"Pretty much. They said you were a regular who buys tons of stuff every week."
He grinned. "Guilty as charged."
"Oh, I guess the one bad thing they said about you was that you turned them down for the manny job."
"Ah, right. Guilty as charged, again. Don't get me wrong though, it wasn't that I didn't like Forest or their siblings. I'm just… Overly selective about who I choose to work for."
That was one more thing I didn't understand about Roshan. Judging by the professional quality of his flyer and the fact that he spent tons of money at Puff Patisserie, I got the impression that Roshan was well off. If that was the case, why was he even bothering with this manny job in the first place? Why do such labor-intensive work if you didn't need the money?
I tilted my head. "Why is that, if you don't mind my asking?"
Roshan smiled. "I want to have a special connection with my clients. To me, there's no point in mannying as a simple business transaction, you know?"
I nodded, not fully understanding but mostly getting his point. It made sense that he wouldn't want to work for just anybody if he could afford not to.
Zoey waved her strip of paper around. "Mister Row-shin, I like your shiny letters. How did you do that?"
"It's Roshan, sweetie. Sorry about that," I added to him. Since my name was Chris, people didn't have a problem pronouncing it, but I imagined it must get annoying for Roshan to have his name mispronounced all the time.
He chuckled. "No problem at all." He bent down to Zoey's level. "I had these done at a printer, so they're the ones who made the letters gold and shiny."
"How?"
"They use gold ink, I think."
Zoey giggled. "You rhymed."
"Whoa, you're right!"
I smiled watching their interaction. Zoey usually didn't get along this well with people she had just met, which was a good sign. The fact that Roshan hadn't turned us down yet also gave me hope that he might accept the position.
We sat at the picnic table in the park. Roshan lifted the boxes of baked goods and put them on the table. When he opened them, I saw what was inside. One box was full of fancy pastries; Napoleon cakes, eclairs, tiny cheesecakes covered in fresh fruit and berries, and more. The second box was full to the brim with countless flavors of cupcakes.
My jaw dropped. "Holy... Cupcake."
Roshan rubbed the back of his neck. "What can I say? I'm a big cupcake fan."
"WOW!" Zoey cried, her eyes sparkling like a kid in a candy store. Close enough.
"Please help yourselves to anything you want," Roshan said. "I can't eat all this by myself.” He chuckled. “Well, actually I can, but I'd rather share."
Before Zoey purloined half the cupcake haul, I picked one out and placed it in front of her. "Can you say thank you?" I reminded her.
"Thank you, mister Roshan!" she said, grinning happily.
Roshan's smile reached his eyes. "You're welcome. And please, just Roshan is fine."
Zoey stuffed the cupcake into her mouth, wrapper and all. Puff Patisserie used edible rice paper for their wrappers so I didn't bother reminding her to take it off. Besides, she looked so happy that I didn't want to spoil her fun.
"Don't be shy, Chris," Roshan said. "Pick anything you'd like."
Not wanting to pick one of the fancier options, I pulled out a simple chocolate cupcake from the box and took a bite. I closed my eyes in bliss as it melted in my mouth. It wasn't too sweet or rich, just perfect. No wonder Roshan was such a big fan.
"Mmm, that's so good," I said. "Thanks again for sharing with us."
"No worries."
I noticed him observing my lips closely. I blushed. "Is there something on my face?"
