But all these things couldn't make up my baby, and what my baby means to me

Seventh Course: Palate Cleanser

The kitchen.

Dawn’s house had a kitchen. She used it all the time. Mainly to use the microwave to heat up the leftover takeout from the night before.

See, she didn’t really do “cooking”. She had more important things to spend her time on, like work and taking care of her cats. And she made enough money where eating out every day wasn’t a sizeable impact on her finances.

So faced with a situation where she was actually forced to cook was a little bit of a problem.

What she saw when she arrived at the kitchen didn’t help matters.

Dawn recognized herself immediately, because she hadn’t changed in the slightest. There were only so many ponytailed brunettes with glasses and the proportions of a middle schooler in the world. What she didn’t see coming though was what her other self was wearing. She still had her cat ears, and her tail swished underneath the hem of her black fur-lined dress. Rather than shoes, she wore black slippers styled to look like big cat paws, and she wore mismatched gloves over her hands that held the same effect. Finally, she had a leather collar wrapped around her neck, and a bright smile on her face.

“Meeooooow!”

Dawn’s jaw dropped as she heard a happy meow escape the girl’s lips. Whoever this person who looked like her was, she didn’t just look like a cat, she sounded like one, too. Dawn felt more than a little unnerved by that.

“Uh… hello there?” She tried to approach her other self, but the cat girl skittered away, just like a real cat.

So this is supposed to be my cooking assistant? Dawn sighed, taking off her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose. Sylvia had mentioned that the assistants they would get would be offering different levels of help. Well, this was clearly what she meant by that. Even if she was going to help me, it’s not like she could do a lot of cooking with those gloves.

Choosing to put the other girl out of her mind, Dawn walked over to the island in the center of the kitchen and picked up the cookbook. That was the good thing about cooking. So, Dawn had never done it before. There had been lots of things in her life that she’d never done before, that didn’t stop her from mastering them quickly.

This should be simple. It’s just following a recipe. It’s basically like chemistry class. Dawn began flipping through the book, looking for something that Nick would like. Unfortunately, she didn’t pay enough attention to his dietary preferences, so she had nothing to go on. But that wasn’t her fault! She’d never even considered cooking for herself, let alone someone else!

She took a look at the recipe on the first page.

Palate Cleanser: Crackers

Ingredients: Crackers

Preparation:

1. Open bag of crackers

Dawn rolled her eyes. Very helpful. Like she was going to give Nick crackers as the palate cleanser for his seven course meal. That should win her points in his eyes.

She turned the page.

Palate Cleanser: Bread

Ingredients: Bread

Preparation:

1. Slice bread

“Come on, seriously?” This joke could only go so far. Dawn turned to the next page.

Palate Cleanser: Apple Slices

Ingredients: Apples

Preparation:

1. Slice apples

Dawn’s eye began to twitch. Sylvia was clearly mocking her with these “recipes”. So that’s your game, huh? You’re going to make fun of me by giving me a bunch of silly, stupid “palate cleansers” to pick from? As if I’d have any chance of winning with those!

She began to pick up the pace as she flipped through the book, trying to find something that she could actually draw Nick’s eye with. But before she could find anything, she was interrupted by the feeling of something rubbing against her leg.

“Prrmm… mrrewmmm…”

Dawn looked down at the purring noise, and saw her other self kneeling on the floor with a smile on her face, rubbing against her leg.

“H-Hey!” Dawn nearly fell over in embarrassment, shocked by the other girl’s daring display. It was only thanks to her years on the balance beam that she didn’t topple over. “Let go!”

She managed to stop herself from kicking, at least, but she still pulled her leg free. That seemed to only encourage the other her to be even more forward, and she sprung to her feet to rub up against Dawn’s entire body.

“Hey! No! Back off!” Living with five cats, Dawn was used to their mercurial nature. On a regular basis she had to deal with one of her fur babies ignoring her when she called for them, only for that same cat to suddenly jump up on the table and scatter her things later because they wanted attention.

