Ramlah

1 - Cupcake

He was what they called the most eligible bachelor in town, and boy did he know it.
He strutted up to my stall in his navy blue kaftan, it fit him quite well. I didn't know much about cufflinks, but the ones holding his sleeves together just wreaked 'expensive'.

"Hey," he spoke as soon as he stood before me and hearing his voice I understood why the girls swooned, but the rest of what came out of his mouth wiped that out quickly.
"I noticed you've been staring at me for a while, I thought I'd come over and buy a cupcake. Give you a closer look." He said this as he picked up one of my cupcakes and licked a little bit of icing with his finger. I instantly felt an ick come over me and it covered his perfect eyebrows and nearly perfect jawline.

All I could do was scoff before I said a simple hello and presented him with a laminated price list of my baked goods. He seemed a little dissatisfied with my response to his tacky pickup line - good. He took the list, combed over it for a few seconds and said, "Let make your day," he smirked as he put down the list, "I'll take one of everything." I had to use every ounce of restraint I had mustered up over the years to stop my eyes from rolling. The annoying part was that it did kind of make my day. Business had been a bit slow since I set up my stall a couple of hours ago and him getting a little bit of everything really helped moved me towards my goal for the day. The real challenge was in how I could look appreciative without feeding his enormous ego. In the end I just thanked him and packaged his order after he had transferred the money to my account.

"Don't worry, you'll be seeing me around." He winked before grabbing the paper bag and walking away. I did all I could not to throw up all over my brownies. I was disappointed that I didn't say more to put him in his place and knock his ego down a peg or two, but I was glad for the business.
As soon as he walked away, people trickled over with smiles and cash at hand, asking me what he had ordered and if they could have exactly that.  Before the evening came to an end I had sold almost everything. I had made my money back and then some.

"Looks like you're all sold out, I hope I had a little to do with it." I heard his voice again as I was putting my plastic spoons into the container I had brought them in. I turned to find him sporting a smug look. He knew he helped and what I hated the most about it was that he was right.

"I'd like to think my baking skills brought in my customers, but if you want to take credit I can't stop you." I continued my task without looking back up a him.

"Woah," I saw him raise his hands in surrender through the corner of my eye, "I was just trying to break the ice over here, you haven't really been forthcoming with conversation."

"That's probably a hint you need to take." I raised an eyebrow, this time, looking him directly in the eyes.

"Alright then," he laughed moving closer to my table, "so what do you say about giving me your number? You can tell me more about your amazing baking skills."

"I'm actually good," I had never been happier to reject someone in my life. I could see the shock cover his face. He probably had never been rejected before. If he hasn't, I'm glad to be the first.

"Let me ask you something though," I said before he could get a chance to speak, "do girls like this condescending and egotistical way you talk? Is that why you thought it would work?"
He laughed, and hung his head - first time I had seen him do that all day - he put his phone back in his pocket and looked back up at me.

"I'm going to win you over." Is all he said before he walked away. I followed that up with an eye roll before I went back to packing my things. The festival was about to be over and I wanted to beat the traffic back home.

"Ramlah, was that Khalid Alhassan I just saw you talking to?" My cousin, Zainab, asked as she approached the table.

"Sure was," her question made me realize he hadn't even introduced himself, he must've just assumed I already knew who he was.