chapter 35 - Call me, Shane.

Lara's P.O.V. :

"Lara,...I need to tell you something." he said holding my hands in his.

"Tell me something? What?" I asked trying to read his facial expression. I could see his handsome face had an uncomfortable and uneasy expression plastered on it.

"Is everything alright?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah...it's just that I wanted to tell you something-something very important." He said and pulled me gently towards him by my waist which made me collide with his body. I could feel his perfectly structured abs under his T-shirt.

My hands automatically went up and settled on his broad chest. I could feel his heart beating loudly. My heartbeat was as loud as his.

"What do...you...want to...tell me..Mr. Adams?" I asked looking at my hands which were rested on his chest.

He made me look into his eyes by lifting my chin with his finger. I looked into his deep oceanic eyes. Can your eyes get any deeper?

His eyes had this intense look as if he was trying to read my eyes.

"Lara..." He said huskily

"I wanted to say that...that I-" he continued

"You what, Mr. Adams?" I asked, breathless.

"I...lov..."

"Wake up!" I heard a shrill voice.

I woke up startled and looked everywhere to see if I was in any kind of trouble but there stood my best friend Ash with my duvet in her hands and Angie looking at me concerned.

"Are you fine, Lara?" Angie asked, sitting beside me.

"Yes, I am fine. Why are you asking this to me?" I asked raising my eye brows.

"Because you were talking to the pillow, 'Tell me...' What were you dreaming about?" Ash asked with a smirk on her face

Shit...I was dreaming.

"Uh...oh...I..was dreaming...about Cara. Yeah I was scolding her in my dream because she ate many candies and she got cavities." I said trying to sound normal.

"Yeah, and I am Queen Victoria " Ash said folding her arms over her chest.

"Girl, don't even think of lying to me. Now spill all your secrets right now." Ash said sternly.

Shane's P.O.V. :

"Tell us what's bothering you." Jake asked, sitting in front of me on the sofa in his room.

I looked at him and took a deep breathe.

"What is the one thing you can never ever expect from me?" I asked looking down at nothing in particular

"You falling for a girl. " Jake said, without even thinking twice.

I looked up at his face with surprise.

This guy has done a PHD on me and my life.

"Uh...so..yeah..the unexpected has happened." I said slowly and looked everywhere but them.

Ian threw all the content of his mouth after hearing me. Jake looked at me shock with his mouth almost touching the floor.

"What?" Both the brothers stood up and asked at the same time.

What 'what' ?

Can't I fall for someone? Big deal!

I shrugged my shoulder

"Yes, you heard me right. I have...fallen." I said again but this time with a little amount of confidence

"Ian please punch me as hard as you could so that I am able to take in what Shane said right now." Jake said still not averting his eyes from me

"I need it too brother. Even I can't take in." Ian said looking at me

"Guys, don't over react." I said rolling my eyes

"We are not over reacting Shane. You...The Shane Adams has fallen for someone. It's a news. Not just a news..it's The Breaking News." Jake said as he sat in front of me on the low table

"Yes, brother. How? When?" Ian asked sitting beside me

"And more importantly, Who?" Jake added

This question made me shiver, shiver with excitement. Even when her name strikes my mind, it directly affects my heart and it starts beating like anything. What have you done to me, Ms. Jones? I smiled at my stupid question. As if she knows what she has done to me. But whatever it is, I am glad that it has happened to me.

"Tell us everything, Shane. Who's the girl who has managed to make the impossible thing possible?" Jake asked raising his eye brows in interest. Ian as well looked at me with interest

I cleared my throat and looked at them nervously.

"The person I have fallen for is..."

Lara's P.O.V. :

"...is...Mr. Adams." I said and hid my face with the pillow.

"Oh my god! Girllll, are you serious? Omg, omg, I can't believe this. Someone pinch me please. My best friend has fallen in love for the first time and with the person she didn't like at all. I am so happy for you, Lary." Ash said jumping up and down like a kid

"I knew that you both had something. Congrats Lara." Angie said and hugged me.

"Uh...but now what? What am I supposed to do now?" I asked nervously

They both rolled their eyes and looked at me mischievously

"Guys...you are scaring me." I said looking at both of them.