They didn’t live on your schedule, you lived on theirs. And apparently, a human dressed up like a cat was no exception.

Dawn managed to free herself from the cat girl’s affectionate nuzzling, and kept her at arms’ length. She gently scratched and petted her other self’s head, which was good enough to keep her occupied while she sorted out what was going on.

It was pretty obvious when she thought about it.

Clearly this girl is supposed to represent a future me. This is what Sylvia wants to see me as. A helpless affectionate little kitten without any brains, just mewling for treats from her “master”. Disgusting. Dawn felt nothing but pity looking at her other self.

I won’t let that happen to me.

She turned back to the cookbook and began looking for more recipes. The more challenges I win, the less transformations Sylvia will be able to inflict on me. Who knows what she’ll do next. Maybe I really will turn into a cat like this. Just lounging around all day. Absolutely not. I have more important things to do.

Dawn felt her other self rub up against her again, and could hear her purring. She sighed. As much as she wanted to resist, there was something about cats that always got to her. She just couldn’t describe why she loved them so much. All animals were precious, but she’d always held a special affinity for cats. Even if the cat in question was herself.

The purr in her voice tugged on her heart in a strange way.

Stop it, focus. You need to find a good- …Oh. Well, hello there. Dawn finally found a recipe in the book that she could present with some flair.

A sorbet… that’s kind of like ice cream, isn’t it? Yeah, I can work with this. She licked her lips, already imagining the taste of an icy-cold sorbet on her tongue. And there weren’t a lot of steps, either. She could do this!

The recipe thankfully detailed how many of each ingredient to use to serve two people, so Dawn got to work. She added water to the granulated sugar and began to heat it in a saucepan when she ran into her first problem.

“‘Heat for 1 to 2 minutes’… well, which is it?! One minute or two?!” She groaned. Why did it have to be so imprecise?!

She took a few deep breaths and calmed down. It’s fine. I’ll just do it in batches then. Trial and error. If the instructions were imprecise, then Dawn would simply need to cover all her bases. She prepared three saucepans for the syrup. One she heated for 1 minute, one she heated for a minute and a half, and the third she heated for 2 minutes.

While she left the saucepans of syrup to cool, she went to the freezer to inspect the frozen fruit she had available.

Frozen strawberries… frozen lemons… blueberries… hmm… that could work.

Dawn tapped her chin thoughtfully. If she could make different flavors of sorbet, then she could really wow Nick’s tastebuds. Okay, it’s simple. I’ll just make nine of them. For each syrup saucepan, I’ll make a sortbet for strawberries, lemons, and blueberries. Then I’ll use whichever ones of those taste best to cover my bases.

She went back to the cookbook and checked how much to add. She mixed together syrup, her fruit of choice, and lemon juice for flavor. Fortunately, there were an abundance of blenders in the cupboard, and soon enough she had the room roaring like a lawn mower convention on a football field.

Soon enough, she had nine smooth mixtures to choose from.

“Next is… fuck!” Dawn groaned in frustration. The next step was simple. In theory.

Taste and add more lemon juice as needed to adjust to your personal preference.

“How’s THAT supposed to work?!” Dawn groaned. “Why do you have to be so fucking confusing?! Just tell me what to do, you stupid book!”

She had to adjust the flavor herself? Without any precise measurements, just “add more lemon juice until it tastes right”? How was she supposed to know what right was?

…Well, fine. She could do the tasting part. That wasn’t difficult, right? She got a spoon and took a tiny bit of each one. They all tasted good. But some she found a little sweeter and smoother than the others. She took the best-tasting one from each flavor and transferred them to a bread pan to freeze in the freezer.

She could have stopped there and waited for the 3 hours given, but she had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

These are good… but are they good enough? The recipe did say she could use lemon juice to adjust the flavor. And it’s not like she was going to do anything with those spare servings.

Dawn got started with adding more lemon juice and mixing them. It made the sorbet taste tangier, which was good.

