Chapter 1: A New Start

Draven had always been a driven individual, ever since he was a young boy.

Raised in opulence with parents who were formidable entrepreneurs, they had instilled in him the same principles of success that they lived by. They taught him that the most important thing in life wasn't success itself. It was doing what he loved the most. In every moment, he should enjoy doing his job and not curse it out with regret. After all, it was something that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Driven to fulfill their aspirations for him, Draven followed his heart and became an esteemed chef.

Even though his parents had always been his idols, there was always a special place in Draven's heart reserved for his beloved grandmother, Maya.

"Draven, dear, did you have your lunch yet? It will get cold," Maya reminded Draven, who just smiled in return.

Her tenderness and warm-heartedness captivated him, along with her lifelong dream of owning a flower shop. Even as his mother expanded her event planning business, Maya stuck with her cozy flower business, remaining satisfied with just supplying the required flowers for the events. He admired Maya for sticking with her dream till the end and not getting swayed by something bigger.

"I will have it a bit late, Grandma," he replied to her. "Let me finish going through the new orders once."

As soon as he had assumed control of the family holdings, he also assumed the responsibility of helping Maya continue living her dream. It was a sad truth that she was getting older day by day. It wasn't as easy to do what she loved now.

"Okay, let me get some rest then. My frozen shoulder is bothering me." Maya winced a bit as she tried to move her left arm. "Why isn't Mysa here yet? She was supposed to make me do those hand exercises. It helps me a lot."

"I'll call her if she doesn't come soon. Don't worry," Draven assured her, so she nodded and went to her room.

As Draven was going through the new orders at the shop, he heard a loud buzzing coming from his phone, signaling an incoming call.

A delighted smile spread across his face when he saw who was calling.

Draven settled into a nearby couch and answered the call.

"Hey, Flora! How is everything?" he tried to sound as normal as he could, not wanting to give away how giddy he actually was.

Flora's voice was warm over the phone as she responded, "Everything is good, Draven. Just a bit busy with work."

Draven couldn't help but notice the excitement in Flora's voice as she started to speak about her flourishing career.

"That's great to hear. So, how's the shoot going?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation light and casual. Even after all these years, he still couldn't talk to Flora properly out of hesitation.

"It's going really well, actually," Flora said, excitement radiating from her voice. "They have this amazing set and the lighting is just perfect. I'm really excited about this shoot. My partner is also amazing. He and I clicked the first time we talked, can you believe that?"

Draven couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Not because of her bonding with her partner, but because he wished he could be there with her, to see her in action, and to support her. But he knew that his own work was important, too. So he pushed those negative feelings aside and replied sincerely, "That sounds awesome, Flora. I'm really happy for you."

Flora chuckled on the other end of the line as she spoke, "Thanks, Draven. You're always so sweet."

With that, Draven continued staring at his phone screen as Flora spoke to him. He could hear her talk for hours, but when it was his time to share, he just kept it short. He was afraid of blabbering something that would ruin his perfect image.

He had always been in love with Flora, ever since they were kids. But he never had the courage to tell her how he felt, afraid that she would turn him down for the sake of focusing on her career. Besides, he didn't want to be the reason behind derailing her laser focus from her career, either.

Flora suddenly paused her story mid-sentence. "Draven, I have to go. I have a shoot to attend. Can we continue this later?"

Draven felt a wave of sadness roll over him as he reluctantly said his goodbyes and hung up the phone. No matter how much he wanted to be with Flora, he knew that her career always took precedence. Plus, the fact they didn't live in the same city was of no help, either.

Dejected and defeated, Draven decided to wander around his Grandma's flower shop like a ghost for solace. He already started missing Flora's voice.

As he was arranging flowers, a young woman walked in—beautiful with sparkling blonde hair and mysterious gray eyes.

"Hey, Draven," she said, accompanied by a mischievous smirk. "What are you doing here at this hour? Has your surly boss driven you away from work?"

He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. Mysa Fabiona had been his dearest friend since they were kids, and their bond had only gotten stronger as time passed. She always poked fun at him, but he knew, deep down in her heart, that she genuinely treasured him as a friend. Her manner of expressing her affection was to tease him.

He jokingly narrowed his eyes on her. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Nope. If you had that much free time on your hands, you'd probably come to bug me all the time," she said as though the idea annoyed her.

Draven's smile widened. "Well, then, until I'm not out of my job, I'll just have to come to annoy you during your reading time."

"Don't even think about it," she warned him, her eyes narrowing. "I'll hit you with the heaviest book I can find."He laughed. "Not kidding," she added with a flat look, but he continued laughing.

He chuckled. "Sure you will."

"Now, will you tell me what brings you here at this time?" she inquired with a hand resting on her hip.