"Just go and tell him. Confess to him Lara." Angie said holding my hands in hers

"Confess to him? No ways. Never." I said without even thinking twice

I have never done this confessing thing. I can't do this. I don't wanna ruin anything that is between us.

"But why?" Ash asked annoyed

"Because I don't want Mr. Shane to hate me. It's not easy. And moreover he is not interested in me. He doesn't like me in a romantic way. He just thinks of me as a merry friend. " I said sadly

"How do you know? Have you asked him? Has he said anything of that sort to you? Stop assuming things on your own Lary." Ash said rolling her eyes

"And who knows, maybe..maybe he likes you too..in a romantic way." Angie said hopefully

"Do you think so?" I asked getting a little bit of positive vibes

"We know so!" Both Angie and Ash exclaimed together

"Okay, I'll confess my feelings for him on the night of the party." I said with determination in my voice.

"I am so happy for you Lary. Finally, you've fallen in love." Ash squealed happily and hugged me making us fall on the bed. We all ended up laughing

*******

"Flour?"

"Checked."

"Baking soda, baking powder, eggs, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla essence?" I asked looking at the list of the ingredients

"Checked!" Ash said excitedly doing the final checking of the ingredients for the competition.

"Is everything ready?" Mr. Lee asked with tension filled voice.

He is really worried about the competition. Well, that's understandable though. For others it maybe just a merry competition but for Mr. Lee, it's his late sister's dream. I came to know through Shinn that he and his little sister used to bake while they were little kids. His sister wanted to take part in this competition and win but unfortunately before she could take part in this competition,  she died in a car accident and her dream unfulfilled. This is the reason why he takes part in this competition every year and gives his 100% and wins. He wouldn't have been able to take part in the competition this year because of the those people who appealed to take part in a group. I swear I'll make them regret their decision of taking part in the competition.

"Yes, everything is up to the point, Mr. Lee..." Ash told bringing out of my thoughts.

"...don't worry Mr. Lee. We will win...For sure." I said smiling at him.

He smiled slightly and then tied his apron around his waist.

"Let's do this!" He said with determination and we did a group hug.

We all tied our aprons as well.

******

"Today, we have three groups of people participating in this annual baking competition..." The head judge of the competition said in the mike

"Let's welcome Team A..." He said and the curtains opened revealing Mr. Lee, me, Ash and Angie. Everyone in the audience clapped their hands and welcomed us actively.

"Let's welcome Team B..." He said and the curtains opened revealing the second team. Team B had all the Chinese girls of around my age and above in it. Looking at them made wonder whether they were here for baking competition  or for any kind fashion show. They all waved their hands elegantly and bowed to the judges and the audiences in totally barbie way.

"Really? You sure that it's a baking competition?" Ash asked sarcastically looking at them raising her eye brow.

"Shhh.." I shushed her and clapped for them along with others.

"Are they the one who insisted on taking part in a group?" Angie asked in whisper.

"No. They were men not girls." Mr. Lee said

"Oh..so Team C is our real competitors." Ash said cracking her knuckles.

"By the way, where are your boyfriends?" I asked teasingly

Ash and Angie blushed. Yep, now my once single friends aren't single any more.

"We don't know. We've been contacting them since morning but they aren't picking up our calls." Ash said trying to hide her blush

"By the way...where's your husband?" Ash asked and both of them started pulling my cheeks, teasingly..

"Girls..." I said blushing

"I don't know where he is. He didn't even return to the room yesterday." I said sadly

"Oh my poor baby." Angie said and caressed my shoulder encouragingly

Where is he? I haven't seen him since last night. I want to see him, listen to his cold voice, touch him...hug and...kiss him. I blushed at my own thoughts.

Get a grip on your emotions, Lara. This is not the right time and place to think about these things. Focus! I scolded myself

"Now, let us welcome our last but not the least group, Team C.." The judge announced

Let's see who are these people..

Everyone clapped along with us when the curtains started opening.

We waited anxiously for the curtains to open fully so that we could see our main competitors.

Finally the curtains opened completely and our eyes widened as our mouth touched the ground.

"Mr. Adams?"

"Jake..."

"Ian...?"

"Enlai?"

