Page 38 of A Christmas Adventure

Violeta spreads flour on the table and, when she turns around, Olga is already by her side.

"Come on, tell me what it is, you know I'm not going to copy, besides, I'm going to see you."

Olga gives her a very soft caress on the ribs that causes her to shiver and tense up. Violeta realizes that she's not going to stop, and also that there's no point in hiding it from her, she's right about something, as soon as she takes out the ingredient; she'll see it.

"Alright," she turns towards her and suddenly puts a hand full of flour on her face, "this is for being annoying."

Olga opens her mouth surprised and smiles as she cleans herself and the powder falls in front of her.

"You're dirty," she says blowing the flour from her lips.

Violeta finds the way she wrinkles her nose very funny, and after giving her a kiss, she takes a cloth and finishes cleaning her with great care. Olga takes advantage and puts her hands back on her waist.

"Well, are you going to tell me the ingredient or not?"

Violeta keeps passing the cloth over Olga's cheek carefully, focused on not leaving any trace of flour on her face.

"Raisins."

"Raisins?" Olga repeats, furrowing her left eyebrow.

"Yes. My mother added them to an apple pie, I'm going to add them to the king cake, only instead of putting them whole which I find a bit disgusting, I'm going to dry them in the oven, then I'll crush them and add them to the dough sprinkled."

When she finishes speaking, Olga is looking at her fixedly, concentrated and surprised.

"I love raisins," she whispers.

"Really?" Violeta's voice trembles when she asks, Olga seems irresistible to her when she looks at her like that.

"Then you'll be the first to try it."

Violeta reaches the corner of her lips with the cloth and lets it fall to follow the line with her fingers before pulling her lower lip down and bringing hers closer, fitting in such a perfect way, that they both give themselves to that kiss as if everything had disappeared around them, so in tune and in need of continuing, that they don't hear Maite's footsteps when she approaches the kitchen and are only aware of her presence when the door suddenly opens and catches them completely off guard.

Violeta and Olga separate with such confusion, that they can't even raise their eyes. Maite has remained nailed to the spot and Violeta is the first to react and looks at her with her lips swollen from the kiss. Olga, however, is paralyzed, no matter how hard she tries she can't move. It's not just the embarrassment of feeling caught at work kissing a co-worker like a teenager with overflowing hormones, it's that she feels she has failed Maite, not only because the employee she's kissing is none other than her daughter, it's because Maite has become her best friend and she hasn't been able to be sincere about something so important like this. She feels her heart in her mouth and a suffocating heat that makes her feel as if she were inside one of the ovens.

"Mom..." Violeta's voice sounds as docile as pleading, she doesn't feel as uncomfortable as Olga, but very confused and doesn't know what to say to her.

She looks at Olga for help, but immediately realizes that Olga is out of the game.

"I came to see if you needed anything, but I better come back later," says Maite still impacted by the scene.

Violeta, who is looking at her, doesn't have the feeling that her mother is angry, but Olga, who remains downcast and still as a statue, feels a knot of anxiety burst inside her body to the point that her chest shakes in a spasm and the air escapes from her lungs leaving her with her mouth open.

"Oh my God," she says with a thread of voice as soon as Maite closes the door.

"Olga, calm down," Violeta worries seeing her so affected, "she's not angry, okay? I think she just got surprised."

"Of course she's surprised, I've betrayed her," there's a watery shine in Olga's eyes that makes Violeta very nervous.

"Don't talk nonsense, you haven't betrayed anyone, neither have I. We talked about it and decided to hide it to see how it went, remember?" Olga raises her gaze and fixes it on Violeta's pleading eyes. "We'll talk to her later, we'll explain what happened and my mother will understand, don't worry, please."

Violeta hugs her, but Olga is very tense, the mere idea of Maite catching them again doesn't let her relax. They try to continue with the elaboration of the king cakes, but Olga has her mind elsewhere, she doesn't concentrate andnothing works out for her, so, finally, she takes off her apron and approaches Violeta.

"I'm going home, I need to clear my head or it will explode here inside," she says and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"But, Olga..." Violeta looks at her with a mixture of distress and fear.

"I'm fine," she smiles sadly at her, "but we've made a mistake, Violeta, I realize that now. Not telling your mother was a blunder and I have the feeling that I've betrayed her trust."