Baklava
Book/Pairing(s): The Royal Romance || Liam Rhys x F!MC (Jasmine Wilson) LAW STUDENT AU
Category/Warning(s): Teen || none
Word count: 2.7K
Premise: A different take on how Liam and Jasmine could have met. Liam and the gang search for baklava, and Jasmine is a law student and a talented baker, working in her mother’s bakery.
Author’s note: This is for the 200 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY WINNER #2: @texaskitten30 . Congratulations! Hope you enjoy :)
New York City is known for its culture, fashion, Broadway musicals. Its approximately 8 million people.
Maxwell sighs. “C’mon, Liam. There are so many other desserts. Pie, cake, cupcakes, those drizzled thingies...”
He is right. The deserts here are magnificent. Every one of them is fireworks on someone’s tongue, the rich flavor evading the mouth.
Drake surprises him. “For once in my life, I’m going with Beaumont.”
But there is one thing New York City seems to not have.
“No,” Liam responds.
Baklava.
Maxwell open his mouth, but then closes it, flabbergasted.
“Who are you, and what have you done to Prince Liam?”
The prince chuckles wryly, a sarcastic leer taking place. In a few months, he won’t be able to do this again. In a few months, he will marry a noble with no love in between.
In a few months, his freedom will be over.
He has to make those few months worth it.
And he will.
By finding baklava.
However, Liam almost gives up. Every bakery they went to in New York City had everything, including Indian sweets, such as laddu, gulab jamun, jalebi.
But they weren’t selling anything from the Ottoman Empire. They weren’t selling baklava.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees a small building. A bakery. It has a small cupcake on the top of the name.
The prince clears his throat.
“We’ll stop in this bakery. If they don’t have baklava either, then we can go buy cupcakes and go to a bar.”
Maxwell fist bumping the air and Drake sighing of relief, tells him they are both comfortable with his plan.
One more bakery.
That’s it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Slow Dough.
That’s the name of the bakery. Immensely creative.
The three men step out of their rented car, the sun’s rays showing off its magnificent light, creating shadows as they take each step towards the bakery.
They open the door, the jingling bells on it acknowledging their presence.
It looks beautiful. The inside of the store takes on a more pastel theme, the baby pink with white stripes adorning the walls. There are sky blue tables and chairs, adorned with a vase of pink roses on each table.
The front of the bakery has a glass counter-shelf, filled with delicacies. Cupcakes, cookies, chocolate, ice cream. You name it.
Maxwell seems to have that same idea because he says, “Maybe we can steal some cronuts and-”
“Maxwell!” Drake admonishes.
“Hello? What is the commotion here?”
A woman, probably in her fifties, with natural tanned skin, paces into the room from the silver doors ahead of the counter, which Liam assumes is the kitchen. Rather than taking a chiding tone, her voice is laced with concern.
Liam glares at his two friends, Maxwell sporting a nervous smile. Drake shakes his head at Maxwell’s antics.
What good friends he has.
“Apologies for the loud... conversation ma’am. We were searching for a dessert named baklava in New York City. We searched almost every bakery we could find, but left empty-handed. We were hoping we would find some here?”
The woman grimaces. “I’m so sorry, son, but we don’t sell baklava here.”
The prince sighs.
He knew it. Of course he did.
After mentally calming himself, he sports a tender smile.
“No worries, ma’am. In that case, would you mind giving us three cupcakes? One vanilla and the other two chocolate, please?”
“Now that, I can give you.”
She smiles as she opens the counter, probably finding the best cupcakes she could find.
The woman is probably the most solicitous person she ever met during his bachelor party.
The men sit down on of the chairs, surprisingly more comfortable than Liam imagined. They fall into an agreeable silence, with Maxwell playing with one of the pink rose petals, and Drake glued to his phone.
And they are interrupted. By a soft voice.
A beautiful voice.
“Excuse me, sir, but... did you say baklava?”
He stands up immediately to turn towards the voice, addicted to the melody.
And hazel eyes meets blue.
The lady looks like an exact copy of the older woman, only more younger. More irresistible.
Striking.
Even with glasses on.
For some reason, his heart starts beating faster.
Silently scolding himself, he straightens up and nods his head affirmative.
“Yes, is there a reason why you ask?”
“I happen to know how to make baklava. Do you want me to make some for you?”
Shock rolls over him as he mulls over her words. An American tries to help him?
He glances back at Drake and Maxwell. In return, they give him an exact sense of a whammy blown on them. They are probably thinking the same thing, too.
Liam discerns the older woman slapping her hand on her forehead in an almost idiotic sense, walking to stand next to the younger woman.
Twins.
They are practically twins, if people count out the wrinkles.
“Apologies, son. She is my daughter. She knows how to make almost everything.”
Liam softly grins at the mother and turns to look at her daughter.
A beauty.
