🍰Setting: A small local bakery where Tianxin is working part-time
The bakery bell jingled for the fifth time in ten minutes.
Flour was on Tianxin's nose, dough on her apron, and her hair was sticking to her forehead like she'd fought a bag of flour and lost. Badly.
"Why does this oven beep like it's launching a rocket?" she muttered, jabbing random buttons and ducking as a tray shot halfway out.
Right on cue, the back door creaked open.
"Are you baking or battling monsters in here?" Jiasheng asked, stepping inside with a smug smile.
"Don't sneak up on me while I'm in chef mode!" she yelped, nearly flinging a spatula at him.
"I brought lunch," he said, tossing a food bag onto the counter. "Before you turn yourself into a cinnamon bun."
As she scarfed it down, he leaned against the prep table, watching her.
"You're doing good, Tianxin."
She blinked. Compliment? From him?
He reached over and wiped a smudge of flour from her cheek. "You looked like a mochi ghost."
She froze. For one full second, they just stared at each other — too close. Her heart skipped.
Jiasheng suddenly looked away, coughing. "You… really need a mirror in here."
To change the air, she grabbed a piping bag and tossed it to him. "Fine. Help me."
Ten minutes later, icing was everywhere.
"Jiasheng!" she shrieked as he squirted a blob of pink icing onto her nose.
"I missed the cupcake!" he defended, but he was laughing too hard to sound innocent.
In revenge, Tianxin lunged to grab the bag from him — but slipped on a bit of frosting.
He caught her mid-fall.
The momentum sent them both toppling — right into the display shelf.
Crash. A gentle thud. A frosting-filled chaos.
When the dust settled, Tianxin lay sprawled on top of Jiasheng, her palms braced on his chest, their faces just inches apart.
Time paused.
"I—uh—wow. Your heartbeat is... really fast," she stammered, trying to move.
"You fell on me like a rogue cookie tray," he replied, though his voice was noticeably quieter.
For a moment, neither moved. Their eyes locked. His hands still rested on her waist from the fall.
Then someone coughed loudly — the bakery owner had just walked in.
"Ah. Sorry. Didn't realize we were frosting feelings in here," the owner teased and walked right out.
Tianxin scrambled up like she'd touched a live wire. Jiasheng just laughed, brushing sugar off his shirt.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I think I sprained my dignity," she muttered.
Later that evening, as she wiped the counters and cooled off from the chaos, she glanced at her notebook — her dream sketch for her future dessert shop.
Under the soft lighting, she whispered to herself:
"Tianxin's Summer Swirls… coming soon."
She smiled — maybe life wasn't so chaotic after all.