Okay, yeah, I think this lemon one is better than the one I put in the freezer, she thought, sucking thoughtfully on the spoon. She transferred it to another bread pan and put it into the freezer, taking out the lemon one from before and tossing it away.

But was it good enough though?

She had nothing but time. And she needed this to be perfect. So she got started on preparing another batch of sorbet. She began to prepare more syrup, using the minute and a half recipe since those had turned out to be the tastiest on their own. But just to be sure, she heated them at other times, too. She kept heating and mixing, adding lemon juice, and replacing the ones in the freezer with their superior counterparts.

Her tongue started to go numb from all this sorbet. She checked the clock and her tail sprung up. She’d been at this for four hours, and according to the timer, she still had another two hours to go before any of the ones in the freezer were ready!

It’s fine, it’s fine, as long as he likes it, it’s fine.

“Myuuu!” CLANG!

Dawn whirled around to see her other self had kicked off some of the equipment from the counter and curled up on the marble to take a snooze. Dawn’s eye twitched in frustration.

“Enjoying a nice little nap, huh? Like you’d be any help anyway…” She muttered.

“Well, you could always take a nap with me.”

“YEEEEEK!” Dawn jumped into the air and her tail stood up straight. She whirled around in shock, staring at her duplicate.

“Y-You… you can talk?!” She exclaimed.

The cat girl rubbed her eyes and frowned. “Yeah, ‘course I can talk. Sylvia’s not gonna take my voice away or anything.”

“B-B-But… you weren’t saying anything!” Dawn stammered. “You were just purring and meowing and rubbing up against me! If you could talk this whole time, why didn’t you?”

Cat Dawn blinked. “…Well, why would I? I was relaxing, and you didn’t want to play. You looked like you were doing something important, so I didn’t want to bother you.”

She yawned, sounding like a cat’s yowl.

“…Whatever. I have work to do,” Dawn growled. She needed to try the next combination. An extra quarter-cup of lemon juice and syrup might just make the best-tasting one yet.

“Really? But you made so much,” her other self said, looking around the kitchen. A veritable mountain of used pans and blenders had started to pile up around them. She stuck her finger in one of the discard sorbets and took a taste. “Whoa! Yum! This is delicious!”

“It’s not good enough yet,” Dawn snapped. She rudely turned on the blender to drown out her other self’s reply. When the blender finished spinning, she took a taste, and frowned. It was good, but not as good as the one she had freezing right now. She’d need to adjust a little.

“Are you going to make another one?” Cat Dawn asked, wincing a little. “That’s kind of excessive, don’t you think? Are you just going to keep doing this forever?”

“If I have to,” Dawn sniffed, preparing another batch. “Until it’s perfect.”

“That’s dumb. You’re a dummy.”

Dawn’s eye twitched. She wasn’t going to let that stand.

“As you very well know, I’m a genius!” She snapped, turning to her other self. “You know damn well how high my IQ is!”

“Yeah, but a big IQ doesn’t matter if you’re just making sorbet!” Cat Dawn whined. “The ones you made are good enough!”

“They aren’t,” Dawn said, shaking her head. “It has to be perfect! I can’t just lie around all day being lazy like you, I have to be better than that! If I want to win, then I need to make him the best sorbet possible! I can take a break when that’s done!”

Cat Dawn stared thoughtfully at her, her tail swishing behind her.

“You said ‘I can’t just lie around all day being lazy like you’ but… you are me,” she pointed out. “Aren’t you curious why that is?”

“It’s because Sylvia messed with your mind and turned you into some dumb cat,” Dawn scowled.

Her other self smirked. “Turn to page 34 of the cookbook.”

Dawn decided to humor her other self, and retrieved the cookbook. She began flipping through it before arriving on page 34.

“If I’m not mistaken, it reads:

Palate Cleanser: Cucumber Water

Ingredients: Cucumbers, water

Preparation:

1. Slice cucumbers
2. Add to water

...am I right?”

Dawn’s jaw dropped. “Y-Yeah…”

“See, I read that a long time ago, but I still remember!” The cat girl snickered. “See? I’m still me. Still you.” She rattled her hand against her skull. “Still got all those brains up in here. But… I’m happy now. Since I don’t have to use ‘em.”

