Prologue - "The Original Plan"

"You can't be serious," Penelope Garcia muttered to herself as she clenched onto the ends of her shirt. The feeling of fear and worry overcame her whole body as those words rang repeatedly in her head. "You need to test it again!"

"Miss Garcia, we did a blood test. It's as accurate as it can be." The doctor start looking through some of the paperwork for her to sign. "If you could sign on this piece of paper, we can schedule an appointment and - " She glanced up at the sound of the chair screeching against the wooden floor and Penelope rushing out of her office. "Miss Garcia!"

Penelope Garcia could never imagine that something like this would happen to her. She had her whole life planned. She had just graduated from baking school, she was supposed to start an intern job at a local bakery. Why is this happening to her? Her plan is being destroyed before she could actually start on it. Feeling confused and dizzy, she clenched onto the pole next to her as she breathed heavily. Her eyes squinted against the bright sunlight, the sounds of cars beeping continuously at other cars were too blaring. As soon as it was clear to cross the street, she started running. She's screaming on the inside as she ran without a single thought.

"Mommy?" Penelope blinked her eyes back to reality with her hand clenching onto the handle of a pan and the sounds of the eggs cooking made her realize that she was remembering the past again. She turned to glance down at her little boy, Jensen. "Mommy, why am I going to the daycare today?"

She smiled as she placed the eggs, toast and bacon onto a plate. "Today is my first official day at work." Penelope exhaled deeply as she picked Jensen up and placed him onto his seat. Sliding the plate of food in front of him, she ran her hand through his hair to fix it. "It'll be my first day as an intern," a soft smile forms on her face as she watched her son eat. "I'm a bit nervous. Do you think I'll do okay?"

"Yeah." He clenched onto his plastic cup of orange juice with two hands since he couldn't handle the balance of it with one hand. "You always work hard."

Penelope laughed. "You're so sweet." She exhaled deeply before checking the time on her watch. As soon as Jensen finishes his breakfast, she has time to drop him off at daycare before heading over to the new workplace. After taking six years off to work part time at a local diner to help support Jensen when he was baby, she is finally able to start the plan that she originally had. Her life is finally starting to get together after six years of pending the plan. It's more than being nervous, it's the fact that she not only has to work for her own but also her child. Having him was unexpected and she did freak out that year when she found out from the doctor. She kept cursing at herself for being so stupid and careless but when she gave birth and looked at her son for the first time. That's when she knew that she wouldn't change anything in the world than for that one moment - the moment Jensen was wrapped in her arms in the hospital room. "Come on baby," she picked him out of his seat and grabbed his backpack. "Time for daycare."

. . .

She halted her steps and looked up at the building in front of her, she breathed in and out slowly as she shake her hands on the sides, trying to shake off this nervous feeling may never work but she would like to believe it does for now. Penelope slowly made her way over to the reception desk, staring at the old woman. "My name is Penelope Garcia and I am here for my first day as an intern. It's for - "

"Delicate Bakery & Co." The old woman glanced up from her nails as she pointed over to the hallway where the elevators are. "Fourth floor. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Excuse me?" Penelope doesn't quite understand what she meant by those words.

The old woman scoffed as she looked at her. "You're the sixth intern this month. Being an employee for a company like Delicate Bakery won't be easy. You do realize how big this business is, right? It's not just cakes and cookies."

"Ah, I see." Penelope knit her eyebrows and held onto her hands tightly. "Thanks for the warning." Making her way over to the elevators, she pressed the button for the fourth floor. Those words aren't helping her nerves at all.

Delicate Bakery & Co isn't just a simple company that sells cakes and cookies. The development of the company dates back to only four years ago. Even being a fairly new company, it has managed to be the number one company that people trust and love for their future weddings or any other special events. They always make a racking amount of millions a year due to the high priced pastries. Important people all over the world entrust their events with this company because they provide the best deal. In this one building, it's separated as a corporate building and a bakery. The internship that Penelope will be working is for the bakery. As far as she knows, she is the one that will handle the phone calls, orders paperwork and such for the bakery. Her dream job, the ending goal of her plan from six years ago - it's to be considered as one of the best top tier bakers in the world. It's far-fetched dream but with the thought of Jensen being taken care of and happy, it'll be her motivation. The elevator door opened and her jaw almost literally dropped on the floor. It's so beautiful. It's everything she has imagined to be working at since graduating from baking school.

"You must be Penelope Garcia," a young lady who was holding onto a chart in her hand looked at her up and down with a slight frown expression on her face. "Aren't you a bit old to be an intern?"

"I'm twenty-seven years old," the expression on the young lady's face answered the prejudice that Penelope knew people would have on older woman who are interns. "Yes, I can be considered as too old as an intern. I will definitely work hard no matter what."

"Relax," the young lady said as she started walking, indicating for her to follow with. "Save those words for the actual boss. I'm Lynda Bryan, the assistant of this floor. Each floor has a different assistant by the way, you will need to memorize the rest of the names for future problems." She halted her steps and opened the door to an incredibly massive office. "This is Delicate Bakery & Co's CEO office. Yes, I know. CEO's offices are usually located on top of the buildings. You can say that our boss is a bit unique. He wanted to be near the process of planning and making the pastries as much as possible."

"He sounds dedicated." Penelope said softly as she looked around the office with wide eyes. Someone actually works in this office? It's as if it'll take 500 steps to reach the other end of the office.

Lynda snickered. "Dedicated? That's an interesting word to describe him. He is currently in a brief meeting, he'll be in here in a few minutes. You should sit down and wait for him. CEO will discuss what he expects from you. Once your discussion is done, I'll come back in and show you around." She started heading toward the door but then slowly stopped. "Miss Garcia, I wish you good luck."

"Thanks."

"Oh, I really mean it. Just a bit of a FYI, three of the six interns that came in for the first day of work got fired as soon as the discussion was done." Lynda shrugged his shoulders and briefly smile, the kind of smile you automatically know isn't sincere whatsoever. "Hopefully you won't be the fourth."

Penelope exhaled deeply as the door closed and the nerves in her body immediately escalated. She tried to look for the name on the desk but it's nowhere. Would it be rude to take out her phone to do a quick search? She had assumed that she would be working under a manager so she didn't really do research on the actual CEO. Her hands froze in her pockets when the door opened and a man in a suit walked into the office. His hair was styled to the side, a rough beard covered his face, his chocolate brown eyes stared back at her as the doors shut behind him. "Penelope?"

Despair and shock ran through her spin as she stared at him. This can't be happening, this can't be happening to her right now. Not at the moment where she finally started her life - her plan again. Her hands began shaking again, this time not due to the nerves but to feeling of hatred and anger overcoming her. Penelope is staring at the man across the room who has halted her plans six years ago. "Luke Alvez..." she muttered under her breath as tears brimmed against her eyes.