Chapter Two
Hilde's heart swelled with immense happiness as she opened the doors to the bakery. Heavenly light sailed through the large glass windows, dancing on the tables' surface and tile floor. Hilde too felt like dancing, and so she did; She danced about the bakery, absorbing her surroundings: The warm colors of the bakery's walls, the counter with the display case— where sweet baked delights would be placed—and the best of all was the kitchen!
Ah yes the kitchen, she thought, so shiny and steely. This kitchen was large and lovely and filled with machines. Machines, Hilde suddenly realized she didn't know how to use. She picked one up. It looked like it was meant to twirl something or other. As Hilde contemplated what that something or other was, the door to her bakery opened and two people entered.
One person called out, "Hello, is there anyone there!"
There was, so Hilde answered, "Yes, there is." She set the whatever back on the counter and walked out of the kitchen. Hilde was surprised at who she saw. Her unexpected guests were equally surprised. "Relena. Heero," she sputtered, "What are you guys doing here?"
Relena smoothed out an invisible wrinkle in her navy blue suit. Then she looked about, seemingly confused. "Isn't this Aunty's Sweets Bakery?"
Hilde nodded.
Relena stepped towards her. "Hilde, are you Aunty?"
Hilde shook her head. "I'm afraid she's passed away."
"How sad," she said.
Hilde knew Relena was unaware that the previous owner was her aunt, but she was still touched by Relena's great sympathy. "It is sad, es…"
"Especially, since I was hoping to answer the help wanted ad," Relena said.
"Wha?" Hilde hadn't put a help wanted ad out; even if she had, why would Relena want a job here? "Relena don't you have a job as Earth's prime minister?"
"It's not for me," Relena said smiling. Then, turning to Heero, who was but an inch away from her, Relena frowned, "It's for him."
"You want Heero to work here?" She wasn't sure if Heero had a job, but Hilde couldn't imagine him working in a bakery. She looked at him wearing his blue jeans, a dark blue jacket and his notorious scowl—oh yeah and that icy glare—and thought, definitely not bakery material.
Without warning, Relena sprung forward and clasped Hilde's hands and pleaded, "Hilde, please, oh please, give him a job! Heero has numerous abilities. I'm sure he'll be useful."
Hilde step back, releasing her hands from Relena's clasp. "I'm sure Heero's abilities are numerous, but somehow I doubt they include baking cookies and frosting cakes. I'm sorry."
Relena, however, refused to accept defeat. "Heero," Relena said, with a tone of a general. "I have a mission for you." She stood in front of Heero, whose face remained indifferent; But, inwardly, Relena knew he was eager to hear his mission. "You will procure a job at this establishment—by any means necessary—and continue to work here, until given orders to do otherwise."
Heero cocked an eyebrow as he asked, "By any means necessary?"
"Yes," Relena said.
Hilde didn't like this "any means necessary" business. "Now just wait a minute!"
"Mission accepted," Heero said. He then sped past an anxious Hilde into the bakery's kitchen.
"Where's he going?" Hilde shouted to Relena. Panic rising, she grabbed Relena and shook her fiercely. "Stop him!"
Relena kept an imperturbable demeanor despite having been violently shaken. She calmly said, "The mission has begun. There's no stopping Heero now."
Hilde looked to the kitchen and the terrible thought of Heero doing things—horrible things—in her kitchen tormented her. Before she could muster the courage to enter the kitchen and stop the atrocities, surely being committed, the door to the bakery opened and two people walked in. "Catherine. Trowa," Hilde said. While Hilde was surprised to see them, she was more surprised to see them wearing their circus outfits. "Did you guys drive here in that get up?"
Catherine wondered why Hilde and Relena were here, but felt such wonderings should be set aside; After all, it would be rude not to answer the question asked of her. "Of course we didn't drive here like this. We walked. Better publicity. Here's a flyer and be sure to stop by."
"Is this why you guys are here. Publicity," Hilde asked, folding the flyer up and stuffing it into her jeans back pocket.
Catherine looked sadly at Trowa as she said, "Yes and I've come to find Trowa here a job. You see, he's been fired."
"But why," Hidle and Relena asked.
"Trowa unintentionally scared some of our customers off," Catherine said.
"How," Hilde asked.
"Well, he stared," she said.
Hilde and Relena's gaze fell on Trowa, who was indeed staring at them both. A shiver slivered up their spines.
"Can't he stop staring," Hilde asked.
Catherine shook her head. "Trowa says if they stare at him, then he must stare back. I respect his decision. I'm trying to get the ringmaster to understand. Until then, I've come to ask Aunty to give Trowa here a job."
"I own this establishment now," Hilde said.
Catherine's face lit up. "Well, that is terrific. Since we're all such good friends, you'll hire him for sure."
They were okay friends, Hilde had to admit. Every now and then Duo and she would drop by the circus when it was in town, and after the show, they would all meet up and say hi and then bye. It was because of this okay friendship, that Hilde found great difficulty in saying, "I'll die before I hire him.Die!"