As if she came from a painting.
Majestic.
As if reading his thoughts, she takes a glimpse of his face and smiles. He catches a glimpse of a faint blush creeping on her neck, even with the tanned skin.
Liam allows himself a quick smirk and hurriedly straightens his face to a more gentle expression.
“What’s your name?”
She clears her throat and looks at him straight in the eye. “Jasmine.”
Maxwell gives her a wide smile. “Nice name!”
Liam and Drake nod their heads in agreement, looking back at Jasmine. She grins from ear to ear.
Her smile is infectious.
And Liam just met this girl.
“I’ll get started. I can set up a mini cooking show for you guys. This might take over an hour though. So, are you sure?”
Before Liam can respond, Drake interrupts.
“We can wait. This dude, here, was acting like he was waiting for baklava his whole life. If he doesn’t get his hands on one, he’ll probably punch something.”
“Drake!”
Before he can give him a new one, he hears Jasmine’s laughter, music to his ears. He only knew her for about 10 minutes, and something makes him want to get closer to her.
He can see scars sprinkled on her chest.
She’s an air of mystery.
Mystery.
“I can most definitely understand that feeling. I’ll go gather the ingredients!”
She flees like a small human Sonic, and he infers for a second that she did track in school.
Maybe she did.
Jasmine comes back with nuts, cinnamon, dough, butter, sugar, water, honey, vanilla extract, and a lemon. After buttering up a thick pan, she sprinkles in a bunch of nuts and cinnamon.
Just like those chefs gave him a show and made baklava for him back in Greece.
Maxwell starts speaking, most likely attempting to make small talk during the awkward silence.
“So... where are you originally from?”
She softly smiles.
“Queens, New York. We moved to the city when I was 10.”
“What made you move to the city?”
“Oh, well...”
Jasmine slightly hesitates.
“My father had passed away, and we had to do something for a living. So we started this bakery...”
A tense silence invades the bakery, Jasmine quickly swiping her eyes. Maxwell grimaces, and Drake takes over.
“We’re so sorry. We didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable...”
She shoots him a weak grin. “It’s okay. It still hurts, but we’re trying our best to move on.”
At this point, she places two sheets of dough into the pan, and butters it up. She then layers it with nuts and repeats the process. The prince makes a mental note to remember these steps the next time he attempts in making baklava.
He tried to make baklava once, but failed, even after searching the internet to find the recipe.
It had been proved to his friends how much of a bad cook he is.
Liam attempts successfully in changing the topic, in a way to console her.
“Are you a student or...”
“I am! Final year law student at Yale.”
His eyes widen. “Yale? That’s impressive.”
Her mother comes back from the kitchen. “Wait till you hear how she skipped five grades and will be graduating as a lawyer at the age of 21.”
The gang’s eyes widen.
Wow.
They’re speaking to mini Albert Einstein.
“Mom!” The law student covers her cheeks in an attempt to stop the light rose pink that’s flooding her face.
Maxwell smiles wickedly. “That's so COOL! Liam, here, is the same! He managed to even excel better than his tutors. One time, he was making fun of them because they got a calculus problem wrong, and he managed to solve it in less than five minutes! He skipped three grades, but always managed to make tutors mad and made them speak to his parents because of his smart mouth-”
“Maxwell!”
Drake chuckles.
“What? It’s the truth!”
She chortles again. That melodic laugh.
“It’s alright. I did that every time, too.”
Jasmine cuts the baklava into diamond shapes and puts them into the oven. She stretches her arms out, unsubtly displaying off her muscles.
Damn.
“Alright. This’ll take about 50 minutes.”
Comfortable silence flows through all of them, Liam enjoying the clock ticking surrounding the small building.
Drake cuts it off. “We forgot to tell you where we’re from. We live in-”
“Cordonia, I know.”
Liam's breath catches.
A part of him wants to berate himself for being so idiotic. For believing that maybe one person won’t know who he is. But he should have known.
He should have known.
Drake closes his mouth and opens it again, unable to say anything.
“Wait, so you know Liam is a prince?”
“Crown Prince, yeah.”
“Then, why didn’t you let us know and treat us like normal people?”
“Because I know.”
Turning to him, she says, “Liam, all you’ve ever wanted was freedom.”
His eyes widen. He feels like he’s being mind-read by a fortune teller. At that moment he should’ve felt uneasy, but all he wants to do is open more of himself to her.
And that petrifies him.
“How... how do you know?”
Jasmine’s expression turns stoic, indecipherable.
“Your eyes. They express everything. You feel like you’re being locked in a jail cell. I was once like you, you know so I know that look anywhere...”
Her eyes turn misty, but she quickly shakes her head.
“You do want to lead your people, but you want to be free in choosing someone at the same time. You want someone you’ll fall in love with.”
Her educated guess is mind-boggling. Straying his eyes back to his friends, they appear as if they’re seeing Liam in a new light. Shocked.
