make it specially for her birthday and mine.
I haven't really had it since she passed, but I remember it being incredible.
W-would you maybe like someone to enjoy it with? For both of them and us?"
"More than anything, Your Highness,” He answers without hesitation, bringing over a chair for Aza, “Please sit." He pulls out her chair and slides it in.
He grabs two forks before taking a seat across from her. He hands her one. She takes a chunk of the cake and lets it sit on her tongue, taking in all the flavors. It tastes just like it did when she was a child, maybe just a little sweeter, but Aza loves the change nonetheless.
“Mmm.” Aza moans at the cake’s deliciousness, eyes closed, taking in the moment.
When she opens her eyes, the man sitting across from her has a goofy smile on his face as he watches her eat his masterpiece.
“I’m sorry,” she says, covering her mouth with her hand.
“No, no. You are fine, Princess Amiaza. I am glad you enjoyed the cake. Or at least I assume you do. I think you would be causing quite a lot of trouble if you made sounds like that for things you didn’t enjoy,” he jokes, but Aza can see the deep red climbing his neck and cheeks after letting that one slip out, “Princess, forgive me. That was a completely inappropriate thing to say to you.”
Aza laughs softly, “It is quite alright Sir. It is quite refreshing to have someone talk to me like I am a person and not just the Princess. It was also quite funny, but I would work on your game a little more; at least your desserts taste good and make up for it.”
“Wow, okay.” They both laugh and continue stuffing cake into their mouths.
“What is your name?” Aza asks in between forkfuls of cake.
“My name is Jaharis.”
“I like that name.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Aza smiles at him as she pretends to fight him over the last piece of cake. He ultimately lets her have it. Something unfamiliar stirs low in her stomach, and she realizes it is not from the cake she just ate.
“Princess?”
“Yes?” She asked, suddenly very aware of this man in front of her and feeling herself grow more nervous at how incredibly handsome, kind, and funny he is, never having had any feelings or thoughts like this towards a man.
“Where are your guards?”
“Oh, yeah, that. Um… on break.”
One of his eyebrows shoots up, quizzically, and Aza’s stomach does a somersault, and heat flickers low in her belly.
What is going on with me? She thinks.
“I may or may not have snuck away from them.”
“Ah, the beautiful rebellious princess. You know they are probably having a heart attack right now thinking they lost the Princess.”
Aza chuckles, “I wasn’t trying to do that. I just needed some space to breathe by myself. They follow me everywhere. I’m surprised they don’t have to watch me bathe myself so the water doesn’t attack me.”
He lets out a full belly laugh at this. Aza can’t help but join in. She can’t stop herself from looking him over. His dark brown, curly hair, his dark hazel eyes, and the beard framing his face.
“Princess?”
Heat rises to her cheeks at being caught staring, “Sorry, I… I just find it surprising I haven’t seen or met you before.”
“Well, I like to hide away a lot too, here at least. My father loved his job as a chef, but I think he loved teaching me all he knew more. So this is where I stay.”
“I’m glad he passed on his knowledge and skills to you. He was a great man and an outstanding chef and baker.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much.”
“Of course,” they look at each other for a minute before Aza says, “call me Aza.”
“What?”
“You can call me Aza. I wouldn’t mind having a friend in the kitchens to slip me goodies or to just talk to.”
“I like the sound of that. You can call me Jahar. That’s what my friends call me.”
“Jahar.” Aza smiles at how his name feels on her tongue, and he gives her a playful smile back.
“You should return to your guards, and at least let them know you are safe and unharmed. If I were your guard and I lost the most precious gem of the Kingdom, I would be beside myself. I couldn’t imagine having our wonderful princess’s life in my hands to protect.
Especially if she liked running away and hiding,” he teases, leaning closer to her, scolding her gently with his eyes.
Aza’s sure she is going to melt right out of her seat at his words and stare.
Is he flirting with me? Why do I like it so very much? She thinks.
“Maybe you’d be a better guard than them. You could at least get me back with a trail of goodies.”
“Like a puppy?”
Aza wholeheartedly laughs, “Maybe!”
“I’ll have to keep that in mind the next time I want to see you.”
Aza can’t help but break out into a huge grin and blush at this, which only makes Jahar’s smirk widen on his face.
“Don’t send me back yet,” Aza begs, “Can I stay with you a little bit longer?”
“Oh… umm… yes. Whatever you would like, Princess.”
“Aza.”
“Right, Aza.”
“Maybe you could teach me how to make that wonderful cake?”
“And give away my most valuable secret? I don’t think so.” He feigns offense as he stands up and begins to walk away.
“What?” Aza shrieks, “Wait!”
“I cannot tell you that one, you’d never have a reason to come back to see me if you could just do it yourself,” Jahar announces, continuing to walk further into the kitchens.
Aza stops short at his comment.
Does he really want to see me that badly again? Or is he just messing with me? Aza questions.
There is no one else in the kitchens right now. Probably because breakfast had already been served and cleaned up, and lunch still wasn’t for a little while.
“Well then, what can you show me? You have to prove it’s worth me coming back?”
“Prove myself?” He throws his hand over his chest, an expression on his face that humorously mimics offense. “Oh my dear Princess, the sounds you were making while eating my cake is all the proof I need,” his eyebrow rising again and a smirk spreading wildly up one side of his face.