Shane's P.O.V. :

The curtains opened and we were finally able to see everyone and vice versa. We were least interested in looking at our competitors and the group of the surgeon. We only wanted to see the reactions of the girls. I mean we are doing all this for them right? So without giving a glance at our competitors, all three of us started searching for the girls in the audience but we couldn't find them.

"Where is she?" I asked still trying my luck in finding Ms. Jones sitting at some corner in the audience but I couldn't find.

"Shane..." I felt a pat on my shoulder.

I turned around to look at the person.

"What happened, Jake?" I asked a bit irritated

He was looking straight with his mouth slightly open. He pointed towards something or maybe someone. I followed his hand's direction and got the biggest shock of my life.

What the....

"What is Ms. Jones doing on the stage? Why is she in apron? And why the hell is she standing with that surgeon?" I asked loudly in particular to no one.

Everyone looked at me including the audiences because of my yelling

"Shh...Shane." Jake hit my shoulder

Ms. Jones was looking at me with raised eye brows and crossed arms.

Shit..shit...

She was giving me a questioning look and so was I. But I was more of shocked than confused. Is she and the girls his group mates?

help me. Someone help me please.

Why? Why is she helping him when she should be sitting in the audience and cheering for me?

As if she knew you were going to take part in the competition. My conscience mocked

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Ian whisper asked

"Exactly, we took Part in this competition to impress the girls but now...." Jake said disappointed

"Guys, we are The Adams and The Dormanns. We never loose hope. We will do what we have planned to do. That is, we will win this competition. We will show that surgeon his place. We will show our girls that we are far more better than him. We are not backing out." I said determined.

"Yes, and I need to show Lee that I am better without him." We heard Enlai say from behind. We all turned our heads to look at him. He was burning with anger. Why? Better without Lee?

"What do you mean?" We all asked at the same time.

"Nothing. Let's do this. We need to win this competition at any cost." He said and then said something in Chinese under his breath. What's with him?

We all tightened the dark blue aprons around our waists which showed our perfectly structured abs.

We heard some 'awes' and 'woos' from our right side. We a group of four Chinese girls who I suppose were our third competitors drooling over us.

Why can't she drool over me like them?

You like her because she is not like other girls who drool over you..duh. And my mind mocked again.

I looked at her and the other three, one final time. I found them already looking at us challenging. They looked determined and confident.

" guys we are in deep trouble." I said to my boys without averting my eyes from her.

"Yes, brother." They both agreed with me

*******

"Now only last 20 minutes is left for the competition to get over..." The anchor announced through the micro phone.

"Enlai is our cake all done?" I asked taking a look at our three story chocolate fudge cake.

"Yes, almost done." He said decorating the cake with white candy pearls.

*******

"All the judges and the audiences have tasted all the three cakes and have cast their votes. We'll be announcing the results in 15 minutes." The anchor announced

"Can I ask what are you doing here in this competition?" I asked her crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't you think that this question is something which I should be asking you?" She said crossing her arms over her chest as well.

"Tell me why did you participate in this competition with that surgeon? "

I asked irritated

"Firstly, his name is Lee and secondly, it's none of your business. You don't have any rights to know why I participated in this competition." She said rolling her eyes and turning around to leave when I gripped her arm and pulled her with me to the back stage.

"What are you doing? Leave my hands." She said annoyed. She tried to free her hands from my grip but failed miserably. Sorry, but you can't escape  from my grip.

I pinned her to the wall and held her hands over her head. She struggled to escape but because obviously I was stronger than her, she couldn't escape.

"Now tell me why the fucking hell did you take part in this competition and that too with that good for nothing surgeon of yours?" I asked through gritted teeth. Flames were coming out of my ears and I was seeing red. This was the very first time she was really seeing my anger. She should know what happens when I loose my control over my temper because she is the one who'll have to handle me and my temper in the future.

She looked at me with fear filled eyes.

"Mr...Adams..." Her voice came as a whisper.

"Call me Shane." I said, in my dangerously calm voice.

"What?" she asked, shocked.

"Call me Shane, Lara." I said again.

"Shane..." she said my name for the first time and that was enough for me to claim her lips.

I kissed her like I had never before. The kiss was urgent and demanding. With the kiss, I wanted to tell her that I wanted her-I needed her.

