Amidst all chaos, there's chocolate, being cut by a sharp chef's knife. The small grated pieces scattered over the steel counter, specially designed to maintain the low temperature that would not melt the chocolate shavings.

It was an organised chaos in the kitchen of Fin Chocolates. Gas ranges lined one side of the wall, opposite the one with the windows overlooking the street outside. The laboratory-like set up was divided with counters for various functions, two heavy-duty freezers, a small inventory in a corner next to the office area for the administration purposes. The jarring sound of the cake mixer, the noisy fridges, the knife hitting the steel counter and the whisk scraping the saucepan were business as usual every morning.

"Chef, I am done."

The chef in question was a petite lady, in her A-line skirt and embroidered tee top covered by the apron, reputed for her chocolate creations, named Swara. She glanced past her shoulder at the quantity. Half the block remained on the counter uncut. She replied, returning her gaze back to her counter. "We would need more. Continue." It would be a busy day for Fin, she predicted.

At a gas range, milk boiled in a saucepan. Swara mixed in the vanilla pod. She stared into the swirling white as she smiled at the beautiful lyrics of a Hindi song, Itni Si Baat Hai. The singer was blessed with a voice that could invoke a feeling of love and romance. It was her habit to listen to music while working. Not for cancelling the noise, but to control her mood and help her focus on the recipe.

"Chef?" Her assistant, Kiara called again from behind her. The girl in her early twenties looked like a child with her pigtails and sailor-collared polka dot skater dress.

Swara approved the gratings with a nod. She was oddly aware of Kiara rolling her eyes despite not looking at the young girl's face. She preferred to talk less, and observe more. She was acutely aware of the optimum temperatures for all the substances used in her kitchen. The steam from the milk, the waft of the melted chocolate, the texture of the gratings gave her the sense of their specifics. Her strict demeanour meant she would reject anything that was out of her optimum range.

Swara credited her interest in chocolate, her expertise with the pralines and her success at Fin to her grandmother and mother. The ladies had set up and run Fin for two generations. To them, Fin was as much their child as Swara. However, when Swara's turn arrived, she raised funds and gave Fin a chic facelift, matching the urbanised growth of the busy district. She glanced at the freezers and noted, the facelift wasn't complete.

Kiara, five years younger than Swara, joined as an intern only three months back. Left with Fin to call for family, Swara opened the doors for more aspiring chocolatiers to work with her. The chocolate grating was a tedious job to Kiara, but little did she know, it was an impossible task for Swara. Before she went down that lane, Swara asked Kiara to measure about half a cup of chocolate into a pitcher. Using a sieve, she poured the milk on top.

One last touch before it could be served. Swara ran her whisk through the mix with the thought, 'May the drinker find a reason to smile'. The recipe came from her grandmother. She had tried to recreate alongside the old lady only to fail every time. After she passed away, Swara came across her journal where she mentioned the thought ritual as the secret ingredient.

Kiara poured the hot chocolate into two serving mugs. Once Swara approved, Kiara took the mugs to serve the customers. Swara's eyes followed the intern. The customers were a couple stopping over before going separate ways to their offices. They had come in one behind the other. The lady in the grey skirt suit was a regular. There must be an occasion if she brought an add-on with her. Swara could tell by now the reason any customer would stop by.

The couple sipped their hot chocolate. The blush on the lady's cheek was the sign of good work for Swara. She went back to her counter to prepare the next order.

"I need a break", burst in a voice of the only person who was not afraid to face Swara's cold stare and who called her by her name instead of the respected salutation 'Chef'. Charmaine, nicknamed Cherry, was her partner at culinary school. They did their projects together, helping out at Fin whenever time permitted. When Swara thought of reopening Fin with a facelift, she went to Charmaine.

"What's wrong with these high flyers? They should go and have coffee at the opposite cafe. But no, they had to come here for our hot chocolate. All they buy are the samples. We never get proper orders from them."

Swara's hand paused at the mention of the cafe, only to resume in opposite direction, before she let those thoughts into her mind. The two hunks who ran the Hej cafe were well known for three things - coffee, baked goods and looks that don't do justice to the word 'handsome'. When the cafe opened two years ago, Fin was but a tiny store which survived on online orders for business. One of those days, Swara and Charmaine, the only staff then, were gossiping about the cafe owners, while heating the cream. That batch of chocolates tasted like coal. Since then, Swara was extra careful of losing herself to such destructive thoughts.

Charmaine stood next to her, staring at the no-nonsense Chef. "I saw that! You can lie to yourself all you want, but I saw that. You know, it's a sin to kill a blush before it takes birth on your cheeks."

Swara admonished, "Cherry! Are you done with your wrapping?" Charmaine was the expert at turning the sample chocolates in samples packed in handy boxes. "Those high flyers want the samples so that they know where to buy their next gift. They might not be our regulars, but their purchases are what guarantee us bonuses. Not my blush." She added, with a grin.