“…Huh?” Dawn stared incredulously at her.

“I can just be a cute little kitty instead!” Cat Dawn rolled over on her back and stretched. “Lying out in the sun… getting pampered by master with pets and head-scratchies, having fun sex, it’s the best! No more complicated questions or hard decisions, I don’t need to worry about those stupid life and death dilemmas, it’s just… meeeeeooooow…” She sighed wistfully.

Then she turned to Dawn. Dawn couldn’t believe how relaxed she looked.

“Seriously, you should try it,” the cat girl encouraged her. “Don’t worry so much, don’t think about it, just relax!”

Dawn glanced warily at the freezer. Was her sorbet really good enough? She could make it better, couldn’t she?

“Come oooonn, just relax… I’ll even give you a shoulder massage!”

Dawn bit her lip and unplugged the blender. At the very least, she recognized it could take a very long time before she reached something she was satisfied with. “…I suppose a break wouldn’t hurt.”

---

Nick felt positively stuffed from that pot roast. Never in a million years would he have expected Dani to cook something that delicious. Combined with all the food he’d eaten and how long it felt like he’d been sitting in this chair, he felt ready to end this whole thing. But there were still three courses to go. Hopefully Dawn had prepared him something light and simple, like bread, or maybe some crackers.

What he didn’t expect to see was the cat girl come sauntering out with two bowls in her hands, each containing three scoops of something that resembled ice cream.

And she was smiling. Like, a big, beaming, relaxed smile. It looked like she was in a trance.

“Your palate cleanser!” She said, setting a bowl in front of each of them. “I call it Primary Sorbet! Strawberry, blueberry, and lemon flavor! Be sure to eat it while it’s cold!”

“Thanks! Wow, this looks really good!” Nick said, licking his lips. He’d had sorbet a few times thanks to his mom’s culinary endeavors, but he looked forward to trying Dawn’s.

“And for you, Nick, to help you relax, a nice massage!”

Nick nearly dropped his spoon.

“…What?”

Before he could say anything else, Dawn skipped around him and began to massage his shoulders, easing the tension in his back. Feeling strange, but relieved, he let his stress flow out of him as he began to dig in. The flavors blended together amazingly.

“This tastes great, Dawn,” Nick said. “And where did you learn how to give a massage?”

“That’s a secret!” Dawn giggled. She took full advantage of her transformation’s dexterous fingers to give Nick the shoulder massage of his life while Sylvia tried not to smirk.

“Don’t I get a massage?” She asked petulantly, and Dawn stuck out her tongue in response.

Eighth Course: Dessert

Mary had never been in such a marvelous kitchen before. She would have thought it was paradise, if she’d been paying any attention to it. But there was something much more significant that caught her attention first, leaving her unable to care about the kitchen at all.

An older, more mature version of herself was standing in front of her. The long-haired redhead had a gentle and loving smile on her freckled face, and she wore a tied up flannel shirt over her massive breasts, along with a tight pair daisy dukes. And separating those two articles of clothing was a very pregnant stomach.

“Wha… buh-!” Her jaw hit the floor. “Yuh… wha…”

“Hello, Mary,” the older woman greeted her with a wave, while her other hand caressed her stomach. “It’s lovely to see you again. You look so skinny!”

“A-And you, you look…” Mary couldn’t keep her eyes off the baby bump. Her knees started knocking at her loins flamed up, frustrated and envious of the other woman’s condition.

“WHY ISN’T IT ME!?” Her body was screaming at her.

“You look… wow.”

Mary took a few steps forward, and before she even realized it her hand was resting on the other woman’s stomach, feeling the warmth emanating off of her. The heat she felt, it was like she had life itself in the palm of her hand.

She felt a tiny bump and yanked her hand back with a gasp. “Wha-!”

“Ooh, she kicked,” her other self laughed. “Sorry about that. She’s a rambunctious one, just like her siblings!”