That they didn’t know anything about this, and they’ve known him for years.
Maxwell shakes his head. “Wait, but... if you knew who we were, why didn’t you address Liam as ‘your highness’? Don’t get me wrong, we liked how you didn’t...”
Jasmine snorts. “Because even through he has royalty flowing through his blood, he is a human, just like us. I don’t mean it to be offensive, I swear. While titles also show respect, they put more benefit for someone than for another ‘commoner’. And I don’t like that.”
Liam becomes curious. Jasmine is not one of those average girls who shrieks over a celebrity. She is one of a kind.
And that makes him want to know everything about her.
“Say if... you became a queen one day. How will you rule?”
The law student takes a deep breath before responding. She unconsciously touches her dark brown hair, and twirls a curl over her finger.
“I... I would never go by the rule book. While rules are good and all, sometimes... it would lead to injustice. As Princess Diana said in her interview with Martin Bashir, I would want to become a queen of people’s hearts, not just for a country. I would be there to do good, not cause harm or difficulty over another citizen’s life. I’m not a violent person. Quite the opposite, actually. I would want to be treated as a typical person with a typical life. I would want to be treated as an everyday person. And... I would want everyone to reminisce me as a woman who did good works, not as a woman with a prestigious title.”
Everything is confirmed. Drake’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to respond to what Jasmine just said. Maxwell has a goofy grin on his face.
Liam, however, has a cheeky smile that one would actually say is of respect and admiration. He admires her.
Even as she now bites her lip, he wants nothing more press his lips to hers.
And they’ve only known each other for about an hour.
The oven alarm lowers the mounting tension in the bakery. Jasmine jogs over to the oven and takes it. The delicious smell of baklava invades Liam’s nostrils, and he immediately wants to taste it. Looking at the pastry, the gorgeous crispy brown of the dough stands out, with green nuts garnished.
“Take caution! It’s really hot.”
Maxwell smirks slightly, already reaching for a baklava. “Oh, I don’t think it’s that- HOLY SQUIDS!”
The once smirking Maxwell now has a face of pain etched on his face, holding his right hand after it burned a little. Jasmine, seeing this, snorts.
“Told you so.”
Shaking his head, Liam -carefully- takes a piece of baklava, blowing it slightly to soothe the heat. Once it is lowered to a considerable heat, he takes a bite out of it and-
My.
God.
It is scrumptious.
And it appears that Drake and Maxwell are thinking the same thing, their friends’ eyes filled with astonishment.
Jasmine bites her lip, most likely unaware of the action. God, if he could just-
“So, did you like it?”
Shaking off his dirty thoughts, he responds, “Like it? This is the best baklava I’ve ever tasted.”
Her wide eyes contain jouissance, Liam can tell.
“Thank you! Glad I didn’t mess it up!”
Jasmine blushes again, something Liam just knows is a rare sight for anyone.
Just then, her mother comes in, sauntering hurriedly up to them. Her eyes are tense and full of worry.
“So... how is the baklava?”
Liam smiles, hopefully soothing her mother with the action.
“I can reassure you, even the most famous chefs in Greece hadn’t made me this tasty baklava before in my life. It tastes like heaven, ma’am. Your daughter has talent.”
She sighs in relief. “Thank you, sons!”
Without hesitance, the mother kisses Jasmine on her cheek, and in return the daughter kisses her on her forehead. The act reminds him of his own mother, before she died.
“How much does this cost?” Drake interrupts.
“This? This is free.”
What?
Liam refuses. “Oh, that’s not possible, we have to give you something-”
Jasmine laughs. “I insist. First of all, this wasn’t even part of the menu, although we do need to add it to ours. Second, you deserve this. For the first time, other than my mother, I felt like someone else got me.”
The words make the prince look at her deeply into her eyes. Jasmine stares back, not one of them blinking. Finally, the law student breaks the contact.
Just then, Drake clears his throat. “I hate to interrupt but we have to leave. Is it alright if we take more of these?”
The mother smiles. “Sure, sweetie! Take as much as you need.”
As Maxwell and Drake grab more of the baklava, Liam goes up to Jasmine.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” he says, his tone with a hint of heartache.
She smiles wistfully. “Yeah.”
And they hesitate before hugging one another tightly. Liam closes his eyes, in what could be his last moments of freedom. He makes this time worth it. Jasmine reluctantly pulls back and clears her throat.
“But hey, something tells me we’ll see each other again soon,” she adds, with a hint of a smirk.
And just like that, Liam starts to have second thoughts.
Maybe New York City is not that awful.
Narrator: Jasmine was right in what she said. They will see each other again. And they marry, and they make babies-
Author’s note: First Liam x MC fic lol. I hope I did this some justice HAHA. Anyways, if you’ve made it this far, thank you! ♥️
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