Charmaine matched the grin with her own. She removed her jacket and donned the apron. She ran the knife against the sharpening tool, cleaned it against the cloth and pulled another block of chocolate closer. "Kiara, please help me man the reception. I will do the cutting." The knife moved swiftly in her practiced hand, cutting the air along with the chocolate .

Kiara returned to the reception with a jaunty step. She loved that job which gave her a chance to sneak in some Facebook time.

"Char, do you want to stir the milk? I will go and prepare for more blocks. We might need for the evening rush."

Charmaine shuddered. "No need." She was also teased with the short name 'Char' due to an accident where she burnt the milk. "Just like you dare not hold this knife, I dare not boil the milk or cream or any liquid. Moreover, those guys outside might use some of your secret ingredient. They are so impatient to wait."

Swara understood what she needed to do. Charmaine was not aware of her thought ritual; she only knew Swara could influence their consumers.

This time, Swara doctored the beverage in slightly larger cups and topped them with some foam. For her ritual, she selected the verse, 'May the drinker be conscious of every sip'.

Charmaine was eager to see the reaction first hand, so volunteered to serve the whole batch of six. Sure enough, a gentleman took his first sip and placed the cup down. Between him staring the cup and mentally analysing the sudden warmth he felt on his tongue, he had no choice but to take one sip at a time. More than a sip, it would lead him to sweating in the cold room and a little more, could even scald his tongue.

Charmaine controlled her smile until the doors closed behind her. Once inside the kitchen, both laughed at their success.

After a quarter an hour, Charmaine whined, "I wonder where Lexie is. I need caffeine in my system."

Swara was getting tired herself moving the whisk around. The music was what kept her tiredness from sneaking into the cups of hot chocolate she served. "Cherry, take a break. You are going to hurt your hand swinging it so fast. Anyway, this should be enough for the next fifteen minutes."

Fin opened only for total three hours everyday, one hour for a slot. The morning slot was at eight, afternoon at one and evening at five. The morning mainly sold samples Swara kept from the experiments of the day before. The afternoon was a combination of customized orders and collections. The evening again sold mostly samples, but some of the customers preferred to collect their orders then. The samples held four different flavoured pralines to let the customer taste their merchandise.

Lexie arrived shortly, dressed like a patron, in her knee-length sheath dress and a blazer, instead of the chocolatier. "Here you go, Chefs. Your coffee and cake." She placed two takeaway paper bags on an empty counter and took out the cakes before then tumbled out of balance. The only local out of the trio, Lexie joined Fin just like Kiara as an intern but in the less glamorous days of Fin. Upon completion of her course, she joined back full time and grew to be irreplaceable part in Fin's kitchen. She was always experimenting with new combinations which Swara loved and encouraged. Charmaine had to keep them in line to ensure the regular orders are completed. If not for the reminders from Charmaine, Swara and Lexie could happily keep experimenting whole day long.

"I will take Swara's cake as well. She only wants the coffee." Charmaine dug her fork into both carrot cakes to mark as hers.

"Cherry, you can have the coffee too. I will have my creation, my signature hot chocolate."

Charmaine hugged her from the back. She had an additional five inch height that made her tower over Swara. "Oh, Swara, you are so kind. Lexie, just show her the picture. It will charge her better than the caffeine."

Swara slapped Charmaine's arm and released herself. She placed one more mug of hot chocolate into the last tray of servings for the morning slot. Kiara flew in and out to collect the remaining drinks. It was then Swara looked expectantly at Lexie.

Charmaine sputtered her cream frosting, bursting into a snort. She knew her friend too well.

Lexie pushed her phone across the counter at Swara. Taking the phone into her palm, Swara sat on the bar stool, leaning on the counter, admiring the high contrast leaf topped with the cinnamon powder reading 'Good Morning'. Swara sighed as she took in the distinct lines forming the veins of the leaf. She wished she had such stability but wishes hardly come true. She held the Styrofoam coffee cup with both hands, so as to not flinch at the heat or at the anxiety ever present in her, and brought the heavenly drink to her lips, imagining the foam leaf in the place of the plastic lid.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Footnotes

1. "Amidst all chaos, there's chocolate."
I found this line on Google but couldn't credit it to one author. Nevertheless, I felt it fit the starting point for The Chocolate Room.

2. Itni Si Baat Hai
The song was sung by Arijit Singh and Antara Mitra for the 2016 Hindi film, Azhar.

3. Hot Chocolate recipe
Here I have attached the actual recipe which is adapted from Fifteen Spatulas (Inset photo from Pexels.com). Adapted because it's not exactly as the website states but the base is from there. I have personally tried it and it does taste heavenly.
If you don't have time to cut the chocolate pieces, you can substitute with Cocoa powder and the vanilla pod can be substituted with vanilla essence or skipped altogether. The result will not be 100% but it's an almost.