Mary stared in wide-eyed curiosity at the older woman. “H-Her… siblings? You mean you… you’ve been pregnant… before?” She squeaked out.

“Well, ‘course I have, silly!” The southern belle chuckled. “This here’s my fifth one, and she’s due to pop any day now! And of course, when she does, my husband’ll start getting me ready for baby number six!”

Mary couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Husband… her husband. This woman… she was clearly Mary. Even though she was older, and her boobs were practically twice the size of hers, and she was pregnant, she was Mary without a doubt.

“S-So… you’re my future self?” She guessed.

“Something like that,” the older Mary nodded. “Basically, I’m who you’re going to be, in the future. You know, if you keep going down this road, taking those pills all the time, preparing yourself…”

Mary felt her teenie tiny little jean shorts start to dampen as she clenched her legs together. Five. Five adorable babies. And already planning for a sixth.

“A-And… and the father,” she croaked out. “Is it…”

“Nick? You betcha!” The redhead laughed. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, it took me FAR too long to finally get through to him.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Mary asked, confused.

“Well, see, I had it all up in my head that it was wrong of me to be the one to make the first move, see?” The older Mary sighed, wistfully cradling her stomach. “Instead of getting together immediately, I held out for so long, driving myself crazy with those pills, when all along what I really needed was to just get on with it and pop the question already. I could’ve had another kid or two already if I’d been a bit more proactive about it!” She laughed.

“I-I see…” Mary’s head was spinning.

“Now listen, we don’t have to do much talking,” the pregnant redhead continued. “I can tell you feel the same way as me. You want to get to baking, right? Prepare something that boy won’t be able to resist?”

Mary bobbed her head up and down.

“Well, that should be just fine!” Pregnant Mary winked. “When it comes to pleasing a man, a good wife knows all the tricks. She’s got to, after all. It’s not enough to just lie back and pop out kids every nine months, we’ve got to satisfy all his heart’s desires.”

Mary couldn’t agree more. Her body was screaming at her to do better, to be better. To stop being such a tease and just hurry up and get pregnant already so she could become an obedient stepford cock-puppet like the woman in front of her, happy to serve the man of her dreams who returned her devotion to him by making sure she remained happy, docile, and knocked up.

And frankly, there was only one way she could show Nick how much she loved him. Luckily, baking cakes was her specialty.

Mary watched her older self waddle over to the oven with her pregnant body, and her heart skipped a beat. Seeing her movement so encumbered like that, because of something a man had done to her, it triggered something inside her that she couldn’t resist. She licked her lips, yearning for the day when that would be her.

She went to go get the ingredients while her other self prepared to bake. But her heart fell when she checked the refrigerator.

“Oh, no!” Mary gasped, turning to her pregnant doppelganger for support. “We don’t have any milk!”

The older woman blinked, and then cracked a grin. “Don’t worry about that!” She laughed, starting to untie her shirt. “Momma’s got that one covered.”

Mary turned red, and her panties got even wetter. Her pregnant self revealed one sloshy, milk-filled breast and held it up against a measuring cup. This certainly couldn’t have been sanitary! But Mary couldn’t bring herself to object.

“Oh yeah… there’s the stuff…” Her older self moaned, massaging her meaty udder like a cow, tweaking her nipple and spraying out spurt after spurt of milk. Mary was flabbergasted, how could she even be carrying that much!?

This was everything she wanted. The swelling belly of a future mother, the enlarged breasts preparing to nurse the life growing inside her, and the radiant glow of a woman who had found her purpose in the world, to love a man and make babies for him.

That could be me right now, she thought, squeezing her legs together. I just need to get married already!

As wonderful as the thought of having a baby was, she refused to let any of her children be born out of wedlock. It was the only thing stopping her at this point from pushing Nick down and deflowering herself on him right there on the table.

---

After Dawn’s sorbet and her wonderful back massage, Nick actually felt like his stomach was empty. The purpose of a palate cleanser was to cleanse the tongue and prepare for new tastes, but he wondered if this had gone a step further.

