An unexpected love, for you and me

The December cold set in place, the first snow of the new winter came and so with it the holiday spirit of the residents of the small town of Luwle. It was a medium-small town, not exactly the kind where everyone knows everyone, but still a closely-knit community. Two prominent bakeries lie in this place, Bakery Ambrosial which belongs to Oliver, and Lenoir belonging to Christophe.

Oliver was a natal resident of the town and has never left it. He started working at his parents’ bakery as soon as he could, three years ago his parents let him run the business as they went on to pursue other things. It wasn’t necessarily hard for Oliver to keep the bakery upfloat, since it has been in the town for a long time, even so, that people just referred to it as “the bakery”.

But as of recently, only a year and a half ago, another competitor had joined the scene.

Unlike Oliver, Chris hadn't had the advantage of being a local, but what he made up for in reputation was with his pure skill. The people who had enough curiosity to try the new place out were quick to find out how good of a baker Chris really was, it felt like there was some kind of secret ingredient that made it, he had actually gone to culinary school abroad. The customer bases for the two businesses split off in two, there was one half that preferred the familiar and traditional style of Oliver and the other that preferred the bold and exotic style of Chris.

When Lenoir was setting up to open its doors, Oliver decided to go see his new rival. He had heard a lot of gossip about the new guy and as a result, had created an image of the man in his head, specifically, he envisioned him as posh and arrogant, a person raised in high class that looks down on people. But when he finally met him he was surprised, instead of the chic artsy fellow he imagined, the person who greeted him was a smiling, pudgy, brown-haired man, the same height and age as him, who greeted him with such positivity and friendliness, Oliver almost thought that that couldn’t be him.

“Are you Chris?”

“Ah yes, and you must be Oliver. I heard about you, you’re another baker, right? It’s so nice to meet you.” He said it all with a big grin on his face and he went in for a friendly hug.

Oliver obliged but still confused by the interaction. 

This must be a trick he thought. He wasn’t going to accept that their relationship will be anything but fierce competition. And so Oliver continued to act coldly or straight up ignore Chris whenever he got the chance. It wasn’t like they even met that often but still, Oliver tried to express bitterness towards Chris, but despite his constant efforts, Chris seemed totally oblivious towards his negativity, even though Oliver thought that this was just an of Chis making himself seem like he is taking the high road, in reality, Chris just in a sense naive. He genuinely saw him as a friend, a friend who wasn’t that comfortable with showing affection but a friend nonetheless. 

The holidays bring with them fine business for the bakeries and in this area, Oliver specializes, he knows exactly how to make people feel nostalgic during this time, and gets a big lead over Chris. This makes Oliver quite confident, so he decided to pay Chris after he closes a visit just so he could suddenly rub it in his face.

It was quite cold, it was snowing big beautiful snowflakes, the kind that if you look closely enough you could see their individual shape. Chris was hanging up some decorations as Oliver made his way through the door, Oliver was surprised by the amount of decorating done to the place, it was very clear that Chris took the aesthetics of the holidays very seriously.

“We’re closed,” said Chris before he had the chance to turn around and see Oliver.

“Oh, hey Oliver, come on in.”

“I like what you've done with the place.”

“Thanks, I want everything up by tomorrow. I still have a lot of work to do”

Oliver is surprised, “I think it’s enough as it is. Wouldn’t it be too much?”

Chris stepped down from the chair he used to elevate himself and gave Oliver a handshake, as he learned that hugs aren’t really his thing.

“You’re really sweaty. How long have you been putting these up.”

For some reason, Oliver didn’t feel like bullying Chris as he intended.

“Well I started as soon as I closed and I hadn’t had a break since.”

“You know what, we should go outside, it’s really hot in here. It feels like a sauna.”

Oliver said nervously. He couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Sure let me just grab my coat.”

They walked together as most of the lights coming from the buildings had started to turn off.

“I’m kind of surprised that you want to talk to me, sometimes it feels like you don’t really like me,” admitted Chris.

“Well, I just guess I’m just not a talkative person.”

Oliver started to feel bad for how he treated him.

“Hey, I never asked you, how are you adapting, do you like it here. I know you've been here for more than a year but-” Oliver hadn’t had the chance to finish the question before Chis answered

“I’m doing fine, it’s really nice here, people are friendly. But I do kinda feel alone at times.”

“How so?

Chirs started explaining how he didn't seem to form any real connection with the people he knew, most of the friends he made in Luwle seemed to be either too polite and not affectionate enough or totally disinterested. Oliver was very moved by this and also surprised, he always thought that Chris was thriving here.

“Well I have to go finish the decorations, it was nice talking to you.”

“Yeah, you wanna talk some other time. We can go out for coffee if you want.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

“If you want I can help you with the decorations, that way you would be done faster.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. But I think I have it all under control, it shouldn’t be more than a fifteen-minute job.”

“If you say so.”

At that moment Oliver was shocked to realize that he had been holding Chirs’ hand, he wasn’t sure for how long it could have started a few seconds ago or maybe even the whole conversation. He quickly pulled it back. Chris had also not noticed, it was only when Oliver pulled back that he did. He was as confused as Oliver. But still not totally opposed to it.

“Well, I'm going now, make sure not to forget about that coffee.”

“Yeah, bye.”

Both of them acted as if nothing happened, and went in separate directions and both with the same thing on their mind.

The coffee date was delayed a couple of times, both of them had very busy schedules this time of year and they couldn’t agree on any day, except for one snowy day like that night, it was in the middle of the morning, Chris was sitting patiently in the coffee shop waiting for Oliver who seemed to be late. Just as Chris thought that something might have come up with Oliver and that he wouldn't be able to make it, he came through the door.

Chris was excited to see him, his heart racing as he got up, he knew why he felt that way but still wasn’t even sure if Oliver felt the same. 

Oliver when he saw him, his body made another unconscious decision this time he uncomfortably stretched out his arms, Chris took this as a sign that he wants a hug, and both men awkwardly embraced each other.

They had their coffee along with a lumbersome conversation. They decided to take a walk in the park and found a bench. It was a little moist from the snow but it didn’t bother them.

“This has been really fun, I wanna do this more often when are you next available?” said Oliver.

“I don’t know, I’m leaving tomorrow to visit my family for Christmas, I’ll be gone for almost a week.”

“Oh.” It hurt Oliver, he knew that visiting his family was more important but he still had so many feelings towards Chris. 

“But I’ll call you as soon as I get back, ok.”

“Ok,” a deafening silence came as none of them knew what to say.

“I think I have to go now.” Oliver finally said.

“Me too,” said Chris in the same depressed tone.

“Hey.” In a sudden burst of emotion, Oliver said “Can I hug you one last time before you go.”

Chris didn’t even say anything he just immediately grabbed Oliver. They embraced each other for some time, what was maybe 10 seconds felt like bliss to the two men, Chris ran his fingers through the short blond hair of the back of Oliver's head and Oliver had one hand on Chris’ rugged coat and another feeling the warm skin of his neck. With each passing second, the hug grew tighter until they were cheek to cheek. They let go Very slowly with much hesitation, at that moment as they stared into each others’ eyes both of them knew exactly what the other person was thinking and they knew each other better than ever before. A passionate but short kiss is what they ended on as they separated for the day.

Time passed, Chris came back and both of them confessed their love of each other, leading to a wonderful romance, they eventually got married and decided to join bakeries, living their lives together as business partners and as lovers.