Catherine lowered her head, dejected, and said, "I thought we were friends."
Relena placed a comforting hand on Catherine's shoulder. "Come on Hilde," she said. "You already gave Heero a job."
"No I didn't," Hilde declared, frustrated by these unwanted visitors. In her opinion, It was high time that they all see themselves out. Hilde was about to say just this when a burning smell filled her nostrils. Immediately, she turned towards the kitchen. A tidal wave of fear washed over her as she dashed into the smoke filled kitchen. What she saw was beyond gruesome; flour, milk, chocolate chips and egg yolk were splattered on the counters and walls. Hilde was sure she'd seen a similar scene on the cover of some murder mystery novel, and it was no mystery here as to who had done it: Heero!
Relena and Catherine entered behind Hilde, while Trowa stayed behind staring—just staring.
Heero walked over to them with a cookie filled tray. "Try one."
Hilde smacked the tray from Heero's hands and the cookies fell to the floor.
Relena gasped. "Hilde how could you do that?"
"They're burnt," Hilde said.
Relena knelt down and picked one up. "Don't you know? These cookies were made with Heero's feelings."
"Then I definitely don't want to eat them," Hilde said.
Relena clutched the cookie to her heart. "You can't judge a cookie by its cover," Relena said. "I'm sure this cookie is warm and kind like the person who baked them." She bit into the cookie and chewed and chewed and chewed and… vomited!
"My shoes," Hilde cried. "That's it. I've had it with you all. I'm going to the bathroom and when I get back, all of you had better be gone." Hilde rushed from the kitchen into the restroom to salvage what she could of her shoes and prayed the annoying group of people—she wish she didn't know—were gone.
o
When Hilde left the restroom, she was delighted to find them gone; However, her bright mood soon darkened as she remembered the disastrous mess in the kitchen, which she had no hand in making; But she would, nevertheless, have to clean up. Slowly, she trudged toward the kitchen, heaving exasperated sighs all the way there.
However, when she pushed open the swinging doors, Hilde's sighs became surprised gasps. The kitchen was clean—absolutely spotless. The kitchen was even more steely and shiny than when she'd first entered it. Who did this? Relena wouldn't dare dirty her expensive new suit and Catherine never cleaned. Did Heero and Trowa? No! Even if they had, she'd only been in the bathroom for maybe ten minutes tops. No one could have clean up that mess in such a short span of time? Or had she underestimated the abilities of the gundam pilots? Could they actually be, dare she think it, useful? Had she made a mistake in not hiring them? Could Hilde have been, dare she think it, wrong?
o
These questions plagued her as she turned out the lights and locked up; as she got into her car and drove home; as she climbed to two flights of stairs and reached her apartment door. These questions screamed in her mind, but one, more than the others, refused to be silenced: Had she been wrong?
Hilde searched through her purse for the apartment's key all the while searching for the answer. She looked down at her shoes, previously splattered with vomit—compliments from Heero's burnt cookies—and thought, no.
She'd done the right thing by not hiring them. With her mind at ease, Hilde found the key and pushed it into the lock, but before she could turn the knob, the door swung open.
"Welcome home, Hilde," Heero said.
His voice was emotionless and his face was expressionless, but Hilde could tell he was pleased about something. While she should have been surprised by his sudden appearance, Hilde wasn't. Relena's words "by any means necessary" were not forgotten. Not by her and clearly not by Heero. She'd find out what Heero was up to, but first she'd speak to the person who'd foolishly let him in. "Where's Duo," Hilde asked.
"Here I am," Duo said, bouncing over to the two and placing an arm around Heero's shoulders. "You're late so dinner is cold."
Heero removed Duo's arm and added, "Revenge is a dish best served cold."
"Too bad we're not having that for dinner." Duo laughed and placed an arm around Heero once more. "Oh, Heero. You and your jokes."
Hilde wasn't in the mood for jokes and she hated her dinner cold. "What is he doing here?" Hilde watched a smile light Heero's eyes as she asked this question, and Hilde knew she wouldn't like the answer.
"They live here," Duo answered.
She hated the answer. "Heero is not living..wait a minute! Did you say they." Hilde zoomed past them into the living room where she found Trowa quietly reading a novel titled Tears of a Clown. The novel must have been pretty emotional, Hilde thought, because a tear slid down his cheek.
"What's this," Trowa said as he felt his wet cheek. He turned to Hilde and asked, "Are these tears."
"Yes," Hilde said. And you'll be shedding plenty more, she thought, once I kick you both out onto the cold dark streets.
Duo came up behind Hilde and twirled her around, so they faced each other. "Hilde, please let them stay." He pulled her into a hug and added another, "Please."
Hilde wanted to say no, but Duo was hugging her, and he was so… "Fine."
"They can stay," Duo said cheerfully, hugging her tighter.
"They can stay," Hilde said, blushing away.
Dairy Entry Two
I've been thinking of you, but I think I want more. I think I need more of you, my sweet Hilde.
-by anonymous