Still, I’ve eaten a lot today. It’s probably better if Mary makes something light. He knew he was pushing his luck just thinking that way. But when he saw her step out of the kitchen, he knew that there was no light meal coming his way.

He didn’t really care though, because what she held in her arms blew all the other thoughts out of his head.

Mary had baked a cake. While he’d expected something along those lines, what he hadn’t anticipated was that she’d made a two-tiered cake with white and pink frosting. A cake that suggested something very particular.

“Dude, did she bake a fucking wedding cake?” Gina asked incredulously.

“It, uh, certainly looks that way,” Carly said, taken aback.

“Oh my gosh!” Holly squealed, forgetting her place for a second. “Mary! That’s amazing!”

Mary set down the cake in front of Nick and favored him with a smile. Nick saw heat and desire in her eyes, even more than when they’d been together just a few nights before.

Then he saw a glint of something shiny and metal in her hand, and for a hot second he thought he was about to be stabbed. But that was crazy. Yes, Mary was carrying a knife, but it wasn’t for stabbing anybody- it was to cut a slice of cake for him, of course, and that’s exactly what she did. She carved out a piece of cake and slid it onto his tray, but before he could take a bite, she did something completely unexpected, and yet, given the context, made perfect sense.

Mary picked up the piece of cake with her bare hands and mashed it into his face.

“I’m ready,” she whispered into his ear, presenting a napkin to wipe himself off with. Then she stepped aside, and let him enjoy his treat in peace.

Ninth Course: Mignardise

If someone took a look at Rose, they would probably assume that she’d never stepped foot in a kitchen in her life. She had that look about her, after all, gorgeous and glamorous, with a sort of proud contemptuous aura that lead you to believe that cooking and baking was “too good” for someone like her.

But if you looked past the surface and tried to get to know the real her, you’d learn that she was actually a massive fan of pastries, and as much as she loved being an actress, she had a wish deep down that she could run her own patisserie.

Which was why, when she’d been given the duty of preparing the mignardise, she had been over the moon. Finally, an opportunity to do something she loved, for a guy that she liked.

That enthusiasm died down quickly when she saw who would be her assistant.

“Who the hell are you?” She asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the bimbo in front of her.

“Who do you think?” The woman sneered contemptuously with her botox-inflated lips. “I’m you. Only far more successful.”

Rose couldn’t believe that. The woman in front of her looked nothing like her. She couldn’t spot anything familiar that she recognized. The hair, perhaps? The woman’s long blonde hair rolled down her back in the same wavy curls Rose sported, but that was about it. Her blue eyes were cold and harsh, and everywhere else looked… cartoonishly fake.

If this woman was really her, she’d abandoned Rose’s natural beauty long ago to the surgeon’s knife. Her nose was smaller, her cheeks narrower, her lips looked so inflated and pink Rose doubted they could close all the way, and her breasts? They were just ridiculous, not even Carly had that much titmeat shoved into her shirt. They were so ridiculously inflated with silicone that they even sagged in a way that looked almost like natural boobs, unlike the hideous bolt-ons they were. They practically ripped the top of her red dress off, causing the garment to look downright trashy instead of the classy eveningwear it was. A tucked tummy, cushioned ass, and a hideous spray tan completed the look of a trophy wife that had been bought and paid for, if the jangling hoop earrings weren’t enough of a giveaway.

To Rose’s dismay, she saw no trace of her mother’s necklace among the woman’s gaudy jewelry.

“Are you really me?” Rose shook her head in disbelief. That only elicited more scorn from the other woman.

“I know it seems hard to believe, given how plain you look compared to a beauty like me,” she sneered. “But it’s okay. You can rest easy little girl, because all your hard work is going to pay off.”

Rose blanched. “It… it is?”

“Of course,” the woman proudly declared, brushing back her hair and studying her manicured nails. “You think I’m dressed like this for fun?”

Rose didn’t even know how to answer that. She just shook her head. “Whatever. So you’re my assistant then? Let’s get started.”

