Pink hair, blue eyes, small and skinny for a 12-year-old.
―Uhm, unfortunately, it’s not the credit customer.
The name of the boy who entered the bakery is Noah.
Noah lived with his sister in a small house down the hill with their grandfather, and his circumstances were not quite good.
Knowing the situation of the boy who helped in his grandfather’s work to the point that his little hands swell, it had been six months since I started giving bread to this family.
“Hello~”
I smiled brightly.
“…Today again, I’m here.”
“Yes, you’re welcome. I was really bored while having tea. Did you eat lunch?”
“Yes. I ate.”
“Then I can pack the food for you to bring it back. Today’s menu is lamb vegetable stew and bread!”
I saw the boy swallowing his saliva as soon as he heard the contents of the menu, ‘Meat Stew’.
Then his face turned red as though he had been caught eating.
‘Heuk-heuk, it’s so cute.’
‘This pink cotton ball!’
“Wait a minute. I’ll wrap it up with some fresh bread.”
The boy fiddled with his bruised hands.
While humming, I packed plenty of bread that was still warm in a paper bag, and also, stew with a savory taste made by boiling for a long time on low heat.
“Come on, here you go. Take it and enjoy it with your sister and grandfather. Understand?”
“…Well, Annette.”
“Yes?”
Noah raised his head and said,
“You don’t have to take care of me like this in the future. ‘Cause I’m all grown up now. I can take care of my grandfather and sister.”
Seeing him say such a thing at a height less than half an adult’s made my heart ache for some reason.
‘I had a time like that too.’
When I was 12-years-old, I thought I was all grown up.
When I was young, I didn’t have enough time to take care of my future, yet I wanted to take care of other children as well.
Looking back now, I was too young…
I quietly bent my knees, lowered my upper body, made eye contact, and smiled.
“Noah, if you’re not uncomfortable, why don’t you keep accepting the bread?”
“…….”
“It makes me feel at ease when I give bread to Noah because it reminds me of the siblings I left behind. And my long-cherished wish was to distribute bread to many people when I open <Little Bakery>. I want to show off my work!”
I smiled brightly.
“So, Noah is actually granting my wish.”
“……!”
The boy’s pupils trembled slightly. Noah’s bracken-like hands were clenched, then opened, and he spoke again.
“Then, please wrap the leftover bread in the future. Annette doesn’t always have to painstakingly bake twice.”
“That will never happen!”
I straightened my back and proudly pointed with my index finger, ‘Ding!’ and said,
“Because my ‘respect for bread’ doesn’t allow it.”
“…R-Respect for bread?”
“The operation of <Little Bakery> depends on my ‘respect for bread’. Bread is delicious when eaten warm! It’s not acceptable for me to give dry bread from my store!”
And there was no bread left in my <Little Bakery>.
It closes only after selling everything unconditionally (look at my business skills when selling the date palm tarts).
Noah looked at me with eyes expressing ‘Is it something to be so determined about like that?’, but I rubbed my nose and felt proud inside.
‘Fufu, I’m a pretty cool bakery owner.’
‘And I’ve been through it, kid.’
In my previous life, I was in a sad position to be helped, so I knew how it felt.
In my previous life, most of the food that was given to me at the orphanage was just before the expiration date, and as for clothes, they had all been worn by someone else before.
—It was for charity.
‘Even in difficult circumstances, you have the right to be happy while eating warm bread like everyone else, you’re a child.’
No, it was like that for everyone.
It was my philosophy to hope that everyone would be happy in front of bread.
And when I helped the boy, somehow it reminded me of the children of the Forest, which warmed my heart.
I made eye contact with the hesitant Noah.
Then I smiled and gently stroked his hair.
“You just have to eat it without worrying about anything, Noah.”
I let out a genuine laugh.
“That’s my biggest joy.”
“…….”
Noah’s watery eyes trembled.
Soon, with a red face, the boy bowed his head and murmured.
“…Thank you so much, Annette.”
“Thank you too.”
I sent Noah away with a lot of bread and stew.
As Noah ran up the hill, he looked back several times and waved his beret towards me.
‘Is he going to have dinner once he gets back?’
My imagination unfolded.
When the sun set, smoke would rise from the chimney, and the boy, his grandpa, and his sister would sit around a small table for dinner.
They would talk a lot.
Even if they didn’t say much, they would burst out laughing, and everything would be delicious even if they were sharing a little bit of food.
In the meantime, the arduous work from the day would come to nothing.
—Because, that’s ‘family’.
I suddenly felt lonely.
“I’m envious.”
“…….”
“Noah, how does it feel to have such a family?”
‘I don’t know because I’ve never experienced it in my previous life.’
Just imagining this was not enough.
“…….”
I stared at the hill for a while, then sighed lightly.
Then I went back into the bakery. It was time to stop feeling envious and continue my comfortable life.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
After that, my everyday life was peaceful.
As usual, I read a few books (there were a lot of interesting novels here too), brought a flower pot inside, and added nutrients.
And while I was knitting very leisurely, I fed the cat who came to play in the evening.