Aza swats at him, but he jumps out of the way and runs to the fridge. She chases after him, laughing. By the time she reaches him, he is grabbing various items out of the fridge and begins handing them to her when he sees she has caught up.
“What are you doing?” Aza asks.
“We need the proper ingredients if we are to make a delicious meal.”
“Is that right?” Aza teases.
“Yes, ma’am. Heavens, what are they teaching you princesses nowadays? Do you think food is just made out of thin air?” Jahar feigns mocking her.
Aza throws an onion at him that he had placed in her hand.
“Hey! That’s a good one.” Jahar bends down to pick it up and puts it in his pocket. “You know, for a princess, especially one getting first-class, behind-the-scenes service, you’re being quite rude.” He makes a grumpy face.
“Oh, shush!”
Jahar just laughs and gathers a few more ingredients. He tells Aza to bring the ones she has with her over to the empty table. They put them on the table, and Jahar quickly organizes them.
Jahar tells her about the ingredients and what he plans to show her how to make. He teaches her various cutting techniques, what order to add the ingredients, how to mix them effectively, how to properly put them in the cooking dishes, and anything else he can think of.
Half the time, Aza has no idea what he’s doing, but he just answers with, “Don’t ever question a chef’s decisions or actions.”
Together, they prepare all the ingredients and place them in the dishes to cook. Aza carries over the sauce in a small pot that Jahar will show her how to cook while the meal is in the oven.
As she’s walking over to the stove, a glint of metal catches her eye.
She looks over, thinking her guards have found her, but she doesn’t recognize the man, even though only half of his face is directed at her.
As he turns his head towards her, where his eye should be, there’s a wide open socket oozing blood.
Terrified, the dish falls from Aza’s hand, crashing to the floor.
She begins screaming, covering her eyes with her hands.
Her screams drown everything out, but she swears she hears her name as she sinks to the floor. Her breaths become ragged, and she feels as if she can’t get in any air, even though she’s still intermittently screaming.
“Aza!” Jahar yells as something is shoved under her nose.
The sharp scent burns her nose. Aza moves her hands away from her eyes and sees Jahar kneeling next to her, a broken open onion stuffed under her nose.
“Hey, it’s me. You’re safe. I’m right here.” He reassures her as he pulls the onion away from her.
“I’m… I’m sorry. I got startled. I-I didn’t mean to freak out like that. And, oh no! I spilled all your sauce!” Aza begins crying more, utterly embarrassed to have had such a bad reaction to a vision in front of this man.
“It’s alright. It’ll take me less than three minutes to remake it. I’m only worried about you. What can I do for you? Are you alright now?”
Aza looks around quickly, still scared she will see the disturbing man again, but she does not, “Y-yes, I am alright now. I am really sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He comforts.
“Did you really put an onion under my nose?” Aza asks, laughing through tears and realizing the ridiculousness of it.
“Yes! It worked, didn’t it?”
She sniffles, wiping her eyes before agreeing, “Yes, I suppose so. But don’t they make you cry?”
“Well, you were already crying, so I didn’t have any concerns on that front, and its smell is strong enough that it snapped you out of it and back to me,” he declares sweetly, before teasing, “Didn’t I tell you not to ever question a chef’s decisions or actions?”
Aza can’t help but laugh, “You weren’t cooking in this scenario.”
“That is irrelevant. I don’t stop being a chef when I’m not cooking, and I have fresh ingredients in my hand, so I was very much a chef in that moment. Thank you very much.”
“I suppose,” Aza teases before lowering her voice, “Thank you, and I’m sorry.”
“You’re welcome, and don’t worry about it. But one day, when you’re ready, your friend would really like to know what the fuck just happened. Pardon my mouth.”
Aza giggles and says softly, “Okay.”
Jahar nods at her and stands up, Aza following closely behind him.
Aza can’t believe how quickly he pulled her out of it and how fast he put her at ease.
No one has ever been able to help her when she has one of her visions or nightmares or when she hears the voices.
Aza can’t help but send a quiet thanks to the heavens for letting them meet today.
It won’t be the cake that brings her back, it will be him that will bring her back; it will be the comfort she feels when she’s with him.
“What do you say we finish this up and enjoy a nice lunch together before the kitchens start bustling? And then I can return you before I get charged with princessnapping.”
“That’s not a thing.”
“Oh, yes, it is. I could lose my head. Out of all the things in the Kingdom, you are the most valuable.”
Aza can’t help but smile giddily at his statement, “I would love to eat lunch with you.” Aza continues smiling at him, and he returns a genuine smile.
Over the next couple of months, Aza snuck into the kitchens to see her friend Jahar. But the feelings she had for Jahar quickly grew into more than just friendship. He becomes her reason to get out of bed every morning, to continue on and not give up.
He helped her through far more awful visions than she cared to admit, but he never once made her feel bad about them. After about the third one, she finally told him what was happening, but he still didn’t judge her then, just continued to comfort her and make her laugh.
It wasn’t long before the thought ‘I love you’ popped into her head.
And although she craved to tell him and see how he felt, she suppressed it and kept it to herself.
He becomes the most important thing in her world, and she was terrified of messing up their friendship and losing him.
So she bit her tongue and chose to enjoy every moment with him instead.
Every laugh, every smile, every flirtatious gesture, every joke, everything that made him, him.