"Fortunately for you, I didn't get kicked out of my job. I alternated my afternoon shift for the morning one just for today so that I could help out Grandma," Pointing to Maya, he continued speaking, "We're a bit shorthanded today, so I thought I'd give a helping hand. However, I'm only here for a couple more hours." His main shift started at six in the evening, after all. Mysa knew that well, so he didn't need to explain.

Then he said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "By the way, what about you? Why are you here?"

Despite knowing why she was here, he pretended to not know. Mysa told Maya to not tell Draven that Mysa was teaching her some hand exercises to help her. Otherwise, he would end up teasing Mysa about how she knew about this and if she was having the same problem or not.

"Just thought I would drop by Maya's place after class and have some snacks together," she said with a casual shrug.

"So how have classes been lately? Enjoying them?"

Mysa was pursuing her Master's in computer science and had never lost the top spot in any of her classes.

"Yes, they are okay," she responded curtly.

Draven watched Mysa walk around the shop, admiring the flowers.

The shop was simple, painted pale yellow with black trim and dormer windows on the roof. Iron racks held bouquets of fresh flowers for sale, and satin ribbons and lace wrapped their stems. The air smelled like lilacs and roses.

After a bit of time, Mysa looked at Draven. "Any new developments in the romance department?" she asked with a sly expression on her face. She began to help him sort through the flowers.

Draven's cheeks flushed a rosy pink, almost matching the color of the flowers in the corner of the shop.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, not meeting her gaze. His cheeks burned as he admitted, "I don't know. I'm not very experienced in this... dating stuff. But I think it was going okay. Was just catching up with Flora until a few minutes ago."

Mysa grinned. "That's great news. How have things been with your cooking blog lately?"

A bright flame ignited in Draven's gaze as he talked about his work. "It's doing amazing! I just reached five million followers on my social media, and their reactions have been mind-blowing," he declared, beaming. For a while now he had been releasing cooking videos, and they were proving to be a great success.

Mysa was ecstatic for her friend, her face lit up like a sunflower in bloom. "That's wonderful news, Draven! You should be so proud of yourself!"

"Speaking of being proud, I know you started that new internship a while ago. How is it going?" Draven inquired. "Do you like the job?"

Mysa's smile faded away while she talked about the grind of doing the same thing day in and day out. "I don't know if I can take it much longer," she said sadly.

Draven moved closer to her and gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. "You don't have to stay there any longer if it's not making you happy," he said compassionately.

Mysa looked up at him in amazement; the thought of leaving had never crossed her mind before. Her head shook tremulously, and she said fearfully, "I'm not sure I can leave the internship... this is all I have."

He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and grinned reassuringly. "You'll be fine," he whispered soothingly. "If you believe it can be done, anything is possible." His words surrounded and enveloped her like a warm hug, calming the panicked state of her heart.

Mysa's mouth curled up into a grateful smile. "Thank you so much, Draven," she said to him.

Suddenly, something Flora had mentioned earlier that day came to Draven's mind and he suddenly lit up. "Oh! I almost forgot to say!" His voice was filled with excitement as he addressed Mysa. "Flora is coming here in three days for some filming. She asked us to drop by the set and watch her work. Do you want to come along with me?"

Mysa's face lit up with enthusiasm. "Of course, that sounds so amazing! I can't wait."

Draven grinned, delighted to have something to look forward to with his two favorite people.

All of a sudden, Mysa's eyes fell on the plate filled with food on the coffee table. "Is that your lunch?"

He followed her gaze and bit his tongue. "Oh, yes. Grandma told me to eat, but I forgot."

"I cannot believe you, Draven. You are a chef yourself, but you are so careless when it comes to eating. Do you only like to see others enjoy the food?" She walked toward the table and took the plate. "Here, take it, you idiot."

"Hey, you are the idiot. I'm not!" he protested immediately as he took the plate. He took a spoonful of noodles and was about to eat, but Mysa slapped his hand lightly.

"This is why you are an idiot. It's cold now. You hate cold food!" she rebuked. "Go and heat it."

"Okay, okay." He took the plate and marched to the kitchen until something struck in his mind. "Hey, Mysa?"

"Now what?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Grandma was looking for you. So, you should go and meet her."

Mysa nodded and walked to Maya's room. She knocked politely. Sensing it was Mysa, Maya told her to come in.

"How are you?" Mysa went and hugged Maya.

"I am angry at you," Maya glared at her.

"Why?" she pouted. "I am sorry for being late. There was this annoying work and I—"

Immediately, Maya burst into laughter, unable to pull it off for much longer. "Come and help me do those exercises now. It's doing wonders for my health. It's literally like those exercises you made me do which healed my legs and I was able to get rid of that troublesome wheelchair."

"Sometimes, along with medicines, a proper amount of exercise done with love—is the best combination to heal someone," Mysa said with a smile and started doing her work.