After a lot of hesitation, she kissed me back. She dug her fingers inside my hair and needless to say, I was going crazy. I wanted all of her. But, I knew that it wasn't the right place and right time so, I ended the kiss.

As we parted from the kiss, I could see her face glowing and the blush on her face was enhancing her beauty.

Can she look anymore beautiful?

I held her waist and pulled her closer which made her look at me in surprise.

"So, now tell me why did you take part in the competition?" I asked, as I pushed the loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Umm...Lee needed people to form a group with whom he could take part in this competition so I we decided to help him." She said, looking down on the floor. I could hear a bit of hesitation and stuttering in her voice.

Did I really scare her earlier? Was I too harsh with her?

Great Shane, just great. Now pat your shoulder for this achievement. My conscience mocked

I closed my eyes tightly and breathed heavily. I released her hands slowly. Her breathing was uneven and her body was shivering.

"I am sorry.." I said and dug my head into the crook of her neck to relax myself. She gasped because of my sudden action. I encircled my hands around her and pulled her closer to my body where she belongs. She stiffened for a moment but when I started stroking her smooth silky hair, she relaxed.

"I am extremely sorry. I tried not to loose my temper but it gets on my nerves when I see you with someone else." I said huskily into her ear brushing my lips in the process.

She shivered and clutched the collar of my T-shirt.

I looked at her and found her blushing. She was looking down at her feet so I lifted her chin and made her look into my eyes and started caressing her soft cheek.

"Tomorrow is the day." I said and left her there dumbfounded.

Lara's P.O.V. :

"Tomorrow is the day." He said caressing my cheek with his thumb and left from there.

I stood there dumbfounded for don't know how long. What did he mean?

I returned to the stage for the result of the competition.

"So, the winner of the annual baking competition 2017 is Mr. Lee Xiang's group." The anchor announced the soon after the stage was filled with the coffetis all over. Everyone started clapping and hooting.

"Yeah we won!" Lee yelled excitedly and started hugging Ash and Angie. When he came to hug me, I moved backwards and just shook hands with him. I can't afford to make Shane angry again who is looking at me like an angry lion right now.

*******

"Now would you guys mind explaining why you all took part in this competition? We all know your cooking slash baking skills. And not to be harsh but you all suck at that." I said.

"We took part because we wanted to." Shane said shrugging his shoulder and the remaining two men nodded their heads in agreement.

We three kept looking at them with raised eyebrows.

"Okay fine....we took part because we wanted to show you that we are better than that surgeon which we are." Shane said boasting his ego

"What?" We three asked in confusion.

"Yes....uh....because you were giving more attention to him than us." Jake complaint

"We were just appreciating his talent. It didn't mean anything else." Angie reasoned

"Mr. Lee is without any doubt a great baker and a great person unlike you guys." Ash said pointing her finger towards them

"Were you jealous?" I couldn't stop myself from asking this question.

"N-No. Phew...why would I be jealous?" Shane said looking everywhere but me

"Yeah...jealous and me? Not at all." Jake said and started wiping his forehead with his hand

"Jealous? What does that even mean?" Ian said and chuckled nervously

Ash, Angie and I crossed our arms and looked at them raising our eyebrows because obviously they were lying.

"You guys don't even know how to lie. Even a blind person can guess that you are lying." I said looking at Mr. Shane

"Yes. Yes, we were jealous. Happy?" Ian said, defeated.

"But any man would be jealous if they see their woman appreciating some other man." Jake added

Shane just stood their without any expressions on his face.

Weren't you jealous, Shane?

Please tell me that you were.

I waited for his reply but didn't get any.

"You guys are so immature. You all were acting like impulsive teenagers." Ash said rolling her eyes

"As if you won't get jealous when some girl will flirt with me and I'll give more attention to her." Ian said

"Of course not. I won't get jealous." Ash said shrugging her shoulder

"Really?" Jake asked raising his eye brows.

"Yes, really." Angie said, confidently.

"Do you think the same way, Lara?" Finally he asked and my heart skipped a beat again when he called my name.

And of course I'll get jealous. I'll pull the hair of that girl. No one is allowed to flirt with you

I wanted to say but nodded my head positively.

The men looked at us in disbelief and then smirked.

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