The trophy wife snorted and shook her head. “Wait, what? Baking? You can’t be serious.”

“Uh, yeah, I can be, actually,” Rose scowled. “We have a job to do here, we’re preparing the mignardise for Nick’s meal. I was thinking we could make a miniature tuxedo cake-”

“Oh, no, none of that, you see these?” Bimbo Rose showed off her sparkling nails. “I just had these done. I’m not going to do… cooking. That’s what the servants are for.”

Rose took a deep breath and exhaled. “So that’s what this is then. That’s the end game for me? The show is telling me I’m going to be some gold-digging blow-up bimbo, is that it?”

“I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal out of this,” Bimbo Rose sniffed. “Though I suppose hysterics are to be expected from someone of such low breeding.”

“We have the SAME breeding!” Rose exclaimed. “Whatever. Fine. Don’t help me. I can do this myself.”

She went to go prepare the ingredients, putting the other Rose out of her mind.

But that didn’t mean the spray-tanned blonde was done with her.

“It’s rather pathetic, working so hard at something so pointless.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean, really, trying to cook your way into a man’s heart? You’re better than that.”

Rose continued to ignore her, trying to put the bitchy woman’s words out of her mind. But they were gnawing away at her regardless.

“You know, the only girls who actually try something like that are the desperate ones who can’t win a man’s attention with their looks, right?” Her tone almost sounded sympathetic. “Listen, I get it. I used to look just like you, remember? But after the first few plastic surgeries-”

“Enough!” Rose turned on her. Was everyone else dealing with shit like this, too? “Listen up, little miss ‘I’m filled with too much plastic to even feel my husband’s dick inside me’, I don’t fucking care about that. You think I’m going to let myself become some bimbo trophy wife? Sorry, but that’s not happening.”

“You expect me to believe something like that?” Bimbo Rose raised her eyebrow. “The whole reason you came on this show in the first place was to prostitute yourself for your brother, remember?”

Rose winced, wrapping her arms around herself to shield her body from the other woman’s scornful gaze.

“That was… I know, but…”

“All I’m doing is informing you of your good fortune!” Her pink lips spread in a proud smile. “Thanks to the transformations I received, my future became set, and I became set for life! Now Chrys won’t have to worry about money ever again! My husband gladly funds whatever project my brother attempts as long as I give him a good suckoff while I ask.”

She licked her lips. “It’s a small price to pay, right? Our body for his success?”

Rose hadn’t been swayed by the woman’s words before now, but the way she suggested that made her waver for a moment.

She shook her head. “Wait, no! That’s wrong!” She spat. “I’m not like that. I made mistakes before, but Nick helped me realize how wrong it was for me to use myself like that! It isn’t just that I manipulated other people, but I need to have some respect for myself as well, and not sell my body for profit! I’m trying to live honestly now!”

“…But you still took the money, right?” Bimbo Rose narrowed her eyes, throwing Rose off.

“Wh-What?” Rose stammered, confused for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“You still accepted Sylvia’s money, right?” Bimbo Rose pointed out. “The million dollars for your brother, after Holly was eliminated? And if you survive past this round, you’ll get even more, yeah? So what’s the difference here?”

Rose didn’t know what to say. The fact of the matter was, she’d already put the thought of that money out of her mind. Chrys had received payment for what she’d already done, and she’d been trying to make amends for her actions, but her other self was right.

If she made it to the next round, he’d get even more money. Even if she wasn’t actively working to sabotage the others, she was still profiting from their relationships imploding.

Suddenly, not even baking her little tuxedo cake felt fun anymore. She just felt sick to her stomach.

“…Leave me alone,” she grumbled, turning back to her work. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

The trophy wife shrugged. “If you say so. But I must say, that’s quite a lot of work for a guy who isn’t even rich. Don’t tell me you actually have feelings for him?”

“If you’re me, you should already know that,” Rose snapped, already forgetting about her decision to stop talking.

