“Zara is truly God-gifted for our business,” Mr Zaman said to his manager, Hira, after receiving a comment card from a regular customer.

“You are right, sir! I hope she continues to be the star of the team,” Hira replied, envying the compliment.

Mr Zaman was the owner of one of the best bakeries in town. Zara was an employee at the bakery for almost five years. The manager, Hira, had been working for a year. The staff mainly consisted of female workers, and for savoury baked food, there was the chef Minal, who was a really well-behaved girl and, unlike Hira, a very good company for Zara.

From delicious chocolate croissants to magnificent chocolate fountains, Zara made the best brownies, bars, doughnuts, tarts, mousses, fudges, truffles and sundaes. She was known among the team for everything nice, chocolate and sweet. Baking had long been a hobby for Zara, but she never knew that someday it would become a source of her earnings too!

Every morning, Hira would take rounds and check everything, never missing a chance to point out irrelevant things to Zara, and everyone noticed that. She craved the appreciation and acknowledgment that Zara received every day. But Hira failed to realise that her job was quite different from Zara’s, as her work only involved supervision, while Zara’s baking talent was the main force that attracted business.

One morning during her round, Hira went straight to Zara and began, “Miss Zara, according to the catalogue, there will be no white chocolate desserts on business days. Sir told me they rarely get sold.”

“My dear Hira, I know very well. I reckon you should check other workers and whether they need reminders.”

“I hope you don’t take her words to your head,” Minal said with concern. “I believe she is jealous of you and the appreciation you receive, or perhaps jealous of your talent.”

“Never mind her. I am so accustomed to her nagging. All I know is that I enjoy my work, and it’s a delight to work with you all and the too-generous Sir Zaman.”

One fine morning, Hira entered the bakery with her usual evil smile and even more evil mind. She had been planning how to get Zara kicked out of the bakery, and a sinister idea had come to her mind.

The day started normally, but soon, with a worried expression, Hira came to Zara and said, “Zara, Uncle Jamal has not come today. I had a call from Mum. I need to go home for some urgent business. But I need your help with something.”

Zara looked at her with concern.

“The truck of freshly packed goods is just coming, and it was Uncle Jamal’s duty to unload it. In his absence, I am the one who looks over the stuff. Since I have to go urgently, can you please just take my place? Can you see it getting unloaded? I will be back in an hour, I promise. The truck is about to arrive,” Hira explained.

“Sure, I will take care of it, you don’t worry,” Zara agreed to help out.

Hira thanked her and said, “Okay, so when the goods are unloaded, place them right on the display. And hand this cheque to the driver.”

Zara felt very uncomfortable with this situation, but Hira hugged her and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” Hira left immediately.

Minal asked Zara if everything was fine. Zara nodded. In no time, the truck arrived. It was smaller than usual, but since Hira had approved it, Zara got the goods unloaded and handed over the cheque to the driver, who then left. Zara efficiently placed the goods on the display shelves and went about her work as usual.

This was Hira’s cunning idea to trap Zara. The truck was bought by Hira herself, containing expired goods from different stores, and the cheque was fake.

After some time, Hira arrived, as did Mr Zaman. The bakery was buzzing with activity, but soon there was a complaint about expired milk bottles. A couple of people came to return stale bread loaves. These things had never happened before, and it naturally made everyone worried.

As a result, Mr Zaman asked Hira how expired stuff had ended up on the shelves and were even sold. Hira immediately responded that Zara was the culprit. She pointed out that Zara had received the goods and should have checked them before handing over the cheque and putting them on display.

Everything worked in Hira’s favour. Zara was now held accountable, and the staff went silent, for they had no clue how this delivery of expired goods could have taken place. Quality was something they had never compromised on, so Mr Zaman told Zara to leave. Dejected, Zara found it easier to resign rather than be fired the next morning.

Zara decided that she would not tell her parents, at least for now. She felt so depressed that she didn’t want to face anyone, so at dinner time she pretended to be asleep. Her sister, Amal, rushed into the room later at night and caught her sister desperately weeping.

“What on earth made my sister weep so badly?’’ Amal asked.

“Promise me you’re not going to tell Baba and Mama.”

“I won’t, but please, tell me.” Amal wiped off Zara’s tears.

Then Zara told everything to Amal. Amal was torn between shock and disappointment. Then she said, “My dear sis, that girl will face the music sooner than you can think. As for your job, God Almighty has made better plans. Get some rest; the work was clearly telling upon your health.”

For Amal’s business school final-year thesis, the marketing of a small business was required and she was looking to help anyone scale their business. The following weekend, Zara and Amal began planning the marketing project, which Amal had to submit within a month.

“Let me go and make something chocolatey for you while you brainstorm,” Zara suggested.

“Sit down here with me. You are not going anywhere,” Amal urged. Right then, it dawned on Amal that Zara could start her own business, and she could help with the marketing process, fulfilling her project requirement too!

Amal conveyed her plan to her sister. Astonished, Zara was reminded of her teenage years. “I would love to be able to start this; however, it’s not easy setting up a place from scratch and who can guarantee I will be successful?”

“You must trust the process,” Amal said.

Later that evening, Amal and Zara discussed their plan with their father and, to their utter surprise, he supported them and said he would look for a place for their setup.

The following week, the air was filled with pure joy. They took out all their savings, which was enough to start their small baking business. Their father rented a perfect place for their work. The girls worked hard themselves to renovate and set up the café. “What are we going to serve? I mean, everything sweet, or some savoury food too?” Amal asked Zara.

“Chocolate desserts only, everything sweet and chocolate,” said Zara excitedly. Then, they debated for an hour and came up with the perfect name.

“The Chocolate Heaven,” Amal suggested and both sisters agreed.

Amal designed the brochures and menu, and got them printed. They bought aesthetic crockery, furnishings and even placed a bookshelf on one side of the café. Their marketing went on at a terrific pace, and they prayed to God Almighty to bring goodness in everything.

On the inauguration day, the girls were over the moon. Their parents cut the ribbon, reciting the name of God Almighty. The menu consisted of various chocolate desserts. Every item was sold out before the day was over!

The two sisters were meant for greatness, and a little misfortune led Zara to become a woman she never knew she was meant to be.

Meanwhile, back at Mr Zaman’s bakery, things were not the same anymore. The regular customers began to complain that the taste wasn’t what it used to be. Orders dropped and the once-busy counter often stood quiet. Mr Zaman couldn’t understand what had gone wrong until one day, a customer said, “It just doesn’t taste like Zara’s baking.”

That was when he finally realised the truth, the bakery had lost not just an employee, but the heart and soul behind its success.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 1st, 2025