The bimbo shrugged, examining her nails. “I do… but I still want to hear you say it.”

“In that case, it’s none of your business,” Rose replied.

Bimbo Rose curled those puffed up lips of hers into a sneer and shook her head. “You were making that big speech about living honestly… but you can’t even be honest with yourself? Pathetic.”

Rose tried to put the words of her other self out of her mind. But she just couldn’t.

---

Nick was positively engorged. Mary’s cake was as amazing as he remembered. But there was still one course left.

“It looks like our final course is on its way,” Sylvia said, turning towards the kitchen door as Rose stepped out with two plates in her hands.

Then she froze, her smile locked to her face as she went pale.

Scenes From a Hat: Maid Café’s Newest Trainee!

You’ve gotta be kidding me… Of course it couldn’t be that simple. Rose couldn’t just give Nick his food in peace, now could she?

But a maid café? She didn’t even know what that was! She looked down, and to her horror her leggings and sweater had transformed into a frilly maid outfit. She continued to smile, because she knew that was expected, and just surrendered to her desire to do her best. She was supposed to be the trainee, after all, which meant she needed to rely on someone else here for assistance.

“Holly!” She turned to the other maid in the room. She would need Holly’s help once again if she had a prayer of doing this properly. “Can you help me, please? I’m not quite sure what to do… it’s my first day, after all! And you’re such a great maid, I know you can teach me everything!”

“Of course!” Holly grinned from ear to ear and skipped over to Rose, taking one of the plates from her. “Now, the first thing you want to do is greet your master with a smile! I’ll demonstrate!”

She turned to Sylvia. “Hello, master! I’ve brought your dish!” She set the plate in front of Sylvia.

Rose copied her movements, but with Nick. She suspected that this was a lot more embarrassing for her than it was for Holly.

But she was a professional. She could do this.

“Hello, master! I’ve brought your dish!” She set the plate in front of him with a heartfelt smile. “One miniature tuxedo cake!”

“I baked it with love, just for you!” Holly declared.

“I baked it with love, just for you!” Rose repeated.

“And now, it’s time to cast a magic spell to make it extra yummy and tasty!” Holly wasn’t following a script or anything, she was just remembering from the various manga and anime she’d consumed. But Rose followed her motions perfectly.

“And now, it’s time to cast a magic spell to make it extra yummy and tasty!” She declared, moving both her hands to make a heart shape.

Both girls aimed the “hearts” formed from their fingers at the dishes.

“Moe-Moe Love Beeeeeeeeeeeaaaaam!” Holly cheered, winking through the heart.

“M-Moe-Moe Love Beeeeeeeeeeeaaaaam!” Rose stumbled a little, feeling incredibly humiliated. But it was for Nick’s sake. She had to give him a good show. And frankly… this is the only way I can express my real feelings for him right now.

Rose had no idea if the stirring in her heart was the beginning of something serious. She’d never fallen in love before. But she felt a crippling urge to make Nick happy, and she was going to do the best she could.

Nick, on the other hand, was equal parts pleased and embarrassed. He could hear the snickers from the other girls behind him, and knew Rose had to be dying of shame too, putting on a performance like this. But it was less embarrassing than what Kim had done.

And the miniature cake in front of him? Delicious. He finished it off in a couple of bites.

“Was it to your pleasing, master?” Rose asked, not even waiting for Holly to go first. She was really coming into her role as a maid now, taking the initiative for herself.

And when she saw the smile on his face, her heart soared. She was thrilled beyond measure.

“It’s great!” He said. “I love the way the two flavors contrast with each other!”

“Magnifique!” Rose cheered, clapping her hands together. “I’m so happy! This was the first time I’ve baked anything for someone other than my brother, so… I guess I was really worried about it.”

Since she could express her real feelings again, that must have meant that the scene was over and she could be herself again.

But she was still wearing the maid costume.

“Well now, Nick,” Sylvia said, finishing off her own dish and turning to him. “What’s the verdict? Whose course pleased you the most?”

https://strawpoll.com